The Power Surge

by Michael Levi

‘The Power Surge’ is a great book about the dynamics of energy in America, and in the world. For anyone who wants to have a complete understanding of the main trends in the energy world, this is a wonderful read. The main argument of the book is that there is a longtime stark contrast between left-wing policies that support developing alternative energy sources, and right-wing policies that stress the importance of expanding fossil fuel resources domestically. Levi argues it may well be optimal to do both: find more oil and gas resources to become independent of fossil resources in the Middle East and Russia, and at the same time develop renewable energy resources to avert catastrophic climate change.

The book is full of interesting details explaining the what determines the price oil, the onset of new technologies and why the keystone pipeline would break the constraints set by climate change. Being a play on words, the book also deals with political power. Levi doesn’t shy topics like energy independence, nuclear energy, and the battle for which view will dominate the vision of America’s energy future.

The book is published in 2013, and has an epilogue from 2014. Between those two dates of writing, a lot had changed. America had dramatically expanded its oil and gas output, and the status of electric cars had grown from scarcely existent to small but promising. Since then, a lot has changed too. I feel some gratitude for reading this book, because studying climate change for my PhD since 2012 has made all these changes seem slow. But they have not been.

I wonder how Levi’s views had changed because of the book. For one thing, he would not have made the claim that whatever production America achieved, it would scarcely affect the price oil because OPEC would just close the tap to reduce supply and keep prices constant (a policy it had for a long time until then maintained). In the past two years American oil and gas output increases have caused Saudi Arabia to turn open the tap and make sure oil prices have plummeted in attempt to extend the age of oil. And there have been other changes too. Solar prices continued to fall of a cliff, and we have seen political leaders come together in Paris for an agreement on climate change. The promise of electric cars and solar already described in the book has continued to surprise.

My guess is that Levi would not change his main arguments had he rewritten the book today. It is all the more impressive to find constant wisdom in a subject where the world as swiftly changing perspectives as in energy. I may not agree with all of it, for instance I do not think expansion of domestic oil drilling is smart from a climate perspective. But it´s a lot better than coal, and I do agree with his vision of a diverse energy portfolio including natural gas as a backup to renewable energy generation, as we are hopefully experiencing the onset of a renewable energy future. I can warmly recommend this book to anyone who likes to learn about the wider dynamics of energy and of power.