Science fiction review: Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2312. - Slate Magazine
Go to the link for a gushing review of a new book by a pretty well known science fiction writer. Personally, I didn't find the first novel in his Mars trilogy to be all that great, although there are parts of it which have stuck in my memory. I didn't go on to try the next two books.
The review gives enough plot details to make me think the new book suffers at least one of the problems I had with the Mars novel - he seems wildly optimist about the speed of technological change in a way that just feels rather improbable. It always seems safer to me for science fiction writers to not be so specific about their future chronology, and leave the reader guessing a bit as to how far in the future we are talking.
Coal use is soaring because demand for electricity is soaring. Between 1990 and 2010, global electricity production increased by about 450 terawatt-hours per year. That’s the equivalent of adding one Brazil (which used 485 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2010) to the electricity sector every year. And the International Energy Agency expects global electricity use to continue growing by about one Brazil per year through 2035.