Book

The Unpopular Truth: About Electricity and the Future of Energy

2023

Synopsis

Electricity is to modern civilization what blood is to the human body. Understanding how electricity works is more critical than ever as its importance grows with the increasing electrification of transport, industry, and heating.

Dr. Lars Schernikau and Prof. Bill Smith have created a comprehensive overview of how the global energy economy works with a focus on electricity. This new book explains the fundamental reasons for the energy shortages that the world (particularly Europe) started to experience since 2021, which was exacerbated by Russia's invasion of the Ukraine in 2022. In doing so, the authors describe - for our electricity markets - what can work and what never will.

This book is not only an introduction to modern electricity systems and electricity costs, but it also touches on primary energy and transportation. The authors focus more on the generation of electricity from a macroeconomic “energy transition” point of view and less on the details of how electricity physically works.

The environmental efficiency of our energy systems is more complex than CO2-emissions alone. Energy input, material input, lifetime, and recycling efficiency are other key elements discussed in the book. The book concludes with thoughts on the future of energy and suggestions for energy policy, taking into account the new challenges that come with global efforts to “decarbonize”.

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