Book review of Reinventing fire by Amory
Review by John on 6 May 2014 review stating Book review of Reinventing fire by Amory Dear Editor: Tom Flynn suggested that I submit this review to you. JAF REINVENTING FIRE , Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era by the Rocky Mountain Institute, Amory Lovins lead author. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2011 The title describes the book very well, and the six chapter headings even better: 1) Defossilizing fuels, 2) Transportation: fitter vehicles, smarter use, 3) Buildings: designs for better living, 4) Industry: remaking how we make things, 5) Electricity: repowering prosperity, 6) Many choices, one future. The index is impressive except that not all alphabet soup is defined there. I recommend that you keep a glossary of EIS, OBD, VTM and such as you encounter them. Emphasis throughout the book is that piecemeal solutions to atmospheric carbon dioxide accumulations miss many opportunities for the various pieces to enhance each other in ways that save enormous amounts of expense and other effort. For example, seemingly needed increases in the electric power distribution grid cease to be necessary with widely distributed electricity sources such as wind turbines, solar panels, and small natural gas fueled generators replacing many large coal or nuclear power stations. As usual Amory Lovins and RMI speak to business interests with scientific and mathematical insights. It is not mentioned in the book that CCS (carbon capture and storage) is not a long term solution to accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because it buries oxygen with the carbon dioxide ultimately reducing the oxygen content of our atmosphere. However, the book does describe CCS as too expensive compared to other viable alternatives (nuclear power is described similarly). Liquid hydrogen was mentioned as a possible substitute for jet fuel. Again not mentioned: liquid hydrogen stays liquid by evaporation and hydrogen (also helium) is too light to be retained in earth's atmosphere. However, the amount of hydrogen in the water of rising sea level could fuel jet aircraft for millennia, and the excess oxygen from the evaporated hydrogen would be released to the atmosphere to replace that lost to CCS. I have known Amory and the Rocky Mountain Institute for about thirty years. This book carries on their tradition of resourceful highly technical and economical solutions to modern problems, and I recommend reading it. My credentials for writing this review include designing and building a house in Wisconsin in 1987 with an annual heating bill of $120 worth of natural gas--same for wood at $100 a cord. This effort included tracking down krypton (instead of argon) filled thermo-pane windows available from a factory in Canada for only $2 extra per pane doubling the R value of the windows. Incidentally I had inferred in 1961 that xenon would not be available from the atmosphere because it would combine with oxygen during lightning strikes?a fact demonstrated by finding traces of xenon oxide in beach sand in 2011. Xenon was shown to react vigorously with elemental fluorine in 1961; krypton is a trace contaminant of welding argon. All three gasses mentioned, along with helium and neon are noble gasses so called because they were thought to be chemically inert until the exceptional behavior of xenon was discovered in 1961.John A. Frantz, MD June 20, 2012 www.frantzmd.info
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