Reviewed by: Fact and Fiction in Global Energy Policy: 15 Contentious Questions by Benjamin K. Sovacool, Marilyn A. Brown, Scott V. Valentine Dan van der Horst (bio) Fact and Fiction in Global Energy Policy: 15 Contentious Questions. By Benjamin K. Sovacool, Marilyn A. Brown, and Scott V. Valentine. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016. Pp. 370. $34.95. In the era of alternative facts, fake news, populist politics, and divided publics, this book is a very welcome reminder that it is possible to consider both sides of an argument, look for evidence, and identify the potential scope for a sensible middle ground. As a progression from Benjamin Sovacool and Marilyn Brown’s 2007 edited volume Energy and American Society—Thirteen Myths, this book is explicitly “global” in outlook, with a lot of case study materials drawn especially from (western) Europe and [End Page 891] (East) Asia. With close attention to context and subjectivity, it provides an excellent bridge to other works that seek to improve our energy literacy by making the facts more accessible (e.g., David MacKay’s 2009 Renewable Energy—Without the Hot Air). The authors draw on Georg Hegel’s dialectic approach in which two competing but plausible perspectives are considered (thesis and antithesis), followed by an effort to reconcile these (synthesis). Organized into four thematic sections, the book takes the reader through fifteen “contentious questions” that are relevant (directly or indirectly) to global energy policy: 1. Energy and society; the role of industry, energy efficiency, government interventions in the energy market 2. Energy resources; the “peak” resource phenomenon, shale gas as a bridge to a clean energy future, the mainstreaming of renewable electricity, the all-electric future of cars, our potential to sustainably feed and fuel the planet 3. Climate change; mitigation versus adaptation; outlawing geoengineering; is clean coal an oxymoron? 4. Energy security and transitions; is nuclear energy worth the risk? is national energy independence feasible and desirable? are we close to a global energy crisis? can we speed up the energy transition? For each question, the authors adopt a detached, neutral tone while taking the reader through the main concerns in favor and against a particular view. They reveal some of the underlying values and then indicate the broad layout of a sensible compromise, if one can be found. I felt that this format worked rather well. While students of energy policy are the primary target group for this 300-page volume, there is plenty of interesting material for more senior researchers, including memorable quotes from experts and politicians, insightful country case study examples, and the illustrative use of national or global statistics. Occasionally a complicated concept is glossed over in a hurry, but the book is written in a very accessible style. The rationale for the inclusion of exactly these fifteen questions is not spelled out. I suspect the authors were looking for a set of questions of global relevance that are unlikely to expire soon. Each question or thematic section can be read independently, making this book a useful (teaching) resource for peer group discussions and classroom debates, showing how different valid views can be constructed with good supporting evidence. The book has an excellent concluding chapter which examines the causes of contention (six causes are listed, summarizable as conflicts of interest, complexity and uncertainty, and ideology) and underlines the reasons why those with a particular worldview will be inclined to engage only selectively with the facts potentially at their disposal. The authors identify eight different (stereotypical but not mutually exclusive) worldviews, leading to particular framings in the energy debate: technological optimists, free [End Page 892] market libertarians, defenders of national security, energy philanthropists, environmental preservationists, justice advocates, neo-Marxists, and conscientious consumers. The chapter ends by providing six “maxims” for anyone seeking to make sense of public energy debates. It covers the kind of critical reflections we seek to instill in our students (regardless of discipline), but also crave to find in our decision makers: “As we have seen, energy decisions are not determined by objective fact, but by contextual truth, supplemented by a dose of invented, soothing fiction” (p. 353). In the current policy environment, the book should be guaranteed...
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