Rare Book Monthly
The Most Important Book You Will Ever Read - The Oil Endgame.
Back cover sports impressive reviews
The issues this book covers include the real cost of oil. It's far more than just the astronomical pump prices we've seen lately. What are the forces, special interests if you will, that lead us to drag our feet on solving this problem? Next they look at past examples that show how similar problems were resolved in surprisingly quick order. Finally, they specifically address the solutions to the oil crisis. This is the most important section, as once you finish, you will no longer believe that nothing can be done beyond desperate drilling for more of what we know is a diminishing resource, at greater and greater cost.
First, the real cost. We all see the tip of this iceberg when we fill up our gas tanks, pay for oil or gas used to heat and cool our homes, or watch our bills for electricity, primarily generated from fossil fuels, climb ever higher. But what about the cost of sending all of that money abroad? How much of our national wealth do we export every year? How many jobs could we create if we were producing our own energy or energy-saving vehicles? How much would that add to our economy? Factor this in, and the cost of resolving this problem (Lovins and all estimate this to be $180 billion) seems a lot cheaper.
This doesn't even get to the cost that many of us don't even like to acknowledge - the military. The authors tread on this one lightly, it being a political bombshell with our troops now fighting in the oil-rich country of Iraq, in the heart of the oil-rich Persian Gulf. They suffice to point out that our last couple of wars have occurred in this area and, even when not at war, we have a constant heavy investment in military forces protecting the supply routes. And, while once this issue was limited to threats from a few ruling tyrants, now a handful of terrorists hidden in the mountains of some friendly nation have the potential to hold our lifeblood hostage. "Prolonged shortages could rip the fabric of American society, throttling everything from daily commuting and air travel to food trucking," the authors point out. Then they note that two-thirds of the oil from Saudi Arabia, the world's largest producer, goes through one processing plant. "Simple attacks on a few key facilities, such as pipeline nodes, could choke supply for two years." What happens to us then? Does anyone know?
Again, while the authors are circumspect about current military actions, not wanting to antagonize any potential supporters of their plan, I see no need to be. We are fighting an expensive war, both in terms of dollars and lives, in Iraq, for oil. Period. This is not about WMD or freedom for oppressed people. It is about oil. This is not to get involved in the controversy whether we are fighting for the benefit of the oil companies. It seems that our population is split about 50/50 in their beliefs on this issue. Our leaders may have the purest of motives, fighting to protect the oil supply on which all of us depend, rather than the profits of the oil companies. It doesn't matter. Either way, this war is about oil.
