We Need, as a Society, to Become More Energy Literate

Solving our great global energy challenges should also mean solving our biggest environmental, social, health and economic challenges. Yet for all the wide-eyed, hopeful talk about building out the clean, renewable energy economy of the 21st century, there's a serious lack of understanding about what energy actually is, how it powers our lives, what problems it causes, what problems it solves, and -- perhaps most importantly -- the enormous scale of our energy challenges.