The Global Energy Assessment – is it a book or a weightlifting aid?

An Amazon courier arrived at my house last Friday with one the usual book-shaped boxes. When he handed it over I almost dropped it – instead of  the usual light package I was hefting 5.2 kg  – yes really! – of a single title, the Global Energy Assessment. This huge tome runs to an incredible 1900 full-colour glossy pages which look to contain a veritable cornucopia of energy facts and figures. It was launched at the Rio +20 conference and “is the first ever fully integrated energy assessment that analyzes energy challenges, opportunities and strategies, for developing, industrialized and emerging economies.”

This is one book I certainly won’t be reviewing (I read all the books I review cover-to-cover). However I will give some feedback on my own thoughts as to its usefulness at some point in the future.

Initial impressions are good, having dipped into it I am already finding useful material, such as the section on industrial energy use which has a lot of up to date data. It is probably the kind of book which will sit on my bookcase and will be used for specific information. Just seen the chapter on Carbon Capture and Storage, which seems very comprehensive.

The 118-page executive summary can be downloaded free from this link, but the full publication is not yet available in pdf form, although the IIASA website has a link that suggests that it will be available in the future. If there ever is a case for an electronic version of a document then this is it!

By the way I purchased my copy from Amazon for £66. The IIASA website has a link to an order form with the publishers who are listing the book at £75 – but says that it has not yet been published, so for the time being Amazon looks like the best bet (although their price has now risen to £75). Happy reading / weightlifting!