The Environmental Defense Fund has just released an interesting book, called "Earth: The Sequel",
subtitled "The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming". It is
a message of hope, about how humankind ingenuity can "save ourselves
from ourselves by getting the end of the story just right" (Fred Krupp,
author and president of EDF). It is a story on how we can stop global
warming through clean energy innovation by American entrepreneurs.
In
it are stories about various innovations in energy production, possibly
the biggest growth sector of our economy in the coming years, perhaps
even right now. The book’s writing style is very accessible,
especially if you like stories. It claims that: “twenty years from now
some thirty-five-year-old is going to say the reason he’s a billionaire
is that he read this book when he was fifteen”. Mayor Bloombergy of
New York City gave it a glowing review: “Krupp and Horn have turned the
doom and gloom of global warming on its head. Earth: The Sequel makes
it crystal clear that we can build a low-carbon economy while
unleashing American entrepreneurs to save the planet, putting optimism
back into the environmental story.”
Amongst the innovative startup companies whose stories are told in this book are companies that:
• reengineered the metabolism of yeast to ferment sugar into pure petroleum (Amyris Biotechnologies, Emeryville, California)
•
used nanotechnology to create a silicon powder that can then be
printed like ink on thin-film solar cells, reducing cost and cell
efficiently significantly (Innovalight, Sunnyvale, California)
•
harnessed the up-and-down motion of ocean wave (kinetic energy) to
pressurize water which then turns a turbine that generates electricity
(Finavera Renewables, Vancouver)
• harnessed the geothermal
potential of hot springs to produce electricity that keeps an ice
museum frozen in the Alaskan summertime (Chena Power, Chena, Alaska)
To
quote Fred Krupp, “nature teaches us, provides us everything -- we just
have to open our eyes.” Read this book if you want to learn about
innovation and investment opportunities in the growing energy sector,
or if you are just curious what the leading, bleeding edge of energy
innovation is like today. Many of these technologies are already
powering the renewable energy portfolio of our utilities, which will
only increase in the future.
Here's the trailer. And here's how to buy
the book. When I get a chance to read in more details Chapter 4 and 9,
which have some nuggets on car-related energy innovation, I will post
another blog summarizing them. Meanwhile let us know what you think
about energy innovation, and the book, if you have read it.
Marn-Yee Lee
Contributing Editor
AskPatty.com
Marn-Yee Lee is pursuing an MBA in Sustainability at the Presidio
School of Management in San Francisco. After spending a decade in I.T.
and on Wall Street, she is now pursuing her passion for the
environment. She sees business as a partner for creating innovative
solutions to pressing environmental issues. In her spare time, she
writes a blog to inspire others to consider the impact of their daily
lives on the environment at busythinking.blogspot.com.
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