Clean Energy Nation: Freeing America From The Tyranny Of Fossil Fuels

America’s dependence on foreign oil has become one of the hottest issues on the political agenda today. Politicians at all points of the political spectrum are calling for ways to find new forms of clean energy. As the only U.S. Congressman in history to have had a career as a renewable energy engineer, Jerry McNerney is an expert in the field of energy independence. Now, in Clean Energy Nation, he and journalist Martin Cheek explore what the human race must do if we are to survive even the next 100 years—we must soon make significant progress in developing energy from solar, wind, water, biofuel, geothermal, and hydrogen-based power sources to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

Explaining why the United States must take major action to move from the Fossil Fuel Age to the Clean Energy Age, the authors reveal which fuels and energy sources we should be using to protect our environment, and the environmental, economic, and political benefits we will reap from making that switch. Inspiring and timely, Clean Energy Nation offers an insightful look into what needs to be done to preserve the autonomy of our country and the well-being of our planet.

About the Authors

In the November 2006 election, the people of California’s 11th congressional district (which includes parts of the Silicon Valley and San Joaquin Valley regions) elected Jerry McNerney to represent them in Washington, D.C. Reelected in 2008 and 2010, he is a member of the House Committe on Science, Space, and Technology; the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment; and the Subcommittee on Investigation and Oversight.

McNerney was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and attended the University of New Mexico, where he studied engineering and mathematics, earning a Ph.D. in 1981. He served several years as a contractor to Sandia National Laboratories on Kirtland Air Force Base, working on wind energy and national security programs. In 1985, he accepted a senior engineering position with U.S. Windpower, Kenetech. In 1994, he began working as an energy consultant for Pacific Gas & Electric, FloWind, the Electric Power Research Institute, and other utility companies. During his career in wind energy, McNerney’s work contributed to saving the equivalent of approximately 30 million barrels of oil, or 8.3 million tons of carbon dioxide—the main greenhouse gas—as well as other harmful pollutants.

Martin Cheek has worked as a newspaper reporter and magazine writer for over two decades. He served as the European bureau chief for Edittech International, a news service that focuses on developments in science and the high-tech industry. At Edittech, he wrote more than 1,000 articles for magazines and newspapers in North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. He has worked as a writer and an editor at South Bay Accent Magazine, Triumph Magazine, and Defense Science Magazine. He also regularly wrote articles for San Jose Magazine, profiling Silicon Valley’s leading businesspeople. Several of his articles for this magazine won Peninsula Press Club journalism awards.

Cheek was born in Hollister, California; attended Palma High School in Salinas; and graduated in 1990 with a journalism degree from San José State University. He is the author of the first and second editions of Moon Handbooks: Silicon Valley, a travel guide to “the high-tech capital of the world.” He is also the “City Expert” for the San José/Silicon Valley section of the travel-focused Home&Abroad.com website. His regular column, called “The Big Picture,” is published in the Morgan Hill Times, the Gilroy Dispatch, and the Hollister Free Lance. It often discusses alternative energy issues in the Silicon Valley region.

He makes his home in Morgan Hill, California, where he is active in various nonprofit groups, such as the Friends of the Morgan Hill Library, the San Pedro Ponds Trail Volunteers, the Poppy Jasper Short Film Festival, and Leadership Morgan Hill. He also serves on the Morgan Hill Parks and Recreation Commission.