Powering the Future: A Scientist’s Guide to Energy Independence

Section III. Designing an energy system

Now that we have explored each of the sources of energy, we can turn to the important and more general question: How can we design an energy system for the future that will provide abundant energy, and much greater energy independence, with the best combination of energy sources and the greatest reliability and cost efficiency? This involves some larger-scale questions, including how we will transport energy, how we can use energy to transport ourselves and our goods most efficiently, and how we can improve the energy efficiency of our buildings. Finally, in the last chapter I discuss possible solutions and try to put the entire story together.