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This book is a reality check of where energy will come from in the future. Today, our economy is utterly dependent on fossil fuels. They are essential to transportation, manufacturing, farming, electricity, and to make fertilizers, cement, steel, roads, cars, and half a million other products.

One day, sooner or later, fossil fuels will no longer be abundant and affordable. Inevitably, one day, global oil production will decline. That time may be nearer than we realize. Some experts predict oil shortages as soon as 2022 to 2030. What then are our options for replacing the fossil fuels that turn the great wheel of civilization?

Surveying the arsenal of alternatives - wind, solar, hydrogen, geothermal, nuclear, batteries, catenary systems, fusion, methane hydrates, power2gas, wave, tidal power and biomass - this book examines whether they can replace or supplement fossil fuels.

The book also looks at substitute energy sources from the standpoint of the energy users.  Manufacturing, which uses half of fossil fuels, often requires very high heat, which in many cases electricity can't provide. Industry uses fossil fuels as a feedstock for countless products, and must find substitutes. And, as detailed in the author's previous book, "When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation," ships, locomotives, and heavy-duty trucks are fueled by diesel. What can replace diesel?

Taking off the rose-colored glasses, author Alice Friedemann analyzes our options. What alternatives should we deploy right now? Which technologies merit further research and development? Which are mere wishful thinking that, upon careful scrutiny, dematerialize before our eyes?

Fossil fuels have allowed billions of us to live like kings. Fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, we changed the equation constraining the carrying capacity of our planet. As fossil fuels peak and then decline, will we fall back to Earth? Are there viable alternatives?

Life after Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. We Are Running Out of Time.- Chapter 3. Wood World.- Chapter 4. We Are Alive Thanks to Fossil-fueled Fertilizer.- Chapter 5. Without Transportation, Civilization Ends.- Chapter 6. What Fuels Could Replace Diesel? .- Chapter 7. Why Not Electrify Commercial Transportation with Batteries?.- Chapter 8. Catenary Electric Trucks Running on Overhead Wires.- Chapter 9. Manufacturing Uses Over Half of All Fossil Energy.- Chapter 10. What Alternatives Can Replace Fossil-fueled Electricity Generation.- Chapter 11. Energy Storage: Excess Electricity from Solar and Wind Must Be Stored.- Chapter 12. Half a Million Products Are Made out of Fossil Fuels.- Chapter 13. And the Renewable Winner Is....- Chapter 14. Scale: How Much Biomass is Required to Replace Fossil Fuels?.- Chapter 15. Grow More Biomass: Where's the Land?.- Chapter 16. The Ground is Disappearing Beneath Our Feet.- Chapter 17. Grow More Biomass: Phosphorus Fertilizer.- Chapter 18. Grow More Biomass: Climate Change.- Chapter 19. Grow More Biomass: Dwindling Groundwater.- Chapter 20. Grow More Biomass: Vertical and Rooftop Farms.- Chapter 21. Grow More Biomass: Pesticides.- Chapter 22. Ethanol and Energy Return on Investment (EROI).- Chapter 23. Corn and Soy Are Supervillains.- Chapter 24. Corn Ethanol. Why?.- Chapter 25. Biodiesel from Algae.- Chapter 26. Fill 'er up with seaweed.- Chapter 27. The Problems with Cellulosic Ethanol Could Drive You to Drink.- Chapter 28. Biodiesel to Keep Trucks Running.- Chapter 29. Can We Eat Enough French Fries?.- Chapter 30. Combustion: Burn Baby Burn.- Chapter 31. Wood and Coal Steam Engines Started the Industrial Revolution.- Chapter 32. Wood Gas Generators.- Chapter 33. Conclusion: Do You Want to Eat, Drink, or Drive?