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At your service, and independent from any publisher or author, this article lists 10 books on energy & environment - not a top 10 list, but certainly containing some good candidates: 3 books on the role of carbon energy (1-3), 3 books on nuclear (4-6), 3 books on horizontal aspects (7-9) and concluding with last year's book on the ethical dimension of Kyoto (which proves interesting, once you can bring yourself to read beyond its title):

1. In ‘Sustainable Fossil Fuels’, Mark Jaccard doubts our prospects for moving away quickly from carbon fuels to renewable energy sources, and expects an energy system largely dominated by fossil fuels for the 21st century. This however does not need to be incompatible with a sustainable energy system.
2. In ‘Energy at the Crossroads’, Vaclav Smil summarizes a lifetime of energy studies. The result is a highly accessible book, yet rich in argument. In the future energy system, not a single solution will work by itself, and the ‘a priori’ exclusion of certain options is counterproductive. The path to carbon-free energy is going to take most of the 21st century.
3. In ‘Why Carbon Fuels Will Dominate The 21st Century’s Global Energy Economy’, Peter Odell opens with a sentence that realism about our energy system is a commodity in scarce supply and describes a 100-year scenario where we will use 3 times more carbon fuel in the 21st century than in the 20th.
4. In ‘Megawatts & Megatons’, Richard Garwin and Georges Charpak give a comprehensive overview of nuclear technology, covering both its civilian and military use. The opening sentence “If it is to benefit humanity, concern for our planet and the future of our civilization needs to be matched with an understanding of the facts.” defines the book’s credo.
5. While unrelated, ‘Nuclear Renaissance’ complements ‘Megawatts & Megatons’ very well through its indepth overview of new nuclear technology, concluding that, on balance, ‘it would seem prudent for the developed world to maintain a civil nuclear power industry on at least its current scale.’
6. 'Double or Quits’ argues for the nuclear industry and governments to take action to ensure that nuclear power remains available as a practical option. Such action needs to take place on 5 fronts: public perception, economics, waste (including reprocessing and proliferation), safety and research & development.
7. ‘The Skeptical Environmentalist‘ uses a wealth of long-term trend data to demonstrate that the world has never been in better shape, while recognising that there are problems with global warming, the ozone layer, the loss of rain forests, … As the rare optimistic book on environment, it warns against the very selective use of data to construct environmental claims.
8. In ‘Factor Four‘, the authors have written an excellent discussion document and manifesto for action, harnessing market forces for change to increase resource productivity, a simple but appealing idea that can expect a large consensus.
9. ’Power to the People‘ provides a fresco of what currently lives in the energy sector. Talking to the who’s who in energy, the author concludes that the forces of liberalisation, increasing environmental conscienceness and new technology are all converging towards a micro-power revolution. Not surprisingly with this message, the book is not too kind on big oil, coal and electricity.
10. Finally, 'Reading the Kyoto Protocol - Ethical Aspects of the Convention on Climate Change' leaves the straightjacket of what is politically achievable within the time horizon of a regulatory mandate, and refreshingly thinks out of the box, but it is not a theoretical book. And you don't have to agree with it - as the authors happily don't with each other.

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Hans De Keulenaer manages Leonardo ENERGY initiative, the Web portal for sustainable energy professionals.

http://www.leonardo-energy.org

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