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Introduction
Over the last several decades, governments have collectively pledged to slow global warming. But despite intensified diplomacy, the world is already facing the consequences of climate…
The Power Surge
Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America's Future
A groundbreaking analysis of what the changes in American energy mean for the economy, national security, and the environment.
- Book
- Foreign policy analyses written by CFR fellows and published by the trade presses, academic presses, or the Council on Foreign Relations Press.
Everything we once knew about American energy seems to be changing," writes Michael A. Levi, CFR senior fellow and director of the program on energy security and climate change, in The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America's Future. "The United States can strengthen its economy, improve national security, and confront climate change if it intelligently embraces the historic gains unfolding all across the energy landscape."
In his new book, Levi offers an intricate portrayal of the rapidly evolving American energy landscape—one defined by surging oil and gas production, a thriving renewable energy industry, and falling oil consumption—and illuminates the consequences of these changes for the economy, national security, and the environment.
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The book includes on-the-ground reporting and eye-opening analysis of the country's energy choices, cutting through heated claims made by all sides in America's energy fights. On natural gas, Levi writes: "People who claim that natural gas can propel the U.S. economy in the twenty-first century, if only pesky environmentalists and other concerned citizens lay off, are exaggerating the benefits of the shale gas bonanza. But one needn't exaggerate on this front to conclude that shale gas is a big deal. Indeed the potential consequences go well beyond economics."
Levi's book debunks the idea that the fight over America's energy future is a zero-sum game between old and new sources of energy. "The right strategy for the United States would embrace opportunities in old and new energy alike," he concludes.
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Educators: Access Teaching Notes for The Power Surge.
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In the News
Michael Levi on <i>Marketplace</i>A CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Michael Levi at the New America FoundationA CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Bloomberg: Pushing Past the Prius Toward an All-Electric CarA CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Bloomberg: More U.S. Oil Probably Won't Destroy the ClimateA CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Bloomberg: Why More U.S. Oil May Not Mean Cheaper U.S. GasA CFR Book. Oxford University Press
WNYC: <i>The Power Surge</i> as Weekend ReadingA CFR Book. Oxford University Press
<i>Atlantic</i>: What If We Never Run Out of Oil?A CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Michael Levi on <i>On Point</i> with Tom AshbrookA CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Michael Levi on <i>Bloomberg Surveillance</i>A CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Michael Levi on <i>WSJ Live</i>A CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Michael Levi on <i>Platts Energy Week</i>A CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Michael Levi on C-SPAN's <i>Washington Journal</i>A CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Michael Levi on HuffPost LiveA CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Q&A with Michael Levi on Smithsonian.comA CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Q&A with Michael Levi on Time.comA CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Michael Levi on CSPAN-2 Book TV discussing <i>The Power Surge</i>A CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Interview with the <i>Washington Post</i>'s WonkblogA CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Michael Levi and Peter Orszag on America's Energy FutureA CFR Book. Oxford University Press