Prospects for Sustainable Energy: A Critical Assessment

Abstract

Prospects for Sustainable Energy: A Critical Assessment, Edward S. Cassedy, 2000, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 284 p. (Hardcover $69.95) ISBN: 0-521-63120-3. Predicting the future of the energy industry can be like reading tea leaves, yet the geological sciences are so intimately associated with the exploration and production of fossil fuels that any insight is of value. In “Prospects for Sustainable Energy: A Critical Assessment,” Edward S. Cassedy takes a hard look at possibilities for widespread application of renewable energy technologies. Dr. Cassedy is a Professor Emeritus of electrical engineering at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, New York, and has published numerous works on topics ranging from applied physics to energy economics and energy policy. His thesis is that use of finite fossil fuel resources is endangering the environment and altering global climate, thereby making the current energy mix unsustainable and future use of renewable resources inescapable. This thesis is enough to put any geologist who has devoted their career to petroleum and coal resources on the defensive. Regardless, Cassedy's book is worth reading and provides a well-reasoned and highly critical assessment of technologies that may compete, or at the very least, coexist with fossil fuels. The author's avoidance of boosterism elevates the value of this book, reflects a lifetime of experience, and demonstrates an honest desire to identify alternative energy technologies with potential for commercial success. The book characterizes the origin, technology, economics, and environmental impacts of a broad range of alternative energy sources, including solar, biomass, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, oceanic, and chemical energy. Cassedy wrote the book in the late 1990s when energy prices were extremely low, and his assessment of renewable energy sources is anything but rosy. Reading the book …