A Potential New Climate Policy Bible: Reviewing ‘Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy’

When the IPCC Climate Change Report came out in October of last year, I was hopeful that the clear and direct tone of the warning and the necessity of its recommendations would finally resonate with the general public, especially in the United States. Only a month later, when climate/energy/environment issues weren't the top mentioned concerns in any single U.S. market and voters sent mixed messages across the country with their ballots, many in the energy world saw how awareness and recognition of the need for action still hadn't struck the necessary chord. Whether that's attributed to insufficient media coverage, paralysis caused by the enormity of the task at hand, or something else is up for debate, but what's not up for debate is the need for something to cut through the disconnect and clearly convey the solutions that are already achievable today. The technology we need to drastically cut emissions already exists, what we're lacking is the necessary policy solutions.

Right on cue, Hal Harvey (with co-authors Robbie Orvis and Jeffrey Rissman) of Energy Innovation released the book Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy in November. This treatise on how to move public policy so that the potential devastation of climate change can be prevented is detailed and reads as a textbook on the topic-- while that may not make it the book you want to give your friends who don't already care and think a lot about these issues, I believe it will serve as a great Climate Policy Bible that should sit on the bookshelves of all energy wonks.

To see the rest of my review, see the post on my blog.