ABOUT THE BOOK

THE FUTURE OF RELIABLE AND SECURE ELECTRIC POWER

Providing reliable and secure electric power to meet the growing demands of this century, and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, is a daunting challenge. The situation has given rise to increased interest in the potential for distributed power systems (DPS): a combination of distributed sources of power production and distributed energy storage. This study examines the economic, environmental, and energy security case for DPS.

Scholars from the Brookings Institution's Energy Security Initiative and the Hoover Institution's Task Force on Energy Policy offer recommendations for ensuring the security and sustainability of our electricity system now and for future generations through the greater deployment of DPS. Their report provides a comprehensive survey of the current technology and policy landscape of DPS and offers suggestions for its most effective use in civilian and military settings, along with warnings on its possible pitfalls. They discuss the current economic, environmental, and energy security costs and benefits of DPS, the policies and regulations currently in place to promote DPS and their effectiveness, the potential benefits of increased penetration of DPS and the barriers to achieving them, and what federal and state governments can do to further encourage DPS.

CONTRIBUTORS: John Banks, Jeremy Carl, David Fedor, Kevin Massy, Pedram Mokrian, Jelena Simjanovic, David Slayton, Amy Guy Wagner, Lisa Wood

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeremy Carl is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a member of the Shultz-Stephenson Task Force on Energy Policy. His work focuses on energy and environmental policy, with an emphasis on energy security and global fossil fuel markets. Before coming to Hoover, Carl was a research fellow at the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford and a visiting fellow in resource and development economics at the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi, India. His writing and expertise have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and many other publications. He holds degrees in history and public policy from Yale and Harvard Universities.

REVIEWS

"This book performs a real service in advancing our understanding of distributed power and the contribution it can make as we move to a more efficient clean energy economy."
—Senator Jeff Bingaman, former chairman, US Senate Energy Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

"This book is an invaluable reference for policymakers, scholars, and businesses looking to understand the complex landscape of distributed power and the challenges and opportunities it presents in the new energy economy."
—Andy Karsner, chairman, Manifest Energy, and former assistant secretary of energy for energy efficiency and renewable energy (2006-8)

PREVIEW

Distributed Power in the United States: Prospects and Policies, Edited by Jeremy Carl by Hoover Institution