ENERGY AUTONOMY: GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT RENEWABLE ENERGY, by Hermann Scheer, Earthscan 2007

BOOK REVIEW ENERGY AUTONOMY: GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT RENEWABLE ENERGY, by Hermann Scheer, Earthscan 2007. Reviewed by Darrell Blakeway* Dr. Hermann Scheer, member of the German Bundestag since 1980, is a distinguished leader of the world renewable energy community, and a moving force in establishing Germany as the leader of renewable energy development through the most effective legislation anywhere in the world. His most recent book, Energy Autonomy, was published in German in 2005. The English translation was published in January 2007.1 Scheer argues that environmental advocates must press for massive and rapid development of renewable energy, and to halt the further development of fossil and nuclear energy to avert environmental, political, and economic disaster. He is deeply critical of the opposition he perceives from conventional fossil and nuclear energy industries. Scheer makes a compelling case for renewable energy, noting many encouraging developments in recent years. Nevertheless, he perceives very effective opposition to renewable energy, sometimes overt but often covert, and concludes that many of the strongest proponents for renewable energy have been enervated by the opposition. Energy Autonomy opens with a remembrance of the euphoria that swept through the 4,000 participants in the Renewables 2004 Conference in Bonn, Germany. Scheer was instrumental in persuading Gerhard Schroeder, then Chancellor of Germany, to convene the Conference. Despite the enthusiasm and optimism of the conference participants, Scheer observes that growth rates in fossil energy usage still remain significantly higher than growth rates for renewable energy resources. While interest in renewable energy is growing around the world, Scheer says that the actual efforts to implement a major and sustained development have been limited to a very few countries. The steps necessary to realize the fullest potential for renewable energy are not being taken, Scheer asserts, because of the faulty perception, even on the part of many renewable proponents, that substantial reliance on renewable energy is not feasible. Components of this misperception are these: Renewable energy’s usable potential is too limited to substitute for nuclear and/or fossil energy. We must continue to make massive investments in conventional energy during a long transition period to renewable energy. * Executive Director, Perennial Energy Consulting, Inc., formerly an attorney for 25 years at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 1. HERMANN SCHEER, ENERGY AUTONOMY: THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND TECHNOLOGICAL CASE FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY (Earthscan 2007) [hereinafter SHEER]. 217 218 ENERGY LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 29:217 Renewable energy must be integrated into existing energy supply structures, and be compatible with those structures. Renewable energy usage must be limited to the capacity that existing energy structures (such as electric transmission and distribution) can accommodate without jeopardizing the reliability of those structures. Energy policy should not jeopardize the financing of new conventional energy facilities, or threaten recovery of investments in existing facilities. Introducing renewable energy on a scale that would rapidly displace the existing energy structure would cost far more than society can afford. A very gradual transition to renewable energy is the only financially prudent path. Policies to develop renewable energy depend on subsidies, which are inherently unfair and uneconomical. Conventional energy businesses are essential components of our economy and should be relied upon to guide the development of renewable energy. Unregulated (or minimally regulated) energy markets are the best guarantors of the lowest prices to consumers. Governments should not impose policies to promote renewable energy that result in higher prices. The problem of global climate change and the need for clean renewable energy as a response to that problem are global problems, and solutions should not be implemented unilaterally by individual governments. Steps to promote renewable energy and address world- threatening problems caused by the continued use of conventional energy must not be so large or so radical that they generate significant political or economic opposition. Scheer rebuts each of these claims, and calls for the rapid, massive development of a renewable energy alternative to the existing conventional energy regime. He opposes gradual evolution and frames his support for renewable developments in revolutionary language. The message will be inspirational to many (including this reviewer), but his roadmap will be hotly disputed and may not be the only avenue to a renewable energy future. I. SUN OR ATOM: THE FUNDAMENTAL CONFLICT OF THE 21ST CENTURY With the knowledge that non-renewable sources of energy will eventually be exhausted, Scheer argues that the only question is whether we will succeed in making a radical change in energy platforms in time to spare the world irreversible ecological damage and accompanying political and economic catastrophe. The prospect of an ‘oil peak,’ after which oil will become progressively more expensive due to an inability to continue increasing production enough to meet increasing demand has been anticipated since the beginning of the oil age. The question has never been whether the world would run out of oil, or 2008] BOOK REVIEW 219 affordable oil, but when. Scheer sees this day rapidly approaching and argues that we must quickly transition away from using oil as fuel and devote it to higher valued uses such as chemical feedstock. Scheer characterizes the fundamental conflict over energy policy in the twenty-first century as the competition between the sun and the atom. In the 1950s, nuclear fuel was thought to be the obvious successor to fossil fuel. The prospect of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel made it seem to be a fuel virtually without limits. In Scheer’s mind, the commitment to a conventionally conceived energy future involves, first, the exhaustion of carbon-based resources (oil, coal, natural gas) and a dangerous transition to a nuclear power. He contrasts that vision with a commitment to a far more benign environment, if the power of the sun is harnessed in its various forms, including wind, tides, ocean waves, and biofuels, as the primary source of energy for as long as the sun continues to shine. II. CRISES FOR CONVENTIONAL ENERGY Speaking darkly of a conventional energy future, Scheer lists the associated “crises” as follows: 1. The threat of global climate change is increasingly evident. Paleoclimatology studies indicate that the world has previously experienced climate changes, and some have occurred quite abruptly. These previous climate changes were not caused by humans burning fossil fuels, but Scheer subscribes to the now prevailing view that the climate change underway now is almost certainly caused or exacerbated by the use of fossil fuels. A rapid and complete change to a non-polluting renewable energy regime may significantly mitigate the most adverse effects of global warming. 2. Reserves of oil and gas, especially the reserves that can be extracted relatively effortlessly and cost-effectively, will be depleted in just a few decades. The majority of those reserves are in countries that are politically hostile or unstable, or both. There is evidence that the presence of such increasingly scarce and valuable resources leads, almost inevitably, to authoritarian, corrupt, and often unstable political regimes. The increasing dependence of the rest of the world on the dwindling supply of oil and gas imposes military costs far beyond what consumers pay at the gas pump. The necessity of maintaining a continuous military presence in the countries and regions where such reserves are located also contributes to the reactionary rage that leads to acts of terrorism. 3. Underdeveloped countries whose populations suffer most from poverty must also pay the ever-increasing costs of importing fossil fuels to support their nascent industries and ongoing agricultural activity. The economic impacts of increasing prices of imported fuel weigh more heavily on such countries, and the poor people of such countries, than upon the more advanced countries and their populations. 220 ENERGY LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 29:217 4. The threat of the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the prospect that such weapons will become available to ‘rogue’ nations or terrorist organizations are the most serious threats to world security and peace. And yet, a key feature of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is that any country without nuclear weapons that promises not to develop or acquire such weapons is guaranteed technological and financial support to develop nuclear energy. Scheer asserts that whoever possesses the essential components of the nuclear fuel cycle, that is, reactors and the opportunity to enrich uranium and reprocess nuclear fuel, is just a few quick steps away from possessing nuclear weapons. (Witness the current concern over Iran’s development of nuclear power). Thus, proliferation of nuclear energy gravely increases the risk of proliferation of nuclear weapons. 5. Both fossil-fueled and nuclear power plants use prodigious amounts of water, far more than is widely known by the general public, and thus contribute greatly to a growing crisis over the lack of adequate water supply in many parts of the world. 6. The use of fossil-fueled energy for farming and the increasing use of petroleum-based fertilizers are leading to a

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