Power Economics

INTRODUCTION

Climate change and global warming are not fantasies. They are real. They threaten communities, towns, cities, regions, nations, and continents. Even if you don't care about polar bears and penguins, the effects of melting icecaps and shifting ocean currents will transform your life and the lives of the people around you.

In this book, I will offer practical steps and achievable strategies for reducing the destructive impact of climate change and global warming.

A large part of the problem is caused by CO₂ gas released into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels to create energy. Yes, we need energy to live and to sustain our economies. But we don't need to burn fossil fuels and release CO₂ gas at levels that will result in a global catastrophe.

There are reasonable alternatives to our current practices. None of the ideas that I describe in this book are entirely new or totally unfamiliar. They aren't extreme or bizarre. They won't require harsh or draconian measures to work. All of them follow basic rules of common sense.

Every idea and process described in this book, if performed reasonably well, will put money in your pocket. You will not only save money, you will probably make money—and you will take important steps toward saving the planet.

Energy efficiency, I would argue, is more of a journey than a battle. It starts with small steps, taken at the local and state levels. This is a matter of identifying and then practicing good habits in our daily lives, ...