[BOOK REVIEW] (Battery) power to the people

Wind power and solar power have the added drawback of being intermittent and unpredictable. A town that relied entirely on solar or wind power would suffer constant service interruptions and wild fluctuations in output, which is why both technologies must be used in conjunction with traditional fossil-fuel generators.

Bryce lands one telling blow after another, but he favors a slashing, ad-hominem style of attack that can undercut his credibility, especially when he moves away from economics and technology and ventures into politics, an arena to which he brings no particular expertise. He employs a peculiar, almost actuarial assessment of the risk posed by terrorism, which he compares to random events like lightning strikes. This completely misses the point about the threat posed by radical Islam. Using the word "neocon" seems to be enough, for him, to discredit an argument or an opponent.

Fortunately, the book steers back to the high road at the end, when Bryce suggests that there is some light at the end of the tunnel, some of it solar-powered. Within modest limits, he argues, solar power can play a bigger role in meeting energy needs, especially with new technology that transforms infrared light into electricity. Algae look promising as a source of biodiesel.

The major environmental groups may even, eventually, see the point of nuclear power, "the only sector that has enough momentum and enough capital behind it to make a significant dent in the overall use of fossil fuels."

Bryce's pet idea, though, is something that does not exist - a superbattery capable of storing large quantities of electricity. As the magic wand to bring this "silver bullet" into existence Bryce proposes a Superbattery Prize awarded either by the Energy Department or private foundations: US$1 billion, say, for a compact, affordable system that can store multiple kilowatt-hours, and US$10 billion for a system that can store megawatt-hours. The hard-nosed Bryce reveals himself in the end as something of a visionary and perhaps even a revolutionary.