The End of Energy

Americans take for granted that when we flip a switch the light will go on, when weturn up the thermostat the room will get warm, and when we pull up to the pump gas will be plentifuland relatively cheap. In The End of Energy, Michael Graetz shows us that we havebeen living an energy delusion for forty years. Until the 1970s, we produced domestically all theoil we needed to run our power plants, heat our homes, and fuel our cars. Since then, we have had toimport most of the oil we use, much of it from the Middle East. And we rely on an even dirtier fuel-- coal -- to produce half of our electricity.

Graetz describes more than fortyyears of energy policy incompetence and argues that we must make better decisions for our energyfuture. Despite thousands of pages of energy legislation since the 1970s (passed by a Congress thattended to elevate narrow parochial interests over our national goals), Americans have never beenasked to pay a price that reflects the real cost of the energy they consume. Until Americans facethe facts about price, our energy incompetence will continue -- and along with it the unraveling ofour environment, security, and independence.

Michael J. Graetz is Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professorof Law and Columbia Alumni Professor of Tax Law at Columbia University and Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Yale Law School. Hisother books include Death by a Thousand Cuts: TheFight over Taxing Inherited Wealth.