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Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future Kindle Edition

by Saul Griffith (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 253 ratings
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An optimistic--but realistic and feasible--action plan for fighting climate change while creating new jobs and a healthier environment: electrify everything.

Climate change is a planetary emergency. We have to do something now—but what? Saul Griffith has a plan. In Electrify, Griffith lays out a detailed blueprint—optimistic but feasible—for fighting climate change while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. Griffith’s plan can be summed up simply: electrify everything. He explains exactly what it would take to transform our infrastructure, update our grid, and adapt our households to make this possible. Billionaires may contemplate escaping our worn-out planet on a private rocket ship to Mars, but the rest of us, Griffith says, will stay and fight for the future. 
 
Griffith, an engineer and inventor, calls for grid neutrality, ensuring that households, businesses, and utilities operate as equals; we will have to rewrite regulations that were created for a fossil-fueled world, mobilize industry as we did in World War II, and offer low-interest “climate loans.” Griffith’s plan doesn’t rely on big, not-yet-invented innovations, but on thousands of little inventions and cost reductions. We can still have our cars and our houses—but the cars will be electric and solar panels will cover our roofs. For a world trying to bounce back from a pandemic and economic crisis, there is no other project that would create as many jobs—up to twenty-five million, according to one economic analysis. Is this politically possible? We can change politics along with everything else.
 
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  1. Print length
    269 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    The MIT Press
  5. Publication date
    October 12, 2021
  6. File size
    9505 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Longlisted for the getAbstract "Business Impact" Award

"One of the most quietly revolutionary policy books I’ve ever read."
—Derek Thompson, The Atlantiic

“I don’t think anyone else has quite so credibly laid out a realistic plan for swift action in the face of an existential crisis.” 
—Bill McKibben, New York Review of Books

"... the book demands attention." 
—Nature

"Surprisingly optimistic, realistic, and persuasive."
 —Kirkus (Starred)

"It’s very clear, it’s very practical, it’s very possiblist."
 —Five Books

Review

“I don’t think anyone else has quite so credibly laid out a realistic plan for swift action in the face of an existential crisis.” — Bill McKibben, New York Review of Books

"... the book demands attention." — Nature

"Surprisingly optimistic, realistic, and persuasive." — Kirkus (Starred)

"It’s very clear, it’s very practical, it’s very possiblist." — Five Books

“The great thing about Electrify is that it zeroes in on two of the most urgent issues we face in coping with climate change and dodging the onrushing mass extinction event: how to transform our energy supply to clean renewables as quickly as possible and, crucially, how to pay for that work. The combination, as outlined by Griffith, is an inspiring and even exhilarating experience to witness. Read it and see!”
—Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the Mars trilogy and The Ministry for the Future
 
“A radical but realistic take on the new direction of infrastructure, investment, and production, Electrify is required reading for an economy-wide green transition in the USA.”
—Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value, University College London; author of Mission Economy
 
 A visionary book on tackling the climate crisis. Saul Griffith is ahead of the curve when it comes to the solutions we need now.”
—Leah Stokes, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara
 
“Yes we can! The complete assembly instructions for a desirable future with a good climate are inside this book. What a joy to read this clear and crisp thinking. It’s electrifying.”
—Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick, Wired magazine

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08SW9GPV8
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The MIT Press (October 12, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 12, 2021
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 9505 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 269 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 253 ratings

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Saul Griffith

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
253 global ratings
Book received, in good shape
4 Stars
Book received, in good shape
The book titled Electrify-Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future arrived today and it is in good shape, though one month later than expected. Thanks anyway.
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Top reviews from the United States

Whistler11
5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading for Anyone Looking to Understand Real World Solutions
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2023
Verified Purchase
Saul Griffith has crafted an entirely readable and incredibly well researched ( and documented ) book that makes a compelling case for the need to electrify everything now. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by climate doom, this book will provide a refreshing dose of optimism and actionable steps you can take to help secure a sustainable and just future for everyone. Highly recommend.
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Howard Hoffman
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, one major flaw
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2023
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This book is an outstanding source of data on the #1 key to solving climate change, eliminating most uses of fossil fuels. The author's proposed solutions are generally exactly what we need: electrify everything. That means we need to convert to electric vehicles (already happening but not fast enough) and electric heating (with heat pumps, for both buildings and for hot water). As an "Optimist's Playbook for our Clean Energy Future", Saul Griffith correctly asserts that we already have the technology to make the transition away from fossil fuels and that we will ultimately save money, as a country, doing so. The Appendixes in the book contain lots of excellent additional information that Griffith thought was too technical to be included in the body of the book. He wryly calls the Appendixes "Rabbit Holes". In one of the Appendixes he addresses Carbon Taxes, something he dismisses in Chapter 1 with "it's too late for carbon taxes". That is what I consider the major flaw to the book. Griffith dismisses the politics of solving climate change in the US. Well, a carbon tax in the form of Carbon Fee and Dividend, as has been proposed by the Citizens' Climate Lobby and some other groups (and has been introduced as legislation in the US House of Representatives) would be the politically feasible way to accomplish everything that Griffith has proposed. The US cannot give out enough subsidies as was in President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act to solve the problem. Regulation could solve the problem, but given the political realities in the US, regulation would take too long and given US politics, there would be endless struggles over the details. Carbon Fee and Dividend would be a huge boost to most of the country and is the most important first step to getting greater electrification of everything.
5 people found this helpful
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Michael Falls
4.0 out of 5 stars Important Read
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2022
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Electrify is filled with excellent, workable and frequently feasible ideas for solving the energy/climate crisis. The book should be read and applied by those concerned and engaged in the problem, which is pretty much all of us.
BUT, regardless of how much the author glosses over or ignores many realities, there is a lot of "pie in the sky" here. Some political realities will not be overcome, further, as I read the book I became somewhat unconvinced of the possibilities, not just politically, but physically. I particularly question how soon we can actually electrify all cars, among other solutions presented, without far more heavy disruptions than Griffith allows for.
If there is one biggest issue that presents itself here, and in all discussion of climate change, and I'm a believer saying this, it is that a large percentage of the public, perhaps a majority, doesn't believe in how serious the issue is, and for that many are to blame for not explaining it in a lucid, cogent manner, and simply disregarding their lack of understanding. Griffith, and others like him have a ways to go to pull that off, and if you read this work, you'll likely see why.
6 people found this helpful
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Robin Norton
5.0 out of 5 stars Optimistic Future
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2024
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One of the best books i have read in quite awhile. In a fact based (and interesting) manner outlines where the world stands in terms of energy use, and what we can do about it. We CAN solve climate change and make our world significantly better. I like that it goes from world level statistics to what I can do today... right now.
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Carolyn
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2023
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This book was recommended to me, and after reading, I purchased 3 more and gave them as gifts. Very enjoyable read, fascinating information, and good plan laid out to reduce utility bills and carbons by shifting to electrifying, well everything!
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Thomas E. Moore
5.0 out of 5 stars We have to make our best effort at this
Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2022
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This is an excellent explanatory summary of all the considerations that favor electrifying everything we currently power with fossil fuels.
This book will be appreciated by anyone interested in the interplay between energy and environment. It’s somewhat technical in places, but not so much that it is impenetrable to the non-technical reader.
I don’t really have any serious problems with it, as it strikes the right balance between motivation and depth of detail, with references provided for those seeking to go deeper.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Wes
5.0 out of 5 stars Electrify
Reviewed in Canada on December 22, 2021
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Well written. Excellent reading for everyone.
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jungle
4.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading!
Reviewed in Australia on January 13, 2023
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We all need to know what we must do to address global pollution & warming to provide a healthy habitat for all current and future life on our planet. So much to do and it needs to be done quickly!
A must read for everyone ... so that we can all do good things within our capacity to do so.
Unfortunately, it is very United States of America oriented, but everyone and every political jurisdiction and locality on the planet needs to apply the thinking to their location and take action as soon as possible.
A bit technical in parts, but he is providing information for economists, business leaders, political leaders, as well as the general public (like me) who can get the gist of what he is saying and start taking action now.
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Peter Wang
4.0 out of 5 stars would have given it 5
Reviewed in Australia on January 21, 2023
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But then I realised what's good for America is not good for the world. Oops.
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Peter Beurle
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Plan
Reviewed in Australia on December 19, 2021
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An interesting read and reflection of the path we are on. It seems well researched and the author mostly avoids politics of this topic. I am not sure the WWII benchmarks are applicable, this about leadership rather than defence. As China, India and many others are not committed the benefit would be cheaper energy and we don't need subsidised loans to get us there. In my experience these transition are unstoppable once they get going and electrification is definitely under way.

There is a lot of images of graphs and sankey diagrams that are mostly unreadable on the electronic version. Maybe the publisher made the images low res to avoid amazon charges?
2 people found this helpful
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