Renewable Energy Summer Reading List

OK, kids. Time to scribble down a list of all those books you’ve been meaning to read, grab a towel and head for the beach. Who needs U.S. Weekly, trashy romance novels or (God forbid) fiction, when you’ve got a slew of great titles on coal, corporate social responsibility, climate change and investing in the cleantech sector? I sure don’t!

I’ve come up with five titles, here. I’ll look to you, our readers, to come up with at least five more to make a solid summer list of ten.

1. Architectures for Agreement: Addressing Global Climate Change in the Post-Kyoto World, Joseph Aldy and Robert Stavins, eds.

I’m about halfway through this book, which is proving to be a great, up-to-date survey of post-Kyoto outlooks from some of the subject’s leading thinkers. In addition to their other endeavors, Aldy and Stavins are both involved with Resources for the Future, an independent policy think tank based in Washington, DC.

If you want to improve your understanding of the international cooperation problem presented by climate change, this is your book. Its contributing authors provide critical assessments of the Kyoto Protocol while putting forth policy recommendations that either improve on the current approach or suggest alternatives means of cutting greenhouse gas emissions. To boot, its introduction is written by Lawrence Summers, whom can always be relied upon for insightful/interesting guidance…

2. Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage, by Daniel Esty and Andrew WInston

I can’t speak to this 2006 title from personal experience, but it does come strongly recommended from a good friend of mine. Apparently he’s not alone:

“Environment and sustainability issues have become an important focus in business generally and in the financial world in particular. Green to Gold is rich with both big-picture thinking and practical ”how-to” suggestions that will help bankers, analysts, fund managers, and investors stay on top of the ”green wave.””—Larry Linden, Advisory Director, Goldman Sachs

“Green to Gold is a must read for anyone interested in investing in the vast emerging environmental markets.”—Mark McGough, President and CEO, Pentadyne Power Corporation

“Green to Gold provides the definitive thinking on how business leaders can address environmental issues in the new economy, a world where companies win by integrating company strategies with social challenges, rather than treating economic and social as separate and different.”—Michael E. Porter, Professor, Harvard Business School

3. The Clean Tech Revolution: The Next Big Growth and Investment Opportunity, by Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder

OK, to be fair, this book actually came out in 2007, and I read it last summer. But it remains a great introduction to the world of clean tech investing. Co-written by Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder, both of Clean Edge, a cleantech consulting firm, the book provides useful info on market fundamentals and eight main areas of the cleantech sector: solar energy, wind power, biofuels and biomaterials, green buildings, personal transportation, smart electricity grids, mobile technologies and water filtration. If you want to get a taste of what to expect, you can download PDFs of the book’s Introduction and the entire chapter on solar energy, which in my opinion is really cool.

4. Coal: A Human History, by Barbara Freese

First there was that book on cod. Then there was another one about salt. Both books, along with others, followed in the footsteps of Sydney Mintz’s seminal book, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. It goes without saying that our lives, and our livelihood, are intrinsically bound to such commodities. Coal—which powered our first wave of industrialization, arguably improving the lives of million—threatens to undue us if its use isn’t moderated or, at least, altered. While I’ve yet to crack the cover, Freese’s 2004 book promises to be a compelling biography of king coal.

5. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by William McDonough and Michael Barungart

So this is one of those books that’s been on my “to read” list for a couple of years. But this time around, it will happen. I will read it this summer. I will. I will not fall asleep on my beach towel after eating three hotdogs, a burger and half a bag of potato chips… Here’s Amazon’s review:

Paper or plastic? Neither, say William McDonough and Michael Braungart. Why settle for the least harmful alternative when we could have something that is better–say, edible grocery bags! In Cradle to Cradle, the authors present a manifesto calling for a new industrial revolution, one that would render both traditional manufacturing and traditional environmentalism obsolete. Recycling, for instance, is actually “downcycling,” creating hybrids of biological and technical “nutrients” which are then unrecoverable and unusable. The authors, an architect and a chemist, want to eliminate the concept of waste altogether, while preserving commerce and allowing for human nature. They offer several compelling examples of corporations that are not just doing less harm–they’re actually doing some good for the environment and their neighborhoods, and making more money in the process. Cradle to Cradle is a refreshing change from the intractable environmental conflicts that dominate headlines. It’s a handbook for 21st-century innovation and should be required reading for business hotshots and environmental activists. –Therese Littleto

Happy reading! And don’t forget to post your suggestions!