Blurbs
What business, energy and political leaders are saying about the book, The Grand Energy Transition: The Rise of Energy Gases, Sustainable Life and Growth, and the Next Great Economic Expansion
JOHN DEUTCH, Professor, Department of Chemistry, MIT; former director CIA, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Director of Energy Research, Department of Energy
“Robert Hefner has been right over the years on gas supply while many energy ‘experts’ have been suspicious, wrong, and not adequately attentive to the data and technical possibilities. Accordingly his vision about the future role of natural gas deserves serious consideration. He is almost certainly right that natural gas will play a much larger role than previously thought.”
CHRISTOPHER FLAVIN, President Emeritus, Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C.
“The GET: The Grand Energy Transition offers a compelling yet practical vision for solving the world’s energy problems. Robert Hefner has broken the mold of conventional wisdom by arguing that the road to a low carbon future is lined with natural gas – and by persuasively refuting the widely held assumption that ‘clean’ coal will prove an economically viable alternative. It is time for political leaders to understand that the combination of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and natural gas provides the kind of robust foundation that a sustainable energy system requires.”
HERMAN FRANSSEN, President, International Energy Associates Inc; past Chief Economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris
“In The Grand Energy Transition (The GET), Robert Hefner describes how the world can make a one−time evolutionary step from the unsustainable current and projected global energy mix to ’virtually limitless clean gaseous energy sources.’ Some energy experts might be dismissive about Hefner’s vision, but this author did not arrive at his conclusion in a vacuum. A third generation successful wildcatter and natural gas producer, Hefner has a history of proving the skeptics in the industry wrong. For decades, he argued against the U.S. government and industry pessimism about the future of U.S. natural gas production capacity and once again he has proved his critics wrong. I know of no other person who has consistently been so right about natural gas abundance. U.S. natural gas production has grown an astonishing 20 percent in the past five years due to the development of non-conventional natural gas at half the landed price of LNG in Asia. This well-written book, laced with interesting quotations from scholars, statesmen and philosophers, should be read by open-minded energy experts, policy makers, and the public at large.”
JON M. HUNTSMAN, JR., former Governor of Utah and former U.S. Ambassador to China
“Robert Hefner’s excellent book is an important contribution to today’s historic debate on our energy future. It is even more valuable coming from a longstanding practitioner.”
KISHORE MAHBUBANI, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) School of Public Policy, NUS and author of “The New Asian Hemisphere”
“The Grand Energy Transition is a timely and thoughtfully written book from one of the world’s leading energy entrepreneurs. The first decade of the twenty-first century may go down in history as the moment when the world woke up to the fact that the political, economic and environmental costs of its 150-year addiction to coal and oil could no longer be sustained and that a wholesale switch to an abundant and readily available alternative, natural gas, was the only viable way forward. This book provides the wake up call.”
JOSEPH S. NYE, JR., University Distinguished Service Professor, Harvard and author of “The Powers to Lead”
“How do we get from dirty, finite and unsustainable fuels to sustainable life and growth on Planet Earth? Robert Hefner makes a fascinating and readable case for gas as our bridge fuel to a sustainable future. As he argues, energy use will bring civilization together or tear it apart.”
JOHN PODESTA, President and CEO, Center for American Progress; Co-Chair, Obama-Biden Transition Project; and author of “The Power of Progress”
“In The GET: The Grand Energy Transition, Robert Hefner makes a compelling and persuasive case that our country’s economic, environmental, and national security demands the rapid transformation of the global economy from a high-carbon model to a low-carbon one. Drawing on a wealth of firsthand experience in the national energy policy debate and in the energy industry itself, Hefner traces the history of the world’s energy use, points us toward where we need to go next, and demonstrates how natural gas and clean renewable sources of energy can play critical roles in getting us there.”
JAMES R. SCHLESINGER, Economist and former U.S. Secretary of Energy, former U.S. Secretary of Defense and former CIA Director; appointed in 2002 to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and serves as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense
“For years Robert Hefner challenged the conventional wisdom in industry and government regarding natural gas reserves and production potential. His position was treated with skepticism, when it was not dismissed out of hand. Yet, time has proved him right, particularly as shale gas has contributed to a 9% jump in domestic production in just this last year. He was proved right on the Fuel Use Act. Some of his propositions regarding the (unavoidable) energy transition will be questioned, but they surely should no longer be dismissed out of hand.”
NICHOLAS STERN, LORD STERN OF BRENTWOOD, KT, FBA. IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, London School of Economics and Political Science and author of the 2006 report “The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change”
“This work, written by someone with a long and distinguished career in the energy business, is a very thoughtful and practical account of how the world can move to abundant energy that is clean and sustainable. It shows that low-carbon growth across the world can become a reality in the next few decades. This is a very important book.”
TED TURNER, Founder, CNN and Chairman, Turner Enterprises, Inc.
“If you care about the future, you must read this book.”
GEORGE Y.B.YEO, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Singapore
“I first met Robert Hefner in 1994. We talked about his conviction that natural gas was the energy source of the future and that left a deep impression on me. It was then a minority view, one might even say, a fringe view. He has since been proved right. He saw ahead of most others a trend that has a far-reaching impact on how human society is organised. Like all living things, access to abundant energy and the efficient use of that energy decide which society will succeed in war and peace. Societies which respond earliest enjoy a major advantage.”