by Robert Bryce
Redford, Robert, 226
Reinventing Fire (Lovins et al.), 228
“Renewable and Nuclear Heresies,” (Ausubel), 214
Repression, 16, 37, 48
Resource issues, 43–45, 61, 63, 194, 264, 268, 273
Ridley, Matt, 143
Rock and roll music, 12, 14, 15–16
Rockefeller, John D., 93–94
Rockström, Johan, 62–63
Roller-cone drill bits, 33–37, 36(illus.), 99
Rolling Stone magazine, 53
Romance of the Rose (de Meun), 59
Romans, ancient, 59, 73, 88
Rose, Jerome C., 59
Rosegrant, Mark W., 230
Rosen, William, 93
Rothrock, Ray, 254
Roubini, Nouriel, 267
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 50, 59–60
Rule of law, 268
Russia, 138, 243, 260, 267, 268, 273
gas flaring in, 245
Safaricom, 136–137
Safonov, Mikhail, 15–16
Sala-i-Martin, Xavier, 42
Sandefer, Jeff, 161
Sandy Super Storm, 240
San Francisco, 142(photo)
Saudi Arabia, 48, 260, 273
Savage, Steve, 148
Scanadu Scout, 164–165
Schneier, Bruce, 38
School of Rock (Black), 13
Scientific American, 231
Scientific Revolution, 26, 28
Searchinger, Tim, 231
Secret Race, The: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs (Hamilton), 78
Semiconductors, 167
Set America Free, 227
Seufert, Verena, 147
Sex, 143
Shale, 272–273, 273–274
Shapshak, Toby, 132
Sharp, Walter, 33, 36(caption)
Shellenberger, Michael, 50, 257, 277
Shippingport Atomic Power Station (Pennsylvania), 250(photo)
Ships, 3, 74, 87, 92, 93
Shockley, William, 122
Shortages, xxi, xxiii, 180, 193
Shreve, Henry M., 94–95
Sidereus Nuncius (Galileo), 28
Sierra Club, xxi, xxii, 51, 53–54, 61, 63, 275
“beyond coal” campaign of, 193, 194, 220
Silent Spring (Carson), 61, 61(n)
Silver, 129, 130, 135
Simmel, George, 131
Simmons, Matthew, 181
Sisodia, Raj, 42
Skateboards, 261
Slate, 147
Sleepwalkers, The (Koestler), 28
Smil, Vaclav, 21, 214, 216, 238
Snowden, Edward, 38
Sodium-sulfur batteries, 203
Solar energy, 45–46, 57, 118, 173, 174, 187, 189, 206, 211, 219, 238, 256
debunking fibs about, 220–223
first use of, 249
in Germany, 221
Solutionism, xxiv
Sony company, 203
South Africa, 132
South by Southwest Festival, 261, 263(photo), 264
Southwestern Energy, 177
Soviet Union, 15–16. See also Russia
Spain, 270
SS Gairsoppa, 129
SS Great Britain and SS United States, 74
Standard of living, 43, 51, 237, 277
Starbucks, 135
Starvation, xx, xxiii, 149
Steam engines, 21, 74, 90–93, 94–96, 97(illus.)
efficiency of, 96
Steckel, Richard H., 59
Steel, 93, 143
Steffen, Will, 62–63
Sterner, Thomas, 220
Stevens, John, 5
Stone, Robert, 256
Strategic Studies Quarterly, 224, 225, 233
Student loan debt, 160
Subsidies, 212, 223, 230, 270
Suburbanization, 35, 37
Suez Canal, 4
Suicides, teenage, 267
Sulfur dioxide, 47–48
Surowiecki, James, 131
Surveillance, 38–39, 155, 156
Sustainable Energy, Without the Hot Air (MacKay), 215
Sweden, 144, 153, 168
Tabarrok, Alex, 266
Tanks, 99
Tariffs, 225
Taxation, 52, 63, 137, 225, 235, 264, 267
Taylor, Jerry, 258
Technology, xxv, 11, 12, 43, 54, 63, 276, 278
communications technology, 152
process technology, 122
Telescopes, 26–29, 27(illus.)
Templeton, Graham, 247
Tenner, Edward, 35
TerraPower company, 255–256
Terrorism, xix–xx, 226, 227
Text messaging, 132, 137
Thailand, 231, 239(caption)
The Clash, 16
Thermal efficiency, 22, 23
Thoreau, Henry David, 50, 60
Thorium-fueled reactors, 255, 256
Thorlby, Father James, 232–233
3-D printing, xxii, 168, 261
350.org, 53
Thrum, Sebastian, 160
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller (Chernow), 94
Tokyo, 141
Tom Horn 7–13–9 10H oil well (Oklahoma), 171, 175, 178(photo)
Topol, Dr. Eric, 165, 166(caption), 168
Torque, 104, 175
Tour de France, 77–84
Faster Lighter at (1903 to 2012), 79(graph)
Tourism, 54
Trade, 21, 22, 130
Trafficking, weapons/human, 138
Tran, Matt, 261, 264
Transatomic Power company, 254
Transcontinental Railroad, 4(n)
Transistors, 115, 121–123
Transportation, xxi, xxiv, 3, 21, 33, 46–47, 52, 60, 92, 174, 224, 227, 228, 241, 242
Tribalism, 236
Triumph of the City (Glaeser), 142
Tunisia, 152
Turbochargers, 103–105
Turing’s Cathedral (Dyson), 112
“Twenty-First Century Snake Oil: Why the United States Should Reject Biofuels as Part of a Rational National Security Energy Strategy” (Kiefer), 216
23andMe, 167, 167(n)
Ullrich, Jan, 77, 83
Ulmen, Matt, 262
Unemployment, 54, 264
Unions, 266
United Kingdom (UK), 38, 131, 168, 214, 231, 269
natural gas prices in, 272(graph)
United Nations, 41
Food and Agriculture Organization, 148
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 194
United States, 260, 264
advantages over other countries, 267–274
Anti-Doping Agency, 84
Bureau of Mines, 180
Coal Commission, 180
Congress, 264–265
costs of electricity in, 240, 241(table), 270, 271(table)
debt of, 264
Defense Department, 225
defense spending, 259, 265
energy consumption, 48, 228, 229(map)
Energy Department, 254, 255
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 192, 230
exports, 267, 271, 272
Federal Reserve, 131, 134
first commercial nuclear reactor in, 250
Fish and Wildlife Service, 213
Food and Drug Administration, 167(n)
Interior Department, 180
Justice Department, 213
natural gas production/prices in, 181, 272(graph), 272–273
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 248
oil produced in, 34, 174, 175(graph), 177–178, 273
Patent Office, 265
wind energy in, 213
Updike, John, 60
Uranium, 183, 184(table), 248, 255, 256, 260
Usher, Abbott Payson, 11, 179
Vacuum tubes, 12–17, 113
Vallourec company, 273
Van der Hoeven, Maria, 31
Van der Spiegel, Jag, 111
van Leeuwenhoek, Antoni, 27, 28<
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Vaughters, Jonathan, 84
Venture capital, 205, 226, 254, 269
Vietnam, 191, 195–197, 239(caption)
Vilsack, Tom, 225
Violence, 42
Virgin Galactic, 47
Vital signs, 164
Vitamin A, 150
Vodafone, 136
Vogtle 3 and 4 reactors (Georgia), 248–249
Volatile organic compounds, 47, 230
Volta, Alessandro, 202
von Humboldt, Alexander, 6
von Neumann, John, 110, 112, 115, 116(photo)
Voting rights, 48
Wabash, Indiana, 32–33
Waggoner, Paul, 151
Wagner, Gernot, 220
Waiting for Superman (documentary), 266
Walden, or Life in the Woods (Thoreau), 60
Wall Street Journal, 50, 75, 107
Wanjiru, Sammy, 74
Wärtsilä company, 22
Waterwheels, 86(photo), 86–87, 88–90, 92
Watson, James, 70, 71
Watt, James, 90–92, 91(illus.)
Wealth, 152, 153, 195, 212
of urbanized countries, 145(graph)
See also Prosperity
WebMoney payment system, 138
Welfare, global, 42
Wernick, Iddo, 151
West, Geoffrey, 142
Weyler, Rex, 51–52
Wheat prices, 230, 231
Wheels, 72, 82
Where Good Ideas Come From (Johnson), 10
Whitacre, Jay, 200, 201(photo), 204, 205, 207
White, Artie, 171, 172(photo)
WHO. See World Health Organization
Whole Earth Catalogue (Brand), 257
Whole Earth Discipline (Brand), 143
Whole Foods Market, 147
WikiLeaks, 137
Wildfires, xix, xx
Wilford, John Noble, 59
Wilkins, Maurice, 70
Wind energy, 54, 57, 58, 119, 173, 174, 187, 189, 190, 197, 203, 206, 238, 256
backlash against, 213–214
debunking fibs about, 220–223
land issues concerning, 217, 218(illus.), 219, 222–223
noise from turbines, 213, 218
offshore, 215–216, 270
power density of, 212–219, 222, 247–248
in United States, 213
windmills, 87, 88, 215(illus.), 249
Women, xxv
deaths in pregnancy or birth, 41
literacy of, 42
women’s suffrage, 48
Woodhead, Leslie, 16
Woolsey, James, 227
World Anti-Doping Agency, 84
World Bank, 42, 156, 245
World Health Organization (WHO), xix, 41, 150
World War I, 20, 99, 109
World War II, 99, 109, 110
Worldwatch Institute, 52–53
Worldwide Developers Conference (2011), 106
Wright, Orville and Wilbur, 23–24, 47
Wrightman, Esther, 214, 221
X-rays, 166
Yemen, 156
YouTube, 152, 163
Ziegler, Jean, 232–233
Zubrin, Robert, 227
Thomas Cooper
Robert Bryce is the acclaimed author of four previous books, including, most recently, Power Hungry: The Myths of “Green” Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future. A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, his articles have appeared in dozens of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Austin Chronicle, Bloomberg View, Counterpunch, and National Review. An apiarist, he lives in Austin with his wife, Lorin, and their children, Mary, Michael, and Jacob.
PublicAffairs is a publishing house founded in 1997. It is a tribute to the standards, values, and flair of three persons who have served as mentors to countless reporters, writers, editors, and book people of all kinds, including me.
I. F. STONE, proprietor of I. F. Stone’s Weekly, combined a commitment to the First Amendment with entrepreneurial zeal and reporting skill and became one of the great independent journalists in American history. At the age of eighty, Izzy published The Trial of Socrates, which was a national bestseller. He wrote the book after he taught himself ancient Greek.
BENJAMIN C. BRADLEE was for nearly thirty years the charismatic editorial leader of The Washington Post. It was Ben who gave the Post the range and courage to pursue such historic issues as Watergate. He supported his reporters with a tenacity that made them fearless and it is no accident that so many became authors of influential, best-selling books.
ROBERT L. BERNSTEIN, the chief executive of Random House for more than a quarter century, guided one of the nation’s premier publishing houses. Bob was personally responsible for many books of political dissent and argument that challenged tyranny around the globe. He is also the founder and longtime chair of Human Rights Watch, one of the most respected human rights organizations in the world.
. . .
For fifty years, the banner of Public Affairs Press was carried by its owner Morris B. Schnapper, who published Gandhi, Nasser, Toynbee, Truman, and about 1,500 other authors. In 1983, Schnapper was described by The Washington Post as “a redoubtable gadfly.” His legacy will endure in the books to come.
Peter Osnos, Founder and Editor-at-Large