Hardback
+ free ebook
Sale price
$34.95
Power and the People:A History of British Energy
-
-
Ebook
Sale price $9.99
The argument for a revolution in the ownership of our national energy system, from a leading industry insider.
The energy crisis of the early 2020s exposed the true nature of Britain’s energy system: fragile, fragmented, comically complicated, and hopelessly dependent on imported fossil fuels. How did it come to this? Power and the People uncovers the hidden history of British energy from the Victorians to the present.
The book tells the story of the private and publicly owned organisations that built the energy system, from local municipal electricity companies in the early twentieth century, to state-owned enterprises that built infrastructure at a massive scale and breakneck speed from 1926 to 1979. The frenzied construction bonanza changed the landscape of Britain and fabric of everyday life for citizens.
From the 1980s the electricity and gas industries were broken apart and sold off. Privatization worked for a short time but then the model started to break down. Climate change introduced a new problem. In response, the privatised model was gradually adapted and over decades became a complex and contradictory system that is crumbling. Today, we're living under a zombie system that lurches from crisis to crisis. But there is hope. Arthur Downing offers an alternative future of what is possible, based on lessons from our own past.
Reviews
-
Few things rile ordinary Britons as much as inflated energy prices. Yet few issues attract as much misinformed commentary from across the board. Deftly weaving together the economics, technology and politics of energy provision, Arthur Downing – a unique mix of industry insider, academic and activist – is ideally positioned to explain how Britain got into its current energy mess and how it might get out.
-
A timely and incisive exploration of ownership, power, and politics in the UK energy system. Downing masterfully traces the history of Britain’s energy infrastructure, showing that the current expensive, inefficient, and unsustainable system is the result of political choices – choices that could be made differently. Read this if you want to understand the past, present, and potential futures of UK energy – and how we can build a system that works for people and planet, not profit.
-
This brilliant book shows what needs to be understood about the past, present, and future of British electricity if there is to be successful decarbonisation. It requires not just a rejection of free market fantasies, but of the unworkable system of subsidies which generates returns for investors rather than cheap renewable electricity for the people. A must-read for anyone interested in the new politics and expertise a post-carbon world will need
-
Has privatisation done better than the nationalised industries it replaced? That’s Downing’s key question and when it comes to investment and prices, his answer is a damning no. A must-read for anyone who cares about the future of British energy and climate change and a devastating critique of the privatised electricity industry.
-
Life in Britain depends on nationwide energy grids built and run efficiently by governments of both parties. Privatisation broke them up. Bosses and bankers cashed in but the system could not cope. Writing brilliantly from within, Downing shows how a patched-up network of Kafkaesque complexity can still be restored
-
A sweeping, urgent and brilliantly argued history of the rise and fall of the British entrepreneurial state. Written by an insider from the energy industry, it combines frontline experience with deep historical research to deliver a rare account of how power really works behind the scenes of Britain’s energy system. From the breathtaking construction of the supergrid and the nationalised energy revolution of the post-war decades to the failures of today’s “zombie privatisation”, the book shows that the climate crisis is not simply a technological challenge, but also a question of ownership, institutions and democratic power. Rich with historical insight and fearless in its conclusions, Power and the People demolishes the myth that “there is no alternative” and offers a powerful vision of how the state and citizens can once again build at the scale the future demands.
-
An essential guide through the strange, arcane history of the networks that light and power this country, a story increasingly infuriating, yet coloured, in the end, with hope