Another great addition to your bookshelf: this
one by a personal hero of mine for years: S.
David Freeman, the maverick who has been at the
center of many of the great energy stories of the
past four decades. (You may remember him from
"Who Killed the Electric Car," in front of the
Pacific Ocean under a cowboy hat.) Freeman is one
of those "larger than life" figures whose impact
increases the older he gets. (Others include
Arthur Rosenfeld (inventor of the compact
fluorescent bulb, still on the California Energy
Commissioner, and Stanley Ovshinsky, inventor of
the technology behind nickel-metal hydride
batteries and other innovations, and a little
younger but in the same category, Prof. Andy Frank of PHEV fame.)

Freeman says to save our planet we need to stop
building new coal or nuclear plants and phase out
the ones in operation. He gives a roadmap for
replacing them with renewable energy sources.
He's a strong supporter of plug-in hybrids and
electric vehicles. We figure at least 10% of the
content of the book is about plug-in cars --
including two photos of our car. We don't agree
100% with him on everything, but we see this as a
book that can reach many new audiences with
specific information and an inspiring vision.

"Winning Our Energy Independence: An Energy
Insider Shows How" is from publisher Gibbs Smith.
The book's back cover has endorsements ranging
from environmentalist Robert Redford to oil
entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens. You can get all
the details or pre-order now, using our handy
page http://www.calcars.org/books.html (which
lists four great new books all being published Oct 1).

Below you'll find:
* Press release from Ballantines PR, the people
to contact for speaking engagements at http://www.ballantinespr.com
* Additional biographical information
* Sample letter to your Senator or Representative
* Some of our favorite paragraphs from many chapters


PRESS RELEASE
The 'Green Cowboy' S. David Freeman on Winning
Our Energy Independence by Using Renewable Resources

At last, a voice that cuts through the propaganda
and puts all the pieces of our nation's energy
puzzle together in plain English while providing
practical, common-sense answers.

S. David Freeman, the energy guru known as the
"Green Cowboy," has written the first must-read
book that tells the American people the truth
about this country's dependence on foreign oil,
dirty coal and dangerous nuclear power -- what he calls the "Three Poisons."

His new book, "Winning Our Energy Independence:
An Energy Insider Shows How," delivers a wealth
of facts and candid opinions on renewable
resources with blunt straight talk. His message:
We have all the renewable energy we need to wean
ourselves from the Three Poisons and create a
sustainable future for our planet.

Solar, wind and biomass energy, harnessed on a
mass scale using existing technologies, can
easily meet the nation's electrical needs,
Freeman says. These are renewable energy
resources. He calls for a concerted 30-year
effort to close aging coal-fired and nuclear
power plants and replace today's cars with plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Freeman charges that the reason we aren't already
using more renewable energy is that oil companies
and electrical utilities have waged a slick campaign to deceive Americans:

"The folks who sell oil, coal, and nuclear
reactors spend tremendous amounts of money
convincing the American people that what they
sell is economical, safe, and clean. They
contribute huge sums of money to the politicians
who repeat their propaganda. How often have you
heard phrases such as 'clean coal,' 'safe nuclear
power,' 'clean diesel,' or 'low-level radioactive waste'?

"These phrases are images invented by highly
paid, highly skilled advertising firms. But these
claims are lies. There are even ads on TV and in
the newspapers featuring pristine landscapes and
young, freshly scrubbed spokespeople advertising
coal as a clean energy resource. This is
ridiculous. Coal is inherently filthier than dirt
itself. The current energy industry has quite
masterfully succeeded in lulling many Americans
to sleep on the dangers of the poisons they sell
while portraying renewables as a distant dream."

Freeman speaks from half a century of experience
working in the energy industry and as a federal
energy policymaker. Trained as both an engineer
and a lawyer, he joined the Federal Power
Commission during the Kennedy Administration and
helped develop energy policy for Presidents
Johnson and Nixon (he even had a hand in the
creation of the Environmental Protection Agency).

President Carter appointed him to chair the board
of the Tennessee Valley Authority and he would
later head other major electrical utilities, such
as the Lower Colorado River Authority, the
Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the New
York Power Authority and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Freeman has received awards from organizations
such as the Los Angeles Coalition for Clean Air,
Global Green, and the National Wildlife
Association for his commitment to renewable
energy, clean air and clean water. Today, Freeman
serves as the president of the commission overseeing the Port of Los Angeles.

David Freeman's new book, "Winning Our Energy
Independence: An Energy Insider Shows How" will
be available to the public after October 1. David
Freeman is an enthralling speaker. He is
available now for speaking engagements and
interviews to discuss winning our energy
independence by relying on renewable energy resources.

Winning Our Energy Independence shares energy
solutions from S. David Freeman, a man who has
spent his life at the forefront of energy policy.
Freeman explains how the sun, wind, biomass,
geothermal, and hydrogen resources we have right
now can be the fuels that solve energy issues and
create a sustainable future for our planet. These
alternative energies will heat and cool our
homes, run our cars, power our factories, and do
all the things that our civilization requires—but
only if we make it happen! We have the renewable
resources we need—now we simply need the
awareness, passion, and drive from the people to
make sure our politicians and business leaders
respond. Winning Our Energy Independence provides
action plans for showing us how to influence change.

MORE ABOUT S.DAVID FREEMAN
- In January 2001, in response to the California
energy crisis, Freeman was appointed by Governor
Gray Davis to serve as the Chairman of the
California Consumer Power and Conservation
Financing Authority and as Governor Davis’ senior energy advisor.
- Freeman was nominated by Los Angeles Mayor
Richard Riordan to serve as General Manager of
the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a
position he held from 1997 to 2001. Under Mr.
Freeman’s leadership, Los Angeles avoided the
blackouts that gripped the rest of California during this period.
- Freeman has held chief executive positions at
the largest power authorities in the world,
including the New York Power Authority, the
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the Lower
Colorado River Authority, and the Sacramento
Municipal Utilities District (SMUD).
- An engineer and lawyer, Freeman served as
energy advisor to President Jimmy Carter and
energy consultant to the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.
- Freeman was the first person in the U.S.
government with responsibility for energy policy
under President Johnson in 1967. He drafted the
first energy message that a president sent to
Congress, delivered by President Nixon in 1971.
- He helped create the Environmental Protection
Agency, and worked on the initial clean air and clean water laws.
- He led the successful effort to enact better
mileage standards for motor vehicles in 1975.

S. David Freeman is currently the general manager
of the Port of Los Angeles. He served as the
Chairman of the Board of the California Consumer
Power and Conservation Financing Authority. In
his distinguished forty-year career, Mr. Freeman
has been “present at the creation,” shaping our
public awareness, helping design governmental
institutions, and writing the laws that define
the framework for U.S. environmental and energy
policy. Freeman also authored Energy: The New Era. He lives in California.


APPENDIX: LETTER TO SENATOR OR REPRESENTATIVE
Dear ______________________________,
I am writing to urge you to take decisive action
that will enable America to regain its
independence from the oil-producing nations,
prevent global warming, and reduce the dangers of
nuclear bombs falling into the hands of terrorists.
These dangers are the war we must win and, to do
so, I urge you to reject the false propaganda of
the energy lobby and take decisive action.
The essential actions the Congress must take are the following:
* Outlaw any new coal or nuclear electric power plants.
* Enact a $5,000 tax credit to each consumer who
purchases a plug-in hybrid, and a $1 billion tax
credit to the first company that
* sells 200,000 plug-in hybrids.
* Require all electric power companies to achieve
30 percent renewable energy by 2020.
* Increase the standards for fuel efficiency in
motor vehicles by one mile per gallon (mpg) each
year for the next twenty-four years to double today's mpg standard.
* Authorize a ten-year program with funding to
build hydrogen service stations throughout the
nation to service hydrogen-fueled
* motor vehicles.
As your constituent and a citizen of this
country, I urge you to take action on these important items.

Sincerely,

CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER SELECTIONS FROM THE BOOK

INTRODUCTION
This book will demonstrate that it is entirely
practical and feasible to get all our energy from
renewable resources and to do so with today's
technology. We don't need to wait for decades in
order to get started. The day that the United
States commits itself to a sustainable march to
an all-renewable energy economy is the day the
world changes. It will change in these dramatic ways:

1. THE HEART OF THE STORY (AMERICA CAN BECOME ENERGY INDEPENDENT)
Most of our coal and nuclear plants are old. The
law should require that a gradual retirement of
coal and nuclear be completed in thirty years. We
would, of course, do it on a timetable providing
a five-year period to build efficiency
improvements and renewable resources as a replacement

2. RAISING THE BAR (A STRONGER EFFORT IS NEEDED)
The major point here is that phasing out coal
and nuclear is doable and practical. These fuels
are used almost exclusively to make electricity,
and the utilities are largely regulated. This
basic approach would outlaw any new coal and
nuclear production plants and set forth a
timetable to go steadily from the 9 percent
renewables1 used today to 60 percent by 2037,
with the rest of the portfolio supplied by natural gas.

3. THE THREE POISONS (THE DANGERS OF OIL, COAL AND NUCLEAR)
I have been an active participant in the electric
power industry over the last forty years. I've
been a regulator, a policymaker, and the CEO of a
number of large public power systems. I know of
no failure as clear and dramatic as the failure
of nuclear power on both public safety and economics.

The phrase "clean coal" is an insult to human
intelligence. There is no such thing. Coal is
inherently dirty and is an unhealthy source of
energy throughout every stage of its mining and
use. I say this based on my experience as the
former head of the TVA, which bought and burned
more than 30 million tons of coal a year. I was
deeply involved in the strip mining, underground
mining, trucking, and most importantly, the
burning of huge quantities of coal. No one who
has been deeply involved with coal can rightfully say it is clean.

4. WE LIVE IN A SOLAR WORLD (RENEWABLES ARE THE GREATEST SOURCES OF ENERGY)
Quite frankly, our environmental leaders have
inadvertently helped mislead Americans by
conceding that renewables are more expensive and
lobbying for goals that make renewables only a
small part of our supply. For example, those of
us who advocated to raise our renewable
electricity mix to 20 percent of our electricity
in the case of California, have set the bar too
low. I do not mean to criticize those who have
helped move the renewable energy bar from zero to
20 percent. These have been important strides
that laid the foundation for raising the bar much
higher. But the effect of our struggle to gain a
foothold for both efficiency and renewables has
also helped the energy industry spread the lies
that renewable energy can only be a minor source of power.

The problem is that some environmental leaders
have become part of the status quo. They seem
afraid to advocate bold programs that are needed.
They are afraid of failing. Their attitude and
activism reflects their fears. When David
Yarnold, Environmental Defense's executive vice
president, was asked in May 2006 why his group
wasn't offering solutions more dramatic than what
Congress was considering, he replied, "Why would
you want to lobby for something that can't get
done?"1 If a Congress that consistently supports
the coal, oil, and nuclear industries sets the
bar for what environmentalists propose, we are
indeed in a heap of trouble. Environmentalists
need to stand up and propose solutions to our
problems and help the true interests of the
American people get heard. Now is the time to
take a stand and put into action the programs
that will get the job done--the job of making
renewables the primary source for all America's energy.

The driving force will be actions taken by
readers of this book and concerned citizens
generally, who will demand plug-in hybrid cars,
purchase only Energy Star appliances, demand
green power from their utility companies, install
solar panels on their roof, and lobby senators
and representatives to enact the policies set forth in chapter 12.

5. THE MAJOR USES OF ENERGY (HOW EFFICIENT USE OF
RENEWABLES AND NATURAL GAS CAN SUPPLY THEM ALL)
It is urgent that we persuade auto companies to
mass-produce plug-in hybrids in all of their
models. We need to apply the purchasing power,
political will, and common sense of the American
people to make it happen promptly. That's what is
required if we are to take our energy woes
seriously enough to overcome them before they overcome us.

The auto industry sells millions of cars each
year on the merits of everything but price. But
when it comes to fuel economy--the one thing that
would save consumers money--the industry claims it costs too much.

6. DOES RENEWABLE ENERGY REALLY COST MORE? (THE ANSWER IS NO!)
7. ENERGY EFFICIENCY (THE CHEAPEST AND CLEANEST ENERGY)

8. THE TECHNOLOGY IS AVAILABLE (NO NEED TO WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW)
I hope the development of plug-in flex-fuel
hybrids is a priority item for the auto industry.
This presents a huge opportunity, much more
valuable than marketing gimmicks of one hundred
dollars in "free" gas or guaranteed one year of
gasoline for $1.99 per gallon that some
automakers were pushing. The best sources of
information are not the auto companies, but
rather concerned citizens who have formed Plug-In
America and the experts at the South Coast Air
Quality Management District who have actually
added a plug-in feature to the Prius and have
shown that in ordinary driving they do, in fact,
get eighty miles to the gallon. These folks have
taken the initiative to revolutionize the
automobile. They have developed, and are
promoting, plug-in hybrid vehicles far ahead of
the multibillion dollar auto industry.

Perhaps the best answer is that "the 'perfect' is
the enemy of the good." Today the plug-in hybrid
isn't perfect, but it's as good an answer as we
have for an early start on ending oil addiction,
global warming, and urban air pollution.

With all these advantages, why aren't plug-ins
being offered for sale by automakers? That's a
good question. It's taking a long time for the
SUVloving auto industry to wake up to reality.
But let's be clear, the problems aren't technical
even though there is some engineering yet to be done.

9..HYDROGEN -- MYTHS AND REALITY (MAKING IT WORK WITH RENEWABLE ENERGY)
10. LESSONS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE (OTHER NATIONS ARE SHOWING THE WAY)

11. AN ALL-RENEWABLE LOS ANGELES (A MODEL FOR THE WORLD)
The marketing of electricity for plug-in hybrids
presents a marvelous opportunity for the
L.A.-owned utility to significantly enlarge its business over time.

The interesting fact is that this "new business"
for the LADWP could result in lower prices than
would otherwise be the case, both for regular
users of electricity and for motorists currently
stuck with high-priced gasoline. That is true
because the utility investment in electric power
would be used more of the time (about 70 percent
rather than 40 percent), so the cost per unit of
capacity will be lower than it would be without
the new business. And the fuel costs for wind and solar are zero.

12. A NATIONAL RENEEWABLE ENERGY POLICY (WHAT CONGRESS NEEDS TO DO)
A comprehensive policy must include the following:
* A movement of our electric power production
steadily toward more and more renewable sources
* A 20 percent federal tax credit to electricity
and natural gas utilities that gives highest
priority to the efficient use of the energy they supply
* A ban on new coal-fired or nuclear power plants
* Retirement of existing coal-fired and nuclear
plants within the next thirty years
* A government-funded program to demonstrate Big
Solar and convert it to hydrogen in demonstration projects of 500 MW or larger
* Federal fuel economy standards that move from
24 to 48 miles per gallon over the next twenty-four years, one mpg per year
* Large enough tax credits for both purchasers
and manufacturers of plug-in hybrid and flex-fuel
automobiles to assure that they become the
standard fixture of all motor vehicles within ten years
* Extra tax incentives if the car is all-electric or zero-oil
* An excess-profits tax on oil sufficient to fund the tax credits
* A tax on natural gas used for boiler fuel in
excess of 20 percent of the capacity of any power plant unit
* A policy nationwide to remove obstacles and to
encourage decentralized electric power production

13. THE NEXT TEN YEARS (THE TIME FOR TRANSITION)
As I see it, we have, at most, a three-year
window for plug-in hybrids and flex-fuel cars
(cars that can run on either biofuel or gasoline,
or a blend of both) to start being offered for
sale and sold in large numbers. Otherwise, the
overall world growth in oil consumption will
present the U.S. and the world with fearsome
pollution and foreign policy problems far greater
than those we are currently experiencing.

14. 2017 AND BEYOND (A CLEAN-ENERGY ECONOMY)
15. A BROADER PERSPECTIVE (THE JOY OF MAKING THINGS LAST)

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Felix Kramer fkramer@...
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
http://www.calcars.org/news-archive.html
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