Product Description

Billions of people around the world enjoy an unprecedented standard of living based on one thing: oil. And each year we demand more. We produce and consume energy not simply to heat, feed, move or defend ourselves, but to educate, entertain, construct our world then fill it with stuff. Everything we buy, from a McDonald's hamburger to garden furniture to cancer drugs, represents a measure of energy produced and consumed. But how can this sustain itself, when already we have burned our way through half the easily available oil? Yet the pursuit of fuel is relentless. It can shape the diplomatic, economic and military strategies of nations, perverting the cultures and politics of entire regions; it props up corrupt governments and dictators; it fosters the instability and resentments that have already spawned Muammar Qaddafi, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. In this devastating piece of reportage, Paul Roberts shows what is likely to happen, why the transition from oil will be complicated, traumatic and possibly dangerous, and what it will mean for our daily lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121091 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Review
'Roberts gives a thorough yet highly-readable investigation of our dependence on oil and how to break it. It's an issue of massive proportions, yet Roberts is also careful to keep perspective on it' Glasgow Herald 'The End of Oil does what it says. It looks at an energy economy that is "falling apart" because global oil demand will soon begin to outstrip supply - half of easily available reserves will be consumed over the next three decades. It looks, in short, at a world beyond oil' Sunday Times 'As The End of Oil brilliantly shows, there are answers, but they are neither clear nor easy read this book, fill your roof with polystyrene, and buy a smaller car' Independent 'This book may very well become for fossil fuels what Fast Food Nation was to food' Publishers Weekly

David Smith, Sunday Times
‘Demand will soon begin to outstrip supply … this book looks, in short, at a world beyond oil’

Publishers Weekly
‘This book may very well become for fossil fuels what Fast Food Nation was to food’

Customer Reviews

An eye-opener
In the league of Fast Food Nation!

It is an amazing, eye-opener book, successfully treating interconnected subjects like the oil economy, the power struggles (both economical and military) for secure access to the energy we need, our unsustainable dependance on finite amounts of oil, gas and coal, the tremendous effects on the global climate, the impact of developping nations consumming and producing more and more of this carbon-based source of energy, and what could be done to correct all this mess and shift to a cleaner, more reliable source of energy.

Far from being partisan, this book give you a logical, fact based approach.
You will see the world in a total new way after reading it. You will be shown everyday things in a way you never thought of, and their (political, economical and military) far reaching consequences.

Synopsis of the End of Oil
I read the book for 2 reasons: to understand where oil prices will go and to see in what alternative technologies I should be investing.

The book is extremely well researched and thus provided me with a framework for asking the right questions. It ties together elegantly a mix of real politik, scientific as well as economic analysis. Difficult to put down if you want to understand the many factors that determine the geopolitics of energy

Part 1 sets the scene: we’re all happily consuming based on the belief that oil will continue to flow. Instead Roberts points out that we may have already reached a peak in oil production (if it is true it is a well kept secret!). This decrease in available supply mixed with an increase in demand coming from countries such as China and India is the recipe for an explosive cocktail in terms of the future of the oil price. As oil runs out the transition to a new and ever more demanding energy economy will not necessarily be smooth – blackouts and the war in Iraq are two examples. Hydrogen is a potential solution although its stop and go development is one of the challenges that lie ahead before it can be commercialized.

Part 2 describes the evolution of the forces of supply and demand for energy. It tackles the effects of the growth in China and the new tensions that it will create. The average person in the US today burns 7500 gallons of oil p.a. compared to 800 in China. While one could take comfort from the fact that energy efficiency is increasing, the reality is that we end up consuming more energy – another explosive cocktail? Will the new technologies come to the rescue? Evidence shows that there is still a long way to go. While energy conservation could reduce demand substantially there is not enough political will to make it be a real force in energy politics.

Part 3 brings everything and discusses energy security and the risks that we run from the way the energy economy is currently managed. Gas is seen as a potential solution but will require a staggering US$80bn in investments in the US between 2000 and 2020. Thus every solution needs to deal with a “colossal inertia” described in part 2. These factors vary from the way OPEC is run, the politics of Nigeria and Venezuela to the difficulty of instilling an attitude of energy conservation in consumers. The book though ends on an optimistic note highlighting that for every negative factor trying to protect the current set up there is an equally and opposing force – the example of Iceland investing in a hydrogen only economy leaves a positive note!

Outstanding
Currently only halfway through, but so impressed I had to write a review.

It starts by explaining the history of the worlds energy market, from the beginning to present day. It talks about the political and economic sides of the story, but in such a captivating way you can't help but be enthralled. I believe it goes on to detail what possibilities of how the new energy market could work.

If you have any interest in the future of the world in the next 10-20 years buy this book!!