The Hydrogen Economy: The Creation of the World-Wide Energy Web and the Redistribution of Power on Earth Book

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The problems facing society are very real. We are running out of fossil fuels. We are exacerbating that problem by flagrant miscalculations of the costs and effects of fossil fuels, as well as miscalculation of how much remains. These miscalculations seem to be carried by a deep current of denial flowing throughout society. In this regard, our relationship to fossil fuels may be turning more into an addiction than a harnessing of nature's abundance. Rifkin distils and presents the barest facets of the problem in an engaging and powerful presentation. There can be little doubt that hydrogen, though not the next source of energy, will become a rallying cry, and an icon of renewable energy in the public mind.

Rifkin is straightforward in explaining that hydrogen is not the source, but rather, the medium of the next big shift in energy technology. Thin treatment of solutions after a depressingly thick presentation of the problem accurately reflects the real dilemma. The problem is huge, and at this point in time, solutions are little more than a flickering hope.

The Hydrogen Economy by Jeremy Rifkin is the opening salvo in a public debate that must widen and deepen quickly if we are to have even the slightest chance of a timely solution to what is looking more each year like a disasterous finale to the fossil fuel age.

If taken litteraly, Rifkin's application of entropy to human society will seem strained to the thermodynamically astute. As a metaphore it is elegant. Clearly, Rifkin hopes, above all else, to promote the possibilities of hydrogen as a socioeconomic equalizer. I share this hope. But under the circumstances, its like hoping you'll have steak and eggs for breakfast as you watch the Titanic sink. I'll take a solution anyway we can get it. But first, we've got to open our eyes, face the problem, and discuss it. Reading this book is a good first step.

Don't be surprised if there are a lot of negative reactions to this book. Everone feels uncomfortable when confronted while in denial. Its worse when the denial is collective and more so when it is global. You're not supposed to "feel good" about a book like this. Denying the conclusions is bound to be a frequent reaction, but its not a healthy reaction. It will undoubtedly be better recieved outside the US where fossil fuel addiction is less accute.

The book attempts to address how civilizations have been developed, and the contribution that energy makes toward this development. Furthermore, Rifkin draws upon theories of thermodynamics and history to make his points.

This book also discusses bare facts associated with the oil industry and how we will need to make significant changes in the way we live in order to face the reality that our sources of energy need to change.

For the scientist willing to approach this subject matter with an open mind, the environmentalist interested in understanding how business and economics can shape green development, and the individual curious of the path the world might take, this book is a holistic overview of how energy issues will drive our progress.

The first part of the book traces the history of energy use in the Western world from the fourteenth century on. By 1700 the forests of Europe were becoming depleted of wood and people began burning coal. In the middle of the 1800s, oil began to replace coal. Each fuel in this progression has a smaller carbon to hydrogen ratio than the preceding one. Scientists call this evolution "decarbonization." Rifkin shows how each energy source in this progression uses more sophisticated methods for its exploitation, with the oil industry using the most complicated technology. Exploration, drilling, refining, brokering, delivery, all must all be coordinated, and each part of the process consumes as well as provides energy. Each step also further removes the end user from the manufacturing process. This, with a short detour into the causes of Islamic militancy, is basically the first 157 pages of the book.

Rifkin's major source of information about patterns of future energy use is the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). In 1971, the US Senate wanted to create an agency to research the nation's energy needs, and the energy industry organized EPRI as an alternative. Presumably, the governmental organization would have been subject to congressional oversight, while the industry-organized EPRI is accountable only to the energy industry. In assuming the inevitable progression from oil to hydrogen, Rifkin quotes officials of the EPRI and their publications continually throughout the book, and he accepts their pronouncements uncritically. In my opinion, he hasn't made his case.

Hydrogen is called a secondary energy source, because it can only be obtained by using some other source of energy. The source could be primary, such as coal, natural gas, oil, or wind, or it could be a process like electrolysis. But to become an independent energy supplier, the end user would have to somehow generate hydrogen. How would this be accomplished? Rifkin says individual consumers will generate hydrogen using fuel cells in automobiles. But the end user cannot obtain fuel cells independently of manufacturers or suppliers.

Rifkin claims that there are already in place organizations that can help individual end users become autonomous energy producers. He claims that Common Interest Developments (such as Homeowners' Associations) can be major players in establishing distributed energy, thus contributing to the empowerment of the individual energy consumer. But the author of a book Rifkin cites to support this claim, Evan McKenzie, concludes that Common Interest Developments do not exist to empower individuals over whom they exercise authority. And the idea that such agencies "provide a bottom-up organizational structure" is nonsense. Despite their democratic structure, all powers, legislative, judiciary and administrative, are concentrated in the hands of their boards of directors.

Rifkin also cites the Mondragon cooperative as an example of an agency that has empowered individuals, but doesn't mention any of the problems Mondragon has encountered. Does the author think readers won't notice things like this? I bought this book to learn about issues related to switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, but was disappointed. In fact, it was hard to finish reading this book. A better book is "GeoDestinies," by Walter Youngquist.