Book Review – Life Without Oil
Woe is a country who can’t break its dependence on foreign oil. But how do you make such a bold move when our entire society is built upon its wares? And even more so, how do you break the chains when there are no other alternatives? This are some of the topics discussed in this week’s book, “Life Without Oil: Why We Must Shift To A New Energy Future,” by Steve Hallett with John Wright. Hallett is a professor in the department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Purdue and Wright is an energy and environmental journalist.
The premise of the book is that the world is running out of oil while at the same time depleting itself of its natural resources. These two issues can combine to cause destruction and complete collapse of a society. The book begins by highlighting some of the societies that have disappeared due to lack of resources whether it be water or trees or others. One of the most famous case studies he uses is that of Easter Island, now owned by Chile, and the irony that although the people knew their future was in jeopardy due to diminished resources, they used them all anyway. Will this be society today?
Hallett is not a fan of biofuels as a solution to our problems. He also believes renewable energy, such as wind or solar, will only become mainstream when it is the only option. He also doesn’t think we will be laughing 30, 40, 50 years from now about how peak oil and climate change were myths.
In terms of the future energy sources, Hallett believes it will be one in which nuclear and hydrogen play major roles. He says that we need a multitude of effective solutions to the problem of transportation. “…Trains, planes, and automobiles all run on liquid fuels, which are refined directly from oil, and it is extremely difficult to develop versatile transportation systems that use alternative systems. If our new energy model is based on the generation of electricity, 
the problem remains of putting this into vehicles. Electric vehicles will play a role, but I believe that the only viable, long-term solution to this problem is hydrogen.”
He continues, “Hydrogen has as distinct disadvantage that it cannot be simply pumped out of the ground or sucked out of the atmosphere. There is no source of free hydrogen, so first, it has to be made. Hydrogen, then, is not a source of energy at all but merely a carrier of energy. Consequently, the future of energy generation does not rest with hydrogen, but the future of energy delivery might.”
Hallett takes us much beyond oil and forgone society and takes an in-depth look at other issues including agriculture, water, aquaculture and how all of these things intersect. You can’t effect one without effecting the other and often times the consequences are unintended, but happen all the same. While at times his views seem dire and without hope, at the end of the book he lays out a new foundation for the world to move forward. One that is not overpopulated, based on dirty fossil fuels, or over uses natural resources. His world is one where people once again learn how to interact and sustainably live with the land rather than live on the land.
7 Comments
Bob Winnson
Hydrogen fuel is a terrible one today, based upon the feedstocks being mainly fossil fuels. Electricity is also terrible, being mostly derived from fossil fuels. But at least with electricity, much more of it is domestic energy, and the vehicles do not emit pollution going down the road (it is emitted at the power plant).
However, hydrogen does hold promise for the future. Scientists are finding big gains from producing it from ethanol. It would be a win/win to derive hydrogen fuel from ethanol from biological inputs, which get their energy from the sun. Electricity is also derived from biological inputs, in small amounts.
Of course, liquid fuels contain hydrogen. It’s just that they contain pollutants and carbon as well. In the future when we take natural carbohydrates to produce hydrogen, we will still need a solution for what to do with the carbon dioxide and other coproducts. That is the real problem to solve. I like the article today on DF, about Allard R&D’s self-powered cellulosic ethanol plant. This is an important step toward the solution. If any carbon dioxide being released is simply CO2 that was in the atmosphere, then captured by plants, and is now returning to the plants, then it is zero-sum.
Recycling the CO2 through biologic organisms/plants is the real solution. Pulling more of it out of the ground is not, though it is a reality that we will have to deal with for decades. Trying to put it back into the ground is very unlikely to occur in an economic or safe way.
Kum Dollison
Yeah, Fukushima. That’s your future. Congratulations, Joanna, you managed to tout another ethanol-bashing book. I hope the Saudis and Iranians are paying you well.
SacramentoE85
Aww, come on Kum D. Just read between the lines here, the book was about living without the addiction to oil. There’s something to glean from this, and like Bob said, whether or not hydrogen becomes a major source, ethanol and biomass could very well provide the feedstock for it.
There are not many books at all (though some have been reviewed here) about biofuels replacing oil, so they’re just reviewing whatever is close. Reviewers don’t really agree with much of the material they review, whether it is books, movies, or politics. They’re just doing their job, letting us know if something is worthwhile or has any merit to it.
Look at the last 2 sentences of the 2nd paragraph, and the last sentence of the article, and my guess is that is closer to what this reviewer believes personally; though I wouldn’t want to put words in her mouth. That’s just sometimes what reviewers actually support in some way–those things highlighted in the wrap-up.
Carl Mc Williams
Thorium nuclear power for electricity replacing all coal fired power plants using plasma vitrification of spent nuclear fuel for “relatively safe” transportation and storage.
Juxtaposed with DME (dimethyl ether) (CH3-0-CH3) gasified from municipal solid waste and biomass (coal when necessary) for transportation fuels.
However, the most important technological breakthrough is ambient temperature super conductors. Once room temperature super conductors are “on-the-shelf” its a whole new ballgame.
Dennis Makarov
Just read between the lines here, the book was about living without the addiction to oil.
We are not addicted to oil. We are addicted to the conveniences and luxuries that burning energy in huge amounts brings us. It’s only that right now, fossil fuels happen to be the most viable and practical way of providing that energy fix.
Consumers don’t care where their energy fix comes from. When biofuels can satisfy that fix as well as fossil fuels, consumers will gladly buy them.
Oil companies aren’t the villain — the true villain is our demand for cheap energy and the quality of life that energy can give us.
The Oil Drum | Drumbeat: June 22, 2011
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Bob Winnson
Addicted to biofuels is just fine. Plenty of sunshine to go around, and if the amount of biomass and inputs don’t put a cap on it (some things like grasses, algae, and kelp hold amazing likelihoods), we will be far better off than on petroleum.
Good luck to anyone trying to change consumer desires, wants, and needs. That one’s not even worth spending the time on.
Consumers are made comfortable by the results of plentiful energy, which means an addiction to oil at this point.
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