Acting in Time on Energy Policy

Edited by Kelly Gallagher

Narrated by Susan Ericksen

Approximately 4 hours

Unabridged

$18.00

July

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Book published by Brookings Institution Press

Energy policy is on everyone's mind these days. The U.S. presidential campaign focused on energy independence and exploration ("Drill, baby, drill!"), climate change, alternative fuels, even nuclear energy. But there is a serious problem endemic to America's energy challenges. Policymakers tend to do just enough to satisfy political demands but not enough to solve the real problems, and they wait too long to act. The resulting policies are overly reactive, enacted once damage is already done, and they are too often incomplete, incoherent, and ineffectual. Given the gravity of current economic, geopolitical, and environmental concerns, this is more unacceptable than ever. This important volume details this problem, making clear the unfortunate results of such short-sighted thinking, and it proposes measures to overcome this counterproductive tendency.

All of the contributors to Acting in Time on Energy Policy are affiliated with Harvard University and rank among America's pre-eminent energy policy analysts. They tackle important questions as they pertain to specific areas of energy policy: Why are these components of energy policy so important? How would "acting in time" — i.e. not waiting until politics demands action — make a difference? What should our policy actually be? We need to get energy policy right this time — Gallagher and her colleagues help lead the way.

Kelly Gallagher is Director of the Energy Technology Innovation Policy (ETIP) research group at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Adjunct Lecturer in the Kennedy School of Government. She has a M.A.L.D. and Ph.D. in International Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and an A.B. in international affairs and environmental studies from Occidental College. She is an international member of the Task Force on Innovation for the China Council International Cooperation on Environment and Development. She speaks Spanish and basic Mandarin Chinese. Her new book, China Shifts Gears: Automakers, Oil, Pollution, and Development, is available from The MIT Press.

Susan Ericksen (narrator) has narrated more than a hundred audiobooks for major companies and is the winner of multiple Earphones Awards (AudioFile).