The Hidden Cleantech Revolution: Five priorities for securing America’s energy future – without breaking the bank, John A. Moore (CEO of Acorn Energy) and Toby Shute, Energy Publishers of America (2010).

Co-author John A. Moore is the CEO of Acorn Energy, which is in the smart energy infrastructure business. Accordingly, this book might be seen as marketing copy versus an objective analysis. And from all indications, it has probably not been widely read.

That's too bad, because "The Hidden Cleantech Revolution" is concise (134 pages), readable, and covers a lot of ground. Not only does the book provide some common sense perspectives on energy policy, but it might also serve as a useful source of technical ideas (to be pursued by consulting more detailed sources).

Instead of arguments about the manmade global warming theory and such, the focus is on ideas for making the most of the country's current energy infrastructure. "If we are to dream of replacing [fossil fuels] and maintaining our quality of life, we had better be sure not to throw the baby out with the bathwater."

Cleantech rests on six premises: (1) Our energy infrastructure is vast. Consider two statistics: Asset value of the US electricity infrastructure alone exceeds $800 billion. Oil and gas industry contributes roughly $1 trillion annually to US gross domestic product. (2) Energy transition is inherently slow. "We simply will not derive the majority of our electricity, let alone our total primary energy supply, from renewables in 10 or 20 years." (3) The slow transition away from today's dominant fuels will be powered by these same fuels. After all, if we do not maintain a strong US economy, how are we going to afford the transition? (4) We need to get more out of what we've got. "A smarter grid is more reliable. A smarter oil field is more productive. A smarter coal plant is cleaner. A smarter nuclear plant is safer." (5) The Hidden Cleantech Revolution is the bigger story. Although energy may appear to be a "decidedly high-technology business," Information Technology (IT) has not "penetrated the sector nearly as deeply as it could." IT-based solutions are capital light, and they can leverage the massive base of existing infrastructure. (6) Silicon scales much better than steel. This is a catchy variation on point 5. What it means: in a modern economy, there is a far bigger payoff from economies of connection than from economies of scale. Consider that Google, founded in 1998, has a larger market capitalization than the five largest US utilities put together.

Moving on to specifics, this book provides an overview of numerous Cleantech energy technologies, most of which are rated using the following formula: (1) Clean score (0 to 25); (2) Safety Score (0 to 25); (3) Reliability Score (0 to 25); (4) Affordability Score (0 to 25); (5) Degree Proven (0 to 100%); (6) Likely Near-term Impact (0 to 100%); (7) Total Score [(1+2+3+4) x 5 x 6].

Although the resulting rankings seem reasonable, some educated guesswork is obviously involved. Thus, how do the authors know that the "likely near-term impact" of Energy Storage systems is 15% rather than, say, 100% (which would raise the total score from 6 to 40)?

In terms of relative efficacy, the authors reach the following conclusions about the technologies reviewed. Notice that some well-publicized ideas are scored very low, while some ideas most people have never heard of are highly rated.

GETTING MORE FROM THE [ELECTRIC] GRID: Demand response (85); Distribution automation (81); Smart vegetation management (72); Dynamic rating (67.5); Smart meters (7.5);

Energy storage (6).

GETTING MORE FROM OIL AND GAS: Seismic exploration (100); The digital oilfield (100); Enhanced oil recovery (75); Shale fracturing (74); In situ oil sands production (67.5); Data acquisition (62).

GETTING MORE FROM COAL: Cleaning up combustion (90); Smart mines (85.5); Reengineering the coal plant (50); Carbon capture and sequestration (0).

GETTING MORE FROM NUCLEAR: Cranking up capacity (100); Mega-project management (85.5); Modularity (67.5).

SAFETY, SECURITY & RESILIENCE:: Deepwater drilling (85); Critical infrastructure protection (64); Energy independence versus energy security (accept imports, focus on keeping supply lines open); Resilience (prevent major mishaps when possible, but have the capability to mitigate and recover if they occur).