A nice profile of Amory Lovins

BRAIN SCAN: "The frugal cornucopian: Amory Lovins began making the case for resource efficiency decades ago, long before it became fashionable; now things are going his way," The Economist, 6 September 2008.

Nice start:

If anybody should be on top of the world today, it is Amory Lovins … because today's interrelated energy and climate difficulties have at last made the world see the importance of resource efficiency, energy innovation and holistic design—principles that he has been advocating for nearly four decades.

His radical idea is simple: economic growth does not need to occur in lock-step with increased use of energy.

A rival describes him as "60% pure genius and about 40% snake-oil salesman," as if this is odd for a visionary.

Better description:

When Amory makes a prediction, don't stand close and scrutinize the small print. Take a step back and see his broader vision, and you will find that he usually points the way forward as no one else can.

Nice.

His main source of optimism this time around? Most of the innovation is being funded privately, not by the government. No Manhattan Projects for Amory, thank you very much.

Why Amory is truly a grand strategist:

Surely it is frustrating to be ignored or pilloried for years, only to have his accusers co-opt his ideas? Mr Lovins smiles. "Yes, my ideas do sometimes have a slow burn or a decade or two before they catch on," he admits.

The real deal, folks.

Comments

[Chuck Tellechea]

My other favorite is William McDonough: http://www.mcdonough.com/full.htm

Both of these men truly 'Get It'. There's is a 'Bright Green' environmentalism, based on elegant and effective design paradigms that yield: economy positive, growth positive, lifestyle and modern civilization positive results. It is one thing to have reverence, and deep appreciation for pristine wilderness, the 'ideals' of a Henry David Thoreau and the preservation of vast tracts of 'Walden Pond' like nature preserves; however, it is pure naive idealism--and a dangerous delusion--to believe that the only way towards a sustainable global civilization--and A Future Worth Creating--is by abandoning technology, modernity, and returning to the life of the 'noble savage'.

Both of these men, Lovins and McDonough, are exemplars of the kind of emerging Leadership required if we are to survive, let alone thrive in the coming decades.

[Nils Davis]

Thanks for this post (and the follow-up on his Stanford talks last year)! Amory has been very inspiring to me - see my blog - and one of the main reasons I'm still optimistic about all of us surviving the next 40 years. I must say, I hope your ideas about how to run politics get as much traction as Amory's ideas about energy (finally) have - your stuff makes as much sense in its area as Amory's always has. Luckily, I think you're a little less of a voice in the wilderness than he was early on.