Leggett, Jeremy K. 1955(?)-

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Leggett, Jeremy K. 1955(?)-

(J.K. Leggett)

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1955. Education: Oxford University, D.Phil.

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England. Office—Solarcentury, 91-94 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, London SE1 7AB, England.

CAREER:

Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, Kensington, England, former geologist; Royal School of Mines, London, England, geologist, 1980s; environmental campaigner for Greenpeace International, 1990s; New Energies Invest AG, London, director; Solarcentury, London, chief executive officer. Renewables Advisory Board for the United Kingdom.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Award for Advancing Understanding, U.S. Climate Institute; has won two international awards for his research on the history of oceans.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Trench-Forearc Geology: Sedimentation and Tectonics on Modern and Ancient Active Plate Margins, Blackwell Scientific (Boston, MA), 1982.

(As J.K. Leggett; editor, with G.G. Zuffa) Marine Clastic Sedimentology: Concepts and Case Studies, Graham & Trotman (Boston, MA), 1987.

(Editor) Global Warming: The Greenpeace Report, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1990.

The Carbon War: Dispatches from the End of the Oil Century, Allen Lane (London, England), 1999, published as The Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era, Routledge (New York, NY), 2001.

The Empty Tank: Oil, Gas, Hot Air, and the Coming Global Financial Catastrophe, Random House (New York, NY), 2005, published as Half Gone: Oil, Gas, Hot Air, and the Global Energy Crisis, Portobello (London, England), 2005.

"OPERATION EARTH" SERIES

(With Dennis Leggett) People Trap, Marshall Cavendish (New York, NY), 1991.

(With Dennis Leggett) Troubled Waters, Marshall Cavendish (New York, NY), 1991.

Air Scare, Marshall Cavendish (New York, NY), 1991.

Dying Forests, Marshall Cavendish (New York, NY), 1991.

Energy Gap, Marshall Cavendish (New York, NY), 1991.

Waste War, Marshall Cavendish (New York, NY), 1991.

SIDELIGHTS:

Jeremy K. Leggett is an Oxford-trained geologist who divides his professional career into three separate phases. In the 1980s Leggett worked for various universities and as a consultant for the oil industry. In the 1990s, however, he reversed course and became an active campaigner for Greenpeace International's climate campaign after witnessing the increase in global warming trends. With the turn of the twenty-first century, Leggett commercialized with his own company, Solarcentury, which is the largest solar power solutions company in the United Kingdom. His company's unique design makes solar panels appear as if they are typical roof tiles on homes in the United Kingdom. Renewables, however, make up less than three percent of Britain's energy needs. Blaming the oil industry and the government, Leggett said in a Guardian article that "it is very frustrating when you have your hands on the technology and there is only desultory support from government and disingenuous representations from oil companies. … But we are near the tipping point. We are not there yet but I'm optimistic."

In 1991, while working for Greenpeace, Leggett authored a series of books called "Operation Earth." However, it was not until 1999, when he published The Carbon War: Dispatches from the End of the Oil Century, that his writings on the environment received international attention. Published two years later in the United States as The Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era, this book recounts his personal interactions with oil tycoons, multinational corporations, and international governments in his mission to bring public awareness to the degrading effects the energy companies are having on the global environment.

In his Ecologist review of The Carbon War, David Cromwell wrote that "Leggett's racy dispatches over almost ten years of gruelling climate negotiations … ought to inspire all of us to participate in this ‘public fight’ to move from the newly completed oil century into the brand new solar millennium." In an Economist review, a contributor noted: "Despite its conspiratorial approach," The Carbon War "provides ample evidence … to support its assertions." In the Contemporary Review, Royce Turner called it "a readable book, descriptive rather than analytical, but well-informed in a journalistic kind of way," but the critic cautioned: "Do not expect a neutral, objective account of the case for and against the burning of fossil fuels."

In 2005 Leggett published The Empty Tank: Oil, Gas, Hot Air, and the Coming Global Financial Catastrophe (released as Half Gone: Oil, Gas, Hot Air, and the Global Energy Crisis, in England) as an attempt to analyze the information and misinformation about the world's remaining energy resources. Using his personal experience as a geologist, oil industry consultant, and renewables energy supplier, Leggett argues that government inactivity and the energy industry's primary concern for profit over environmental issues are the reasons why the world's energy resources are nearing critically low levels and the shift towards alternative, more environmentally friendly energy sources are occurring at such a slow pace. A contributor reviewing The Empty Tank in Middle East noted that the book "thankfully does not only focus on the bad news; it suggests realistic alternatives to oil and gas, and demonstrates that … we need to avoid disaster." Gilbert Taylor commented that the author "will connect with readers anxious about the energy conundrum" in his Booklist review. Taylor attributed this to the writing style which he called "light" and "humorous," which "sometimes hits, sometimes misses." In a review for Geographical, Chloe Scott concluded that this "gloomily convincing argument … not only provides a thought-provoking prognosis, but is also suitably readable for a mass audience."