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In lively and engaging language, this book describes our dependence on freight transport and its vulnerability to diminishing supplies and high prices of oil. Ships, trucks, and trains are the backbone of civilization, hauling the goods that fulfill our every need and desire. Their powerful, highly-efficient diesel combustion engines are exquisitely fine-tuned to burn petroleum-based diesel fuel. These engines and the fuels that fire them have been among the most transformative yet disruptive technologies on the planet. Although this transportation revolution has allowed many of us to fill our homes with global goods even a past emperor would envy, our era of abundance, and the freight transport system in particular, is predicated on the affordability and high energy density of a single fuel, oil. This book explores alternatives to this finite resource including other liquid fuels, truck and locomotive batteries and utility-scale energy storage technology, and various forms of renewable electricity to support electrified transport. Transportation also must adapt to other challenges: Threats from climate change, financial busts, supply-chain failure, and transportation infrastructure decay. Robert Hirsch, who wrote the “Peaking of World Oil Production” report for the U.S. Department of Energy in 2005, said that planning for peak world production must start at least 10, if not 20 years ahead of time. What little planning exists focuses mainly on how to accommodate 30 percent more economic growth while averting climate change, ignoring the possibility that we are at, or near, the end of growth. Taken for granted, the modern transportation system will not endure forever. The time is now to take a realistic and critical look at the choices ahead, and how the future of transportation may unfold.
It is often assumed that think tanks carry enormous weight with lawmakers and other key stakeholders. In Do Think Tanks Matter? Donald Abelson argues that the question of how think tanks have evolved and under what conditions they can and do have an impact continues to be ignored. Think tank directors often credit their institutes with influencing major policy debates and government legislation, and many journalists and scholars believe the explosion of think tanks since the latter part of the twentieth century is indicative of their growing importance in the policy-making process. Abelson goes beyond assumptions, highlighting both the visibility and relevance of public policy institutes in what has become a contentious and polarized political arena in the United States, and in Canada, where, despite recent growth in numbers, they enjoy less prominence than their US counterparts. By focusing on how think tanks engage in issue articulation, policy formation, and implementation, Abelson argues that they have helped to shape the political dialogue and the policy preferences and choices of decision-makers, but in different ways and at different stages of the policy cycle. This expanded and revised third edition includes additional institutional profiles of key think tanks, an updated chapter on presidents and think tanks, a new chapter on the efforts of a group of public policy institutes to shape the discourse around the possible construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, and dozens of new graphs and tables that track the public visibility and perceived policy relevance or impact of top-tier think tanks.
The complex dynamics of the world energy market make it virtually impossible to map clearly the contours of the emerging global scenario. However, realistic trend evaluation, risk assessment, change management strategies and provision for eventualities are imperatives for nations, organizations and companies that have a major stake in the energy industry. Uncertainties may originate from many quarters-geopolitical factors, market forces, energy security issues, environmental and safety concerns. These risk factors call for careful analysis and effective solutions. ECSSR's Eighth Annual Energy Conference, held in Abu Dhabi from October 19-20, 2002 assembled a panel of energy experts to identify and assess the major risks and uncertainties affecting the global energy market. The conference presentations contained in this book shed light on issues such as geopolitical and military risks, supply disruptions, accidents and contingencies, infrastructure constraints, price fluctuations, market uncertainties and technical challenges. For both energy producers and consumers there are valuable guidelines on minimizing foreseeable risks through techniques such as energy supply diversification, import reduction moves, developing alternative energy sources, building strategic links with suppliers, signing regional cooperation agreements, maintaining oil stockpiling, implementing pricing strategies, enhancing energy conservation, increasing energy efficiency and countering speculative trading.