Why We Struggle to Go Green: Hard Truths about the Clean Energy Transition

Clean energy won't save us from the effects of climate change.

Amid corporate Net Zero campaigns, the politics of the Green New Deal, and the calls to abandon fossil fuels for renewable technology -- or vice versa -- lies a troubling truth: No clean technological solutions can solve the problem of human-induced climate change.

To find a credible path to a sustainable future, we must set aside hopes of building our way out of humanity's addictions to energy and material convenience. In Why We Struggle to Go Green, Tom Ortiz offers a clear-eyed assessment of our efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. As a mechanical engineer who has traversed the conventional and renewable energy landscapes for 30 years, Ortiz provides an in-depth yet easy-to-understand assessment of the harsh reality facing mankind.

Bridging the gap between academic research and journalism, Ortiz shows why there are no easy answers in the energy transition. Beginning with a general overview of human energy use and a summary of key physical constraints on energy and natural resource extraction, the book details five pillars of the transition: electrification, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, recycling, and carbon pricing. Ortiz concludes with recommendations for changes society can make that, while perhaps painful and controversial, will reduce our collective environmental impact and bequeath a more manageable legacy to future generations.

Why We Struggle to Go Green cuts through the hype and rhetoric to offer something rare: climate change realism from someone who's spent decades looking for solutions.

Author: Thomas Manuel Ortiz
Publisher: Stoney Creek Publishing Group
Published: 10/13/2025
Pages: 260
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781965766286


Review Citation(s):
Foreword 08/25/2025

About the Author

THOMAS MANUEL ORTIZ is an engineer with 30 years of diverse experience in energy, from hydrogen/solar cogeneration research and the use of recycled carbon dioxide as a net-zero refrigerant to oil and gas exploration, production and refining to offshore wind siting and carbon sequestration. Tom, author of the popular Substack newsletter Resource Realism, holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and an M.B.A. in finance from Texas A&M University. He is also a registered professional engineer in the State of Texas. He lives in Austin with his wife.