Who Turned Out the Lights?: Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis

Who Turned Out the Lights?: Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis

Who Turned Out the Lights?: Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis

Who Turned Out the Lights?: Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis

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Overview

Who Turned Out the Lights? is an entertaining and nonpartisan guide to the current U.S. energy crisis from Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, coauthors of the breakout bestseller Where Does the Money Go? At once light-hearted and fun—like Jon Stewart’s America: The Book and Stephen Colbert’s I am America (and So Can You!)—and deadly serious, Who Turned Out the Lights? helps readers understand what’s really at stake in the energy debate, an intelligent answer to the partisan Capital Hill squabbling between the “Drill, Baby, Drill” and “Every Day is Earth Day” lobbies.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780061715648
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 10/27/2009
Pages: 339
Product dimensions: 5.26(w) x 8.02(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

Scott Bittle is an award-winning journalist, policy analyst, and web producer who has written extensively about the federal budget, energy, and foreign policy.

Jean Johnson writes frequently about public opinion and public policy and is the author of You Can’t Do It Alone, a book on how parents, teachers, and students see education issues. Both authors are senior fellows at Public Agenda and blog frequently for the Huffington Post, National Geographic, and other outlets.


Scott Bittle is an award-winning journalist, policy analyst, and web producer who has written extensively about the federal budget, energy, and foreign policy.

Jean Johnson writes frequently about public opinion and public policy and is the author of You Can’t Do It Alone, a book on how parents, teachers, and students see education issues. Both authors are senior fellows at Public Agenda and blog frequently for the Huffington Post, National Geographic, and other outlets.

Table of Contents

Preface: Where We're Coming From xv

Chapter 1 Six Reasons the United States Needs to Get Its Energy Act Together 1

Playing the Blame Game

The Great Energy Debate Pop Quiz

Suppose People in China Really Start Living the Way We Do

Chapter 2 Groundhog Day, or Haven't We Seen This Movie Before? 24

America's Energy Chronicles, or How We Got to Where We Are Today

Chapter 3 Giving the Voters What They Want 36

Chapter 4 Seemed Like a Good idea at the Time, or How Three Flawed Ideas Could Get Us Off Track 43

A Message to Our Readers

Chapter 5 The Basics: Ten Facts You Need to Know 57

The Great All-in-One Fossil Fuel Centerfold

Chapter 6 Double, Double, Oil, and Trouble 81

Peak Oil, or When Will We Run Out?

The Return of Snidely Whiplash: Are Evil Speculators to Blame?

Chapter 7 You Load Sixteen Tons and What Do You Get? 110

Clean Coal: The Ad Wars

Chapter 8 It's All Right Now (In Fact, It's a Gas) 129

Chapter 9 Time for the Nuclear Option? 141

Chernobyl and Three Mile Island: Twice-Told Tales

Chapter 10 As Long as the Wind Blows and the Sun Shines 162

Dam It: Hydroelectric Power

Looking for the Newest Hot Spots: Geothermal Power

Grid and Bear It: Why the United States Needs a New Electricity Grid

Chapter 11 No Place Like [an Energy-Efficient] Home 193

Are We Looking to Live in All the Wrong Places?

On the Rebound: Why More Efficiency Doesn't

Always Save Energy

Chapter 12 Driven to Distraction 211

The Big Bang Theory of Auto Safety

Take Your Pick: Food or Fuel?

Chapter 13 Looking for Mr. Wizard 235

Green-Collar Jobs, You Say? Name Some

Chapter 14 Sitting on Top of the World247

Setting theGlobal Thermostat: How to Tell if We're Really

Making Progress on Climate Change

Chapter 15 So Now What? Ideas from the Left, Right, and Center 261

This Little Piggy Went to Market; This Little Piggy Passed Laws

President Obama's Promises

Chapter 16 The Reality Show 292

Acknowledgments 301

Notes 303

What People are Saying About This

Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder

“In this clear, concise, and accessible book, Bittle and Johnson go beyond name calling and finger pointing and take a refreshing middle ground. It’s an invaluable read for anyone interested in our energy past, present, and future.”

Antonia Juhasz

“How far will we go to satisfy our oil addiction, and who will decide our energy future? If you want in on this discussion, then this book is for you. There are also real solutions available right now; all we have to do is listen, learn, and act.”

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