More and more people believe we must quickly wean ourselves from fossil fuelsy to save the planet from environmental catastrophe, wars and economic collapse,'' thus starts Jaccard's quest for a clean, enduring, sustainable and feasible energy future. In the process, he defines what different people mean by sustainability, a rather amorphous concept. Jaccard's own definition, however, is rather simple. Sustainability implies that it must be enduring and environmentally benign.
The book's starting point, and central question, is to examine what has come to pass as accepted dogma, that we must get off our fossil fuel addiction-or else. Depending on who is pontificating, the path to salvation is a swift switch to renewable energy, nuclear power, energy conservation, or a combination. There are no alternatives, and the sooner we get on with the task the better.
Jaccard begins by examining the proclaimed imminent end of the fossil fuel age and, to his surprise, finds many flaws in the arguments, unfounded assumptions, technical and factual inaccuracies and inconsistent arguments that makes him suspicious of the predictions of rapid resource exhaustion and environmental degradation. His first observation is that even under an accelerating energy demand scenario, there are plenty of fossil fuels to last us at least a century and perhaps far more-provided we use it judiciously and do not over-pollute the environment-certainly a big if.
Given this evidence, he next asks, ''Is it really necessary that we quickly reject fossil fuels?'' More importantly, he asks if it is possible-or even feasible-to do so? The answer, according to Jaccard, is that fossil fuels are not the problem but in fact a critical part of the solution. He concludes that, ''fossil fuels can continue to play a significant role in the global energy system in this century, and probably long beyond.'' The rest of the book, one might say, merely adds fodder to these basic questions and critical insights.
The arguments are organized into neat chapters, examining the business-as-usual path, focusing on primary and secondary sources of energy-where a significant distinction is made. Alternatives to the status quo, including energy conservation, renewable energy and nuclear power, are examined in some detail. The results are, as one might suspect, that none are enough to make a big difference-at least in the short term. Other chapters dwell on forecasts of energy consumption and alternative means of meeting growing demand.