The Energy Switch
How Companies and Customers are Transforming the Electrical Grid and the Future of Power
by Peter Kelly-Detwiler
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date Jun 15 2021 | Archive Date May 28 2021
Rowman & Littlefield | Prometheus Books
Talking about this book? Use #TheEnergySwitch #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
In The Energy Switch, leading energy industry expert Peter Kelly-Detwiler looks at all aspects of the transformation: how we got here, where we are going, and the implications for all of us in our daily lives.
Kelly-Detwiler takes readers to the frontlines of the energy revolution. Meet Steve Collins, an executive from Commercial Development Corporation, the company that blew up two $570-million-dollar concrete cooling towers to create a staging ground for the new $70 billion U.S. offshore wind industry; Rob Threlkeld, a General Motors executive who convinced the auto giant to sign multiple 20-year renewable energy contracts worth hundreds of millions; Kevin McAlpin, a Texas homeowner who buys the power for his home on the electricity spot market – where prices can soar from less than one cent a kilowatt hour to $9.00 over the course of a single day; Dr. Kristin Persson, who oversees a supercomputer that can process data at 30 quadrillion calculations per second, in the quest for better renewable energy and battery technologies; and John Davis, a Texas rancher who can keep his land intact, with help from the royalty payments from seven turbines spinning on his range.
Energy creation and distribution has driven society’s progress for centuries. Today, people are increasingly aware that it is imperative that humans move towards a cleaner, digitized, and democratized energy economy. The Energy Switch is about that multi-trillion dollar transformation, told from the perspective of those leading us to that bright future.
Advance Praise
“Our country’s complex energy system is rapidly becoming cleaner, smarter, and nimbler. Kelly-Detwiler brings his considerable experience to this book, deftly balancing the major forces at work with individual accounts of people on the ground making and consuming electricity.” – Tom Kiernan, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association
“The electric power grid touches all of us in many ways and is fundamental in enabling society's very existence. Today, the grid is also undergoing a multi-trillion-dollar transformation in scope and scale that dwarfs the industrial revolution, driven by the urgency to address climate change and to meet the needs of an evolving world. The Energy Switch takes the reader on a broad tour to meet some of the individuals, companies, and technologies engaged in that effort. It tells their stories in an engaging way, while making highly complex topics accessible and understandable to the reader." –Jigar Shah, founder and CEO of SunEdison, and co-founder and President of Generate Capital
“A lively and entertaining tour of the personalities, technologies, and challenges that will shape our clean electric future.” –Peter Fox-Penner, director of Boston University’s Institute for Sustainable Energy and author of Power After Carbon
“Peter Kelly-Detwiler is a master storyteller. This accessible read captures the story of his personal quest to understand the bigger picture of what is happening for energy in the U.S. and beyond. In particular, The Energy Switch reveals the rapid pace of technological, economic, and policy changes for the energy storage industry, and the enabling capabilities of energy storage to accelerate this power grid transition. As Kelly-Detwiler says in his introduction, ‘the race is on.’” —Kelly Speakes-Backman, former CEO, Energy Storage Association
"Kelly-Detwiler does a masterful job explaining the energy system and the drastic transition that is underway. Energy – and electricity in particular – is the foundation for our quality of life and therefore anyone and everyone would benefit from reading The Energy Switch to gain an understanding of the opportunities and challenges that face our society as we go through the transition." —Julia Hamm, President & CEO, Smart Electric Power Alliance
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781633886667 |
| PRICE | $26.95 (USD) |
