IAIN CARSON

It is refreshing to find a hydrogen advocate who has actu­ally come up with the goods. After all, plenty of grandiose but unsubstantiated claims have been made over the past few years about the potential for hydrogen to replace fossil fuels as an en­ergy carrier, so some skepticism is certainly in order. In particu­lar, George Bush and the big car manufacturers have crowned fuel cells as the long-awaited replacement for the internal ­combustion engine, but the date of commercialization for those automotive fuel cells somehow keeps slipping just beyond the horizon. Many argue that hydrogen is just a cynical long-term diversion used by Bush and Detroit to avoid short-term action on fuel-economy standards, plug-in hybrids, or other here-and­-flow options.

Iain CarsonThe global race to build the car of the future is on as pioneers across the world tackle the challenge of creating cars that run on cleaner energy sources. New alliances are being formed to end our addiction to oil and create new technologies and we are in the midst of a major switch from carbon-based energy to new fuels and technologies. This is the history of the linked industries of oil and cars and how they've shaped domestic capitalism and the int'l landscape, creating progress and peril. We learn how Toyota became the world's largest car maker and, more importantly, a leader in hybrid cars using electric power. They take us into the oil co. boardrooms to show how some are execs are boldly exploring new energy sources while others deny the dangers of not doing so, risking extinction. We meet a legendary inventor whose work is already having an impact on the environment and the economy. With wide-ranging analysis and a keen view of the key players in the worlds of energy and cars, the authors tell the story of what may be the most important challenge facing the industrial world: How to make the transition from the Age of Petroleum to a cleaner and better future.