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Oil and coal have built our civilisation, created our wealth and enriched the lives of billions. Yet their rising costs to our security, economy, health and environment are starting to outweigh their benefits. Moreover, the tipping point where alternatives work better and compete purely on cost is not decades in the future – it is here and now. And that tipping point has become the fulcrum of economic transformation.
In Reinventing Fire, Amory Lovins and the Rocky Mountain Institute offer a new vision to revitalise business models and win the clean energy race – not forced by public policy but led by business for long-term advantage. This independent and rigorous account offers market-based solutions integrating transportation, buildings, industry and electricity. It maps pathways for running a 158%-bigger US economy in 2050 but needing no oil, no coal, no nuclear energy, one-third less natural gas and no new inventions.
This transition would cost $5 trillion less than business-as-usual – without counting fossil fuels' huge hidden costs. Whether you care most about profits and jobs, or national security, or environmental stewardship, climate, and health, Reinventing Fire makes sense. It's a story of astounding opportunities for creating the new energy era.
Amory Lovins, a consultant physicist, is among the world's leading experts on energy and its links with resources, security, develop ment and environment. He is the author of 30 books and co-author of the sustainable business classic, Natural Capitalism. In 2009, Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and Foreign Policy named him one of the 100 top global thinkers.
