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Based on the joint Roadmap for a Low-Carbon Power Sector by 2050 presented in December 2009 in Copenhagen, an industry goal of developing national or regional emission reduction trajectories towards a low-carbon future has been set. These trajectories will rely on a common measure of carbon emission intensity. In that respect, supportive, transparent and stable governmental policies are necessary for long-term planning by the industry and to encourage the significant investments needed.Five chapters have been identified for the Industry to work together with governments:

Much of this book is concerned with showing that powerful and well-financed rightwing thinktanks and lobby groups lie behind the denial of climate change in recent years.

Klein interprets the marginalisation of climate change in the political process as the result of the machinations of corporate elites. These elites “understand the real significance of climate change better than most of the ‘warmists’ in the political centre, the ones who are still insisting that the response can be gradual and painless and that we don’t need to go to war with anybody… The deniers get plenty of the details wrong… But when it comes to the scope and depth of change required to avert catastrophe, they are right on the money.”

Klein is a brave and passionate writer who always deserves to be heard, and this is a powerful and urgent book that anyone who cares about climate change will want to read. Yet it is hard to resist the conclusion that she shrinks from facing the true scale of the problem. When I read The Shock Doctrine (Guardian review headline: “The end of the world as we know it”), I was unconvinced that corporate and political elites understood what they were doing in promoting the wildly leveraged capitalism of that time, which was already beginning to implode. The idea that corporate elites are in charge of the world is even less convincing today. The neoliberal order has recovered, and in some countries even achieved a spurious kind of stability, but only at the cost of worsening global conflicts.

Not surprisingly, this intelligent, interconnected network is by no means a straightforward proposition. It has a lengthy ingredients list, and so requires extensive deployments to make it work: The most obvious component is the smart meter, which stores detailed data on energy usage and transmits and receives information, acting as the communications “gateway” into the home. On top of this, a new communications network needs to be built. Operating in parallel with the electricity grid, this network distributes data between all elements of the new intelligent grid. In the distribution and transmission network, advanced utility sensors and control systems need to be deployed in wires and substations. Such a network then provides the sensors and controls that will improve the system’s resilience. The final element is software. This is required to present, interpret, analyse and react to the huge amount of data that will consequently be flowing through the system.

"Interesting, but it will never catch on" and "What a waste of time." They had just seen the first ever Mouse, Hypertext, WP, video conferencing, and the Internet (Arpanet).