The First Billion Is the Hardest On a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future by T. Boone Pickens is a combination of biography, energy business management, and platform for energy independence in the United States. Somehow, it all ties together very well.
T. Boone Pickens comes across in a folksy direct manner. He includes Booneisms in his book. Booneism #8 is I have always believed that it's important to show a new look periodically. Predictability can lead to failure.
The Frog and the Scorpion is one of the stories he tells in the book as well as many crass jokes and some rather crude, but colorful commentary.
His childhood is described as that of a normal American boy mixed with lessons in entrepreneurship from his grandmother. He had a paper route and mowed lawns for money. At the age of 11, he even pumped gas.
Combined with this is a strong drive for sports. He played basketball and was driven to win. Later in life this translated into his winning business practices and his huge donations for a sports complex at Ohio State University.
Although, it is not my style I can recognize the classic republican sportsman who loves Reagan in his writings. Luckily, he doesn't go too deeply into personal beliefs about race, religion, and social issues, he stays focused on business and energy. He does say he liked Wilt Chamberlain
His whole life seems to say energy entrepreneurship. His college degree was in geology a good precursor for the oil business.
He gives lots of advice. Make big deals, they are as easy to make as little deals, and they often have added benefits to them. He shows his disdain for bureaucracy and old school management.
He does this by describing how he used shareholder rights to help takeover poorly run companies. It shows an interesting combination of ruthlessness and compassion. Usually when he took over companies the stock prices went up. He was bent on winning for the underdog. He envisions himself as the underdog reaching up to face the giant.
About halfway through the book, the story changes. He burns himself out gets divorced, nearly loses everything. He even describes how he loses his dog. We get a very different person than the man who ran Mesa energy.
He reopens a new business which seems much more focused on teamwork BP Capital Energy Equity Fund, a hedge fund which can both sell short and long in both stocks and commodities.
There is a section of maxims on how to run a business. These read something like a story out of Aesop's Fables in a way: win fairly, lead, it's all about team, concentrate on goals not growing the company, and let people succeed are some of the exhortations.
It is towards the end that we get his opinion on America's energy problems. These are straightforward, direct statements, we have reached peak oil, America does not control the oil industry, the reports on reserves throughout the world are false, the age of alternatives must begin immediately.
One of the reasons he is so compelling in his writing is that he tells you that he intends to give away all of his money, he already has enough cash. Then he describes how he is giving away his cash.
We get to the plan. Here is where I am having a little bit of trouble. In his descriptions of working with natural gas, T. Boone Pickens has always not quite succeeded in making the natural gas companies the giants he envisioned them to be.
I think in a way, his attempt to sell natural gas in combination with wind energy is a kind of last attempt at leaving a legacy. He is putting his money where his convictions are. He realizes that is no longer just about the money anymore. Some people will have a hard time believing this.
The one problem I had with his book was his description of how he sold off the water rights under his land. I don't agree with this. There is too much potential for environmental damage when major aquifers are drained.
He says, on page 146, "With supply pushed to the brink of unquenchable demand, we're going to need everything. We're going to need all the oil and gas we can find. We're going to need ethanol, natural gas, solar, wind, biofuels, and nuclear."
He is describing the outcome of "being addicted to oil."
I have mixed feelings about his plan, but I hope it will break the deadlock in Washington. T. Boone Pickens plainly states he has never seen a politician capable of facing the problem of energy independence.
This is an excellent interesting book which people should read. There is a center section with full color photographs. I rather like the picture of him on the cover of Time magazine holding cards and poker chips. He also has pictures of him with his wife, George Bush, and Ronald Reagan. The back has an index.
Put aside any political differences you may have. What he is saying is very important. Get in the dialog, I took the time to sign up for http://www.pickensplan/theplan
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Untapped The Scramble For Africa's Oil-- John Ghazvinian-- Review
Untapped The Scramble For Africa's Oil by John Ghazvinian is the story of the recent rush to develop Africa's oil. It is the story of John Ghazvinian's travels through twelve countries in African and firsthand observations on how oil development is affecting many countries in Africa. We get accounts on Nigeria including the Niger Delta, Chad, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Congo, Sudan, Sao Tome, and Cameroon. The author speaks directly to government officials, NGOs, company representatives, and local people.
This story is a muckraking expose of corruption, crime, underdevelopment, and grinding poverty. It describes the "Dutch Disease", a process where oil becomes the major export, and local manufacturing and agricultural industires collapse as the upper classes become awash in foreign currency from the oil fields.
The next stage is when oil becomes the major source of revenue. The state becomes the central source of revenue not local business. This often leads to the state not paying attention to local sources of tax revenue and losing focus on building things like roads, schools, and infrastructure. Control of the state becomes the major source of revenue. In Equatorial Guinea one family holds most of the high government positions and thus control of most of the wealth in the country. Thus whoever happens to be in control of the government is in control of the major source of wealth.
This process is described firsthand with visits to the Niger Delta where local people have turned to banditry tapping the pipelines illegally and selling oil on the black market, a self-contained walled Exxon-Mobile city with armed guards in Chad, talking to politicians in Sao Tome, and many other first hand accounts.
We also get to see the international scramble for oil in Africa. The Middle East is viewed by many countries as an unstable source of oil. The European Union, China, India, Australia, the United States, and Indonesia are all in the scramble to get the oil concessions first. Many of the multinationals are trying to get concessions offshore so they do not have to deal with ethnic conflict, war, and sabotage onshore. I found the story of how China is approaching African nations to acquire oil to be surprising. Apparently, China is making big inroads in Africa with very long term promises for development aid in return for oil.
This book definitely has an anti-globalist slant to it. It also seems to be left leaning. The book is muckraking in the tradition of Upton Sinclair. However, it is not meant to be a fictionalized account. The author has a list of suggested reading on Pp. 302--306. These are mainly books and reports. An interesting thing which reflects throughout the book is that his suggested reading is international in scope. There are books and reports in the recommended reading list printed in Lisbon, Paris, Brussels, London, New York, and Washington D.C. Most of the books are still english, a few are French and Portuguese.
I enjoyed the book. It is an interesting story about an important subject. The authors interviews sound real, but you can never tell completely. John Ghazvinian has written for Newsweek and Nation so he is a reputable author. One thing which is missing from the book is pictures. It would have been nice to see a few of them.
This story is a muckraking expose of corruption, crime, underdevelopment, and grinding poverty. It describes the "Dutch Disease", a process where oil becomes the major export, and local manufacturing and agricultural industires collapse as the upper classes become awash in foreign currency from the oil fields.
The next stage is when oil becomes the major source of revenue. The state becomes the central source of revenue not local business. This often leads to the state not paying attention to local sources of tax revenue and losing focus on building things like roads, schools, and infrastructure. Control of the state becomes the major source of revenue. In Equatorial Guinea one family holds most of the high government positions and thus control of most of the wealth in the country. Thus whoever happens to be in control of the government is in control of the major source of wealth.
This process is described firsthand with visits to the Niger Delta where local people have turned to banditry tapping the pipelines illegally and selling oil on the black market, a self-contained walled Exxon-Mobile city with armed guards in Chad, talking to politicians in Sao Tome, and many other first hand accounts.
We also get to see the international scramble for oil in Africa. The Middle East is viewed by many countries as an unstable source of oil. The European Union, China, India, Australia, the United States, and Indonesia are all in the scramble to get the oil concessions first. Many of the multinationals are trying to get concessions offshore so they do not have to deal with ethnic conflict, war, and sabotage onshore. I found the story of how China is approaching African nations to acquire oil to be surprising. Apparently, China is making big inroads in Africa with very long term promises for development aid in return for oil.
This book definitely has an anti-globalist slant to it. It also seems to be left leaning. The book is muckraking in the tradition of Upton Sinclair. However, it is not meant to be a fictionalized account. The author has a list of suggested reading on Pp. 302--306. These are mainly books and reports. An interesting thing which reflects throughout the book is that his suggested reading is international in scope. There are books and reports in the recommended reading list printed in Lisbon, Paris, Brussels, London, New York, and Washington D.C. Most of the books are still english, a few are French and Portuguese.
I enjoyed the book. It is an interesting story about an important subject. The authors interviews sound real, but you can never tell completely. John Ghazvinian has written for Newsweek and Nation so he is a reputable author. One thing which is missing from the book is pictures. It would have been nice to see a few of them.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
More Morning Thoughts
I am finding it easier to read The Kite Runner as I read further into the book. There is more sadness than most books I have read. I am a little over halfway through the book. A lot of it deals with the impact of contemporary history in Afghanistan on ordinary people.
I tried to read more on the train this morning, but the train was too full. There were several trains backed up on the line. I ended up standing for most of the ride. It is very hard to read a large hardcover book standing. There were people standing reading the paper while they were standing. This is a lot easier, especially if you read the paper a section at a time. I didn't get the paper in the morning because I thought I would read my book.
Hopefully, I will learn to make bookmarks in Microsoft Publisher sometime this week. I am very interested in learning to use Microsoft Publisher so I can make a variety of things like cards, bookmarks, and other ephemera. I found a copy of a boomark in the book, The Kite Runner, it says "In Theatres December 2007". I also was given a small stack of Nikki Grimes poetry bookmarks. When I go to conferences like the New York Comic Con on April 18, 2008, I try to pick up bookmarks as giveaways for programs.
A large portion of the morning was spent reading through ARBA 2008 -- American Reference Books Annual. I was looking for items to suggest for ordering. It lists most of the new reference books which come out every year by category.
Leviathan The History of Whaling In America by Eric Jay Dolan came in today for me to read. I will start on it when I finish The Kite Runner.
I picked the March 15, 2008 copy of Library Journal. There is an article called After Oil on Pp. 28-31 which talks about the end of oil. It is quite interesting. We already are beginning to see some of the impacts locally. It costs more to deliver books and there are more people who are coming in on public transportation to visit the library.
This article cites a famous book by Howard Kunstler called The Long Emergency. There is a link to a 2005 article on the book, http://longemergency.notlong.com . I think this is an honest assessment of our current energy predicament. The Long Emergency is a book I definitely plan to read.
I also found a review for Michael Chabon's new collection of essays, Maps And Legends Essays on Reading And Writing On The Borderlands, McSweeney's c2008. None of our libraries have the book yet. I will be waiting to get this book.
I tried to read more on the train this morning, but the train was too full. There were several trains backed up on the line. I ended up standing for most of the ride. It is very hard to read a large hardcover book standing. There were people standing reading the paper while they were standing. This is a lot easier, especially if you read the paper a section at a time. I didn't get the paper in the morning because I thought I would read my book.
Hopefully, I will learn to make bookmarks in Microsoft Publisher sometime this week. I am very interested in learning to use Microsoft Publisher so I can make a variety of things like cards, bookmarks, and other ephemera. I found a copy of a boomark in the book, The Kite Runner, it says "In Theatres December 2007". I also was given a small stack of Nikki Grimes poetry bookmarks. When I go to conferences like the New York Comic Con on April 18, 2008, I try to pick up bookmarks as giveaways for programs.
A large portion of the morning was spent reading through ARBA 2008 -- American Reference Books Annual. I was looking for items to suggest for ordering. It lists most of the new reference books which come out every year by category.
Leviathan The History of Whaling In America by Eric Jay Dolan came in today for me to read. I will start on it when I finish The Kite Runner.
I picked the March 15, 2008 copy of Library Journal. There is an article called After Oil on Pp. 28-31 which talks about the end of oil. It is quite interesting. We already are beginning to see some of the impacts locally. It costs more to deliver books and there are more people who are coming in on public transportation to visit the library.
This article cites a famous book by Howard Kunstler called The Long Emergency. There is a link to a 2005 article on the book, http://longemergency.notlong.com . I think this is an honest assessment of our current energy predicament. The Long Emergency is a book I definitely plan to read.
I also found a review for Michael Chabon's new collection of essays, Maps And Legends Essays on Reading And Writing On The Borderlands, McSweeney's c2008. None of our libraries have the book yet. I will be waiting to get this book.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Oil by Upton Sinclair Review
Upton Sinclair as seen on the cover of Time magazine in 1934Oil by Upton Sinclair is a novel about the oil business in the 1920s in Southern California. It was written in 1927. Like most of Upton Sinclair's novels it is about the struggle between different classes of people and how it destroys peoples lives. Other people might see it as allegory. Upton Sinclair was writing for social reform. The book was very controversial and was a bestseller in its time.
One of the main characters James Arnold Ross or "Dad" rises to prominence in the Southern California oil fields. The other character, his son Bunny Ross watches as "Dad's" life is destroyed by corruption, greed, and avarice. Upton Sinclair satirizes the characters downfall.
James Ross does not start out corrupt. Upton Sinclair describes James Ross as an idealized small business man who is just and fair. He pays his men fair and gives them a square deal. It is when he tries to join the big oil syndicates that things become hard and dangerous for him. To become rich, James Ross slowly turns to bribery, deception to get peoples land, and lets go of his principles. Upton Sinclair is decrying the process of corruption which small business men often face when they join bigger businesses..
Bunny Ross reacts against the changes in his father, becoming a pink or socialist and siding with organized labor. Bunny reacts in horror as the syndicates bring in strikebreakers to break up unions and he tries to change James Ross's mind. Upton Sinclair is writing about labor in the 1930s which is very different from now. He is also creating a classic theme of father against son.
James Ross, says he has to follow the big syndicates if he is to become wealthy, it is the way of the world for those who think to take advantage of labor. This is very old fashioned thinking. Upton Sinclair is creating an everyman who is slowly becoming corrupt.
Bunny Ross is given everything, a nice car, chances to meet nice young ladies, a college education, the freedom to go out and drink, play sports, and dance all night. He is even introduced to Vee a sexy movie star to get him away from his socialist comrades. This does not change Bunny Ross who seems to be a symbol of working purity. I didn't find this very realistic; but, the writing was aiming for the heart.
One of Bunny Ross's friends, Paul is a soldier who was in Russia and learned about the wonders of labor in the Soviet Union and how good it was for the working man there. This was at a time when socialism was idealized in its beginning stages. Propaganda from the Soviet Union flowed freely into the United States and the United States in turn created propaganda to stop the Soviets.
The sections on the Bolsheviks are quite interesting from a historical viewpoint. They don't read anything like most mainstream textbooks. There is a feeling of revolutionary fervor. The descriptions are also experiential which is different than dry history. It is also written in a time before Russia was the United States enemy during the Cold War so it does not have the feeling of Russia being an enemy.
The book is very much a tragedy. Even though James Ross succeeds in getting money, he is still a small business man at heart. James Ross does not know how to handle his wealth. Eventually he is forced to flee the country in a scandal much like the Teapot Dome scandal of the Harding Administration. The book ends appropriately with betrayal. You can tell that Upton Sinclair is drawing from the history and news of the day to turn it a more sensational deeper scandal than it was portrayed in the newspapers. He is muckraking. You see almost no muckraking novels these days.
This book is very complex. It is 548 pages long and took quite a lot of time to read. There is a lot of dialog and a lot to think about. I think the book was very much ahead of its time. At the time it was written it did not have the same impact as his first work, The Jungle about the meatpacking industry.
Upton Sinclair does not spare either the unions or what he views as a corrupt corporate world. He is writing for reform of the oil industry. Unfortunately, this book did not have the same impact as the book, The Jungle. I feel it is often misinterpreted. There are often attempts to rewrite peoples beliefs to make them more palatable. I do not see this book as allegorical, but as an attempt to create a specific political reaction of heartfelt unease and horror at the oil industry.
The structure of labor has changed considerably in the corporate world. Now, some companies offer things like profit sharing, collaborative work environments, and often are structured so there is some possibility of ownership in corporate America. I think this book is useful as a way to look at labor in a historical sense. There was a much sharper class divide in the 1920s than there is now.
I liked reading about the IWW (International World Workers), the socialists, and the other groups described in the book, Oil. From a historical perspective it is quite interesting.
This book seems to have increased in popularity now because of the corruption we are currently facing in the government surrounding oil. There have been a number of disasters in recent years surrounding oil; the Enron Scandal, the British Petroleum offshore oil spill, the Halliburton contracts for oil in Iraq, and the continuing often unreported problems with energy in California.
The movie, There Will Be Blood, has also reintroduced this book to the public. I am not going to go see the movie. I think from reading the reviews, it is a very different story than the one presented in the book by Upton Sinclair.
This is a novel that has come of age and is actually more relevant now than when it was first published.
One of the main characters James Arnold Ross or "Dad" rises to prominence in the Southern California oil fields. The other character, his son Bunny Ross watches as "Dad's" life is destroyed by corruption, greed, and avarice. Upton Sinclair satirizes the characters downfall.
James Ross does not start out corrupt. Upton Sinclair describes James Ross as an idealized small business man who is just and fair. He pays his men fair and gives them a square deal. It is when he tries to join the big oil syndicates that things become hard and dangerous for him. To become rich, James Ross slowly turns to bribery, deception to get peoples land, and lets go of his principles. Upton Sinclair is decrying the process of corruption which small business men often face when they join bigger businesses..
Bunny Ross reacts against the changes in his father, becoming a pink or socialist and siding with organized labor. Bunny reacts in horror as the syndicates bring in strikebreakers to break up unions and he tries to change James Ross's mind. Upton Sinclair is writing about labor in the 1930s which is very different from now. He is also creating a classic theme of father against son.
James Ross, says he has to follow the big syndicates if he is to become wealthy, it is the way of the world for those who think to take advantage of labor. This is very old fashioned thinking. Upton Sinclair is creating an everyman who is slowly becoming corrupt.
Bunny Ross is given everything, a nice car, chances to meet nice young ladies, a college education, the freedom to go out and drink, play sports, and dance all night. He is even introduced to Vee a sexy movie star to get him away from his socialist comrades. This does not change Bunny Ross who seems to be a symbol of working purity. I didn't find this very realistic; but, the writing was aiming for the heart.
One of Bunny Ross's friends, Paul is a soldier who was in Russia and learned about the wonders of labor in the Soviet Union and how good it was for the working man there. This was at a time when socialism was idealized in its beginning stages. Propaganda from the Soviet Union flowed freely into the United States and the United States in turn created propaganda to stop the Soviets.
The sections on the Bolsheviks are quite interesting from a historical viewpoint. They don't read anything like most mainstream textbooks. There is a feeling of revolutionary fervor. The descriptions are also experiential which is different than dry history. It is also written in a time before Russia was the United States enemy during the Cold War so it does not have the feeling of Russia being an enemy.
The book is very much a tragedy. Even though James Ross succeeds in getting money, he is still a small business man at heart. James Ross does not know how to handle his wealth. Eventually he is forced to flee the country in a scandal much like the Teapot Dome scandal of the Harding Administration. The book ends appropriately with betrayal. You can tell that Upton Sinclair is drawing from the history and news of the day to turn it a more sensational deeper scandal than it was portrayed in the newspapers. He is muckraking. You see almost no muckraking novels these days.
This book is very complex. It is 548 pages long and took quite a lot of time to read. There is a lot of dialog and a lot to think about. I think the book was very much ahead of its time. At the time it was written it did not have the same impact as his first work, The Jungle about the meatpacking industry.
Upton Sinclair does not spare either the unions or what he views as a corrupt corporate world. He is writing for reform of the oil industry. Unfortunately, this book did not have the same impact as the book, The Jungle. I feel it is often misinterpreted. There are often attempts to rewrite peoples beliefs to make them more palatable. I do not see this book as allegorical, but as an attempt to create a specific political reaction of heartfelt unease and horror at the oil industry.
The structure of labor has changed considerably in the corporate world. Now, some companies offer things like profit sharing, collaborative work environments, and often are structured so there is some possibility of ownership in corporate America. I think this book is useful as a way to look at labor in a historical sense. There was a much sharper class divide in the 1920s than there is now.
I liked reading about the IWW (International World Workers), the socialists, and the other groups described in the book, Oil. From a historical perspective it is quite interesting.
This book seems to have increased in popularity now because of the corruption we are currently facing in the government surrounding oil. There have been a number of disasters in recent years surrounding oil; the Enron Scandal, the British Petroleum offshore oil spill, the Halliburton contracts for oil in Iraq, and the continuing often unreported problems with energy in California.
The movie, There Will Be Blood, has also reintroduced this book to the public. I am not going to go see the movie. I think from reading the reviews, it is a very different story than the one presented in the book by Upton Sinclair.
This is a novel that has come of age and is actually more relevant now than when it was first published.
Friday, February 1, 2008
More Thoughts, Subway Reading, Working With Books
I have been at jury duty all week. This is the first week I haven't been to a library or bookstore in a long time. It is kind of relaxing. I got plenty of rest. I read the paper in the morning. I don't read the New York Times except for occassionally. The New York Times is a national newspaper and rather weak on local news. I read the Daily News. It is pretty light weight in its presentation.
My case is luckily not in the papers or I wouldn't read the paper. I had a nice relaxed lunch at a small Colombian restaurant. The coffee was very strong and bitter just perfect.
When I had free time during the day, I continued to read Oil by Upton Sinclair. I am about half way through the book. I am not going to go see it in the movie theater. I will wait until it comes out on dvd.
My case is luckily not in the papers or I wouldn't read the paper. I had a nice relaxed lunch at a small Colombian restaurant. The coffee was very strong and bitter just perfect.
When I had free time during the day, I continued to read Oil by Upton Sinclair. I am about half way through the book. I am not going to go see it in the movie theater. I will wait until it comes out on dvd.
Two other people out of the group I was with were reading books, one was reading a book by Tom Brokaw, the other was reading a paperback.
It was very funny. I've noticed that less and less people are reading books these days. They are reading the newspaper or the internet but not books. They would ask me what I was watching on television and I would say sorry, I don't watch television, if I really want to see the democratic or republican debates, I'll watch them on Youtube. That may sound funny, but all of them are there.
I read on the subway coming home for a little bit. Now I am home. It is too late to wander down to the library. In the subway, only a few people were reading. Sometimes I try and look to see what a person is reading. Often they will stare back at me, close the book and hide it. It is considered rude to try and find out what someone else is reading on the subway.
I see a lot of people reading bibles on the subway. They are reading the bible in a variety of languages, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and English. You usually can tell it is the bible because it is a black book with a cross on the cover, or it has the format of the the bible when it is open. Occassionally, they are reading the Koran as well. Maybe they are using it as a protective talisman. Some of the riders are fingering prayer beads, or staring at the ceiling in meditation.
At Grand Central and Times Square you will see lay preachers yelling about the new testament, sin, and hell. The Jehovah's Witnesses stand inside many of the subway stations and hand out their magazine "Awake". If you are in chinatown or Main Street in Queens, or Grand Central Terminal in New York you will also get Falun Gong pamphlets.
Also people read books in a variety of different languages on the subway. You see a lot of foreign language books on the subway, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and other languages. Most of the time people are reading paperbacks or trade paperbacks which are easier to carry or read on the subway than hardcovers.
Occassionally, people will ask what I am reading. I usually will show them the book, and read them the title, but not let it out of my hand. I don't go into too much detail what I reading about and say simple, "It's a good book."
I have to pace myself, and figure out where I am supposed to get off the subway before I start reading. If I get too absorbed, I will miss my stop. I usually put my book away one or two stops before I have to get off the train. I also get on the train in about the third car. There are usually just enough people around to avoid trouble if you avoid the front two and the back two train cars. I carry a big shoulder bag with me most of the time. A man bag.
I'm also a little paranoid. Because I am reading, and seem a little distracted, I put my wallet inside my coat and leave loose stuff in my outside pockets. I try and see the hands of people who are sitting next to me. Pickpockets have to use their hands to get at things.
I never wear earphones on the subway. I am worried that I won't hear something which is happening like a fight, a distraction, a repairs announcement, a police activities announcement, or that a passenger is sick. There is a lot which can happen on trains.
I currently have one other book in my book bag which I have not read, Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. I am used to carrying around five or six books which I might decide to read. Briar Rose is one of the Mythopoeic society award winners.
When you are not thinking of books most of the day, it makes it difficult to think about what new books or subjects to come up for this blog. I am actually feeling pretty good right now.
It was very funny. I've noticed that less and less people are reading books these days. They are reading the newspaper or the internet but not books. They would ask me what I was watching on television and I would say sorry, I don't watch television, if I really want to see the democratic or republican debates, I'll watch them on Youtube. That may sound funny, but all of them are there.
I read on the subway coming home for a little bit. Now I am home. It is too late to wander down to the library. In the subway, only a few people were reading. Sometimes I try and look to see what a person is reading. Often they will stare back at me, close the book and hide it. It is considered rude to try and find out what someone else is reading on the subway.
I see a lot of people reading bibles on the subway. They are reading the bible in a variety of languages, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and English. You usually can tell it is the bible because it is a black book with a cross on the cover, or it has the format of the the bible when it is open. Occassionally, they are reading the Koran as well. Maybe they are using it as a protective talisman. Some of the riders are fingering prayer beads, or staring at the ceiling in meditation.
At Grand Central and Times Square you will see lay preachers yelling about the new testament, sin, and hell. The Jehovah's Witnesses stand inside many of the subway stations and hand out their magazine "Awake". If you are in chinatown or Main Street in Queens, or Grand Central Terminal in New York you will also get Falun Gong pamphlets.
Also people read books in a variety of different languages on the subway. You see a lot of foreign language books on the subway, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and other languages. Most of the time people are reading paperbacks or trade paperbacks which are easier to carry or read on the subway than hardcovers.
Occassionally, people will ask what I am reading. I usually will show them the book, and read them the title, but not let it out of my hand. I don't go into too much detail what I reading about and say simple, "It's a good book."
I have to pace myself, and figure out where I am supposed to get off the subway before I start reading. If I get too absorbed, I will miss my stop. I usually put my book away one or two stops before I have to get off the train. I also get on the train in about the third car. There are usually just enough people around to avoid trouble if you avoid the front two and the back two train cars. I carry a big shoulder bag with me most of the time. A man bag.
I'm also a little paranoid. Because I am reading, and seem a little distracted, I put my wallet inside my coat and leave loose stuff in my outside pockets. I try and see the hands of people who are sitting next to me. Pickpockets have to use their hands to get at things.
I never wear earphones on the subway. I am worried that I won't hear something which is happening like a fight, a distraction, a repairs announcement, a police activities announcement, or that a passenger is sick. There is a lot which can happen on trains.
I currently have one other book in my book bag which I have not read, Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. I am used to carrying around five or six books which I might decide to read. Briar Rose is one of the Mythopoeic society award winners.
When you are not thinking of books most of the day, it makes it difficult to think about what new books or subjects to come up for this blog. I am actually feeling pretty good right now.
For a year while I was working at an ISP, I stopped working with books. This was during the dotcom boom. I helped find people. The internet is about creating connections between people mainly. We like to think of it as connections between two pieces of information, but it is really not that at all.
Doing jury duty is a kind of deja vu experience. It makes me realize just how much I like working with books, information and the internet. I don't really miss the library aspect of the thing. It could just as easily be in a publishing house, bookstore, or online site.
One of the directors I worked with suggested that I should be working for an online publishing house or online business, I would do well there. About four years ago I took the Introduction to Publishing class at New York University. I was thinking about taking the certificate in publishing course for online publishing. http://www.scps.nyu.edu/areas-of-study/publishing/ . They discontinued the digital publishing course, but kept the magazine and book publishing course at New York University. The real stumper was that I was told if I finished the the certificate, they suggested I might be able to get a sales position in one of the larger publishing companies.
I have been told various things about where I fit in the library world, some by recruiters, some by other people. I know I am not quite a match for a traditional corporate structure. However, I know I would probably do well in a business casual environment. I have looked at law librarianship, corporate librarianship, and academic librarianship and none of it quite seems to fit. The recruiters I talk with are really never able to help me. I have always found the positions I have held on my own after I have been told there was nothing available by recruiters. There were always a lot of places open when I was looking. Many more than the recruiters even new about.
I am really not interested in most levels on doing competitive intelligence. The confidentiality bit bothers me too much. I also like my ego too much to submerge it and my ethics are a bit too strong for dumpster diving, rusing, or cracking. For a bit I was a member of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals which was an odd experience. I went to some of the meetings to see what it was about. Virtually every aspect of information fascinates me.
I also joined the SLA-- Special Library Association for a while, but it did not get me where I wanted to be. I did not seem to fit in with the special librarian crowd that well. I let the dues slide and looked elsewhere.
I've looked at what it takes to start an information brokerage, the Association of Independent Information Professionals is the main association for independent researchers. I really don't think I would do well as an independent searcher. It is the books which interest me not just the searching.
I have an entrepreneurial streak in me. Venture capital is actually pretty interesting. I went to a couple pitches to see how it was done and watched people pitch their ideas. I am interested in business. If you are interested in learning about business, it is easily worth the $40 or $50 to go to an evening where people do pitches to sell their venture capital ideas.
I pulled this event out of Bernardo's List for New York, a kind of amalgam of networking for business events and schmoozing events. http://www.bernardoslist.com/ Take a look at the events list, I find it quite entertaining. If you are looking for business networking events, he lists a lot of them.
One of the real stumpers for me is to advance in librarianship, I have to take either extremely specialized positions which are hard to get, director of collection development or director of reference. I am not entirely sure I want to manage librarians. I could stay in my current position, but I really don't want to stagnate. I could try and learn a whole set of technical skills like content management, but I am not sure that I would do well with it.
For a while, I had a dream of opening a bookstore, then I stepped back when I saw so many of the small independent bookstores closing up. I talked with a few people at SCORE-- Service Corps of Retired Executives about a business plan to start a small bookstore and it wasn't quite right. I also considered taking the American Booksellers Association course on bookselling. I could take the course in 2009 when Book Expo America comes back to New York. I have had SCORE in a couple of times to do workshops at the library where I work. I look at the publishing world and it makes my teeth grind. There is very little that looks like a viable business opportunity right now. The book world is changing. Publishing is like the headless horseman right now. It looks to have a direction, but there is no understanding why. I always dreamed of being a librarian, but when I got there, it was different than what I expected. It is still fun, but I am not sure where it will take me right now.
I've also thought of writing, but not as a career, more of a pastime and hobby. At one point I took a seminar on writing science fiction short stories. I was told my grammar is bad. Maybe, I don't need to write lies (novels), people seem to be more interested in my every day opinions, reviews, and experiences than in galaxies far far away. I guess it is hard to make things up when you already have interesting things happening to you.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Thoughts for the Day, Various Web Tools
I have started reading Oil by Upton Sinclair. The writing is very dense with a lot to say about industry, labor, and human motives. It will take me a considerable amount of time to read this book. At least four or five days. The writing has real substance to it. It is about as dense as Dostoevsky in its writing style. I am surprised that they were able to make this book into a movie. It does not seem to be very cinematic at all. There is a lot of internal dialogue by the characters in the book.
This almost seems to have nothing to do with anything at all. I keep track of many of the websites and webtools that I use on a personal web index. I have been using http://www.backflip.com/ for many years to store links to sites of interest.
I am going to suggest a few web tools and search engines which I like to use a lot. The first is a downloadable search utility called Webferret, it has been around for many years. If I am going to do any really serious web searching, it is a utility which I add to my desktop.
http://www.webferret.com/more/ Some people like Copernic better which has both a free and a pay utility.
If I want to search for free databases on the web on specific subjects, I will turn to Completeplanet. This is useful for searching for information directories and searchable lists.
It has indexed over 70,000 sites with specialty database search tools inside them.
http://www.completeplanet.com/
If you want to search for a person by either phone number or email address, one of the best search engines for locating people on the web is Yahoo People Search:
http://people.yahoo.com/
Similarly if you are looking for executive information and want an easy biographical search engine to use there is:
http://www.zoominfo.com/
If you are looking for an excellent focused metasearch engine which gives a very short list of results, Mamma is quite good because of the limited results it gives.
http://www.mamma.com/
My favorite place to look for public domain or creative commons images is Wikimedia.org
http://www.wikimedia.org/
I just felt like suggesting a few web tools that researchers often use who have some specialty skills on the internet. These tools have all been useful to me at some point in my career. This is far from comprehensive.
Anyways, the last few days have been very busy. I am on jury duty which is tedious and difficult at times. I went to a really bad restaurant at noon with Americanized Italian food. I'll remember to bring my lunch tomorrow. Sitting in court has been very revealing, but I can't really talk about it too much.
I am not going to work which is kind of interesting. It really breaks up my day very differently.
This almost seems to have nothing to do with anything at all. I keep track of many of the websites and webtools that I use on a personal web index. I have been using http://www.backflip.com/ for many years to store links to sites of interest.
I am going to suggest a few web tools and search engines which I like to use a lot. The first is a downloadable search utility called Webferret, it has been around for many years. If I am going to do any really serious web searching, it is a utility which I add to my desktop.
http://www.webferret.com/more/ Some people like Copernic better which has both a free and a pay utility.
If I want to search for free databases on the web on specific subjects, I will turn to Completeplanet. This is useful for searching for information directories and searchable lists.
It has indexed over 70,000 sites with specialty database search tools inside them.
http://www.completeplanet.com/
If you want to search for a person by either phone number or email address, one of the best search engines for locating people on the web is Yahoo People Search:
http://people.yahoo.com/
Similarly if you are looking for executive information and want an easy biographical search engine to use there is:
http://www.zoominfo.com/
If you are looking for an excellent focused metasearch engine which gives a very short list of results, Mamma is quite good because of the limited results it gives.
http://www.mamma.com/
My favorite place to look for public domain or creative commons images is Wikimedia.org
http://www.wikimedia.org/
I just felt like suggesting a few web tools that researchers often use who have some specialty skills on the internet. These tools have all been useful to me at some point in my career. This is far from comprehensive.
Anyways, the last few days have been very busy. I am on jury duty which is tedious and difficult at times. I went to a really bad restaurant at noon with Americanized Italian food. I'll remember to bring my lunch tomorrow. Sitting in court has been very revealing, but I can't really talk about it too much.
I am not going to work which is kind of interesting. It really breaks up my day very differently.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Apollo's Fire Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy-- By Jay Inslee and Bracken Hendricks-- Review
Solar Tower, Sandia National Laboratory, United StatesApollo's Fire Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy by Jay Inslee and Bracken Hendricks, Foreword by President Bill Clinton is a very political left leaning book. It is an energy plan to change the economic base of the United States to more renewable energy. The book is very big government oriented. When I read the book, I had to wade through a lot of rhetoric and political jargon. This book compares a large scale energy plan to the Apollo Project which sent man to the moon. They sound the alarm on global warming, petropolitics, and national security.
In the opening chapters, the story of Felix Kramer who created the first plug in electric hybrid with $700 worth of nickel hydride batteries is told. Austin Energy is already selling conversion kits to turn hybrid electric cars into plug in hybrid cars. Although, the story is not in the book, the story of http://www.greasecar.com/ which provides kits to convert diesel engines to run on vegetable oil is very similar. This is of course a very inspiring story.
They then describe how we can encourage the big three automakers to convert to mass producing plug in hybrid electric vehicles. This is not very convincing. General Motors killed both the EV-1 electric car and the multi-fuel turbine car. The Volt is the planned plug in hybrid of General Motors. The authors did mention Tesla Motors http://www.teslamotors.com/ which is producing a high end $92,000 electric sportscar and plans on producing an all electric sedan for $50,000. Supposedly the government should buy lots of plug in hybrids, this will supposedly encourage people to buy more plug in hybrids. Also they mention Senator Obama's "Healthcare for Hybrids" plan to retool America's auto factories. I really didn't get how it was supposed to work. I wish the authors had instead discussed how we should encourage more innovation inside the country to create a more competitive automobile market for alternative cars.
The section on solar energy is not very convincing. Solar energy is very expensive and we are far behind Japan and Germany. Investing in photovoltaics seems like a long term project. It is at the end of the chapter where things get interesting. Solar turbine technology in large installations has grid parity in pricing with non-renewable energy. It is just getting off the ground. Solar concentrators also seem to be much more affordable than photovoltaics.
The best eneryg policy is energy efficiency. It costs half as much to reduce energy use as to introduce new energy. The United States uses more energy per capita than most industrialized nations. Japan uses 4000 kilowatt hours per person, California uses 8000 kilowatt hours, and the rest of the United States uses 14,000 kilowatt hours per person. I didn't know California was a separate country from the rest of the United States. The book suggests we should adopt California's energy efficiency legislation for the whole country. Different methods for energy efficiency like fluorescent or led lighting, green buildings, energy saving appliances, and insulation are discussed.
A central idea of this book is that the United States should revitalize our economy by investing in "Green Collar" jobs in every community. The environmental industry is worth $341 billion dollars and provides 5.3 million jobs. I am interested in knowing which sectors of the economy exactly are part of the environmental industry. This is not explained completely. "Green Collar" jobs are high technology jobs focused on energy efficiency, clean energy, green buildings, mass transit, and clean cars. This is essential to jump start our economy for the 21st century. Part of this is investing in massive Hoover Dam style projects like rebuilding the energy grid along more distributed lines and building lots of new clean light rail mass transit.
After talking about "Green Collar" jobs the book reveals an interesting plan for farmers. There are some dubious qualities about it. Biofuels are going to jump start the heartland. Greys Harbor, Washington where Imperium Renewables has set up a clean biodiesel plant is trumpeted as the town of the future. We get a picture of where first farmers build biofuel plants, then they invest in wind turbines to sell wind energy, then they convert their farm machinery to biodiesel, then they invest in solid waste digester for manure to produce methanol and fertilizer. A kind of clean energy farm for the future.
The main dubious idea is that corn ethanol is good and that cellulosic ethanol is the fuel of the future. Ethanol will never be completely oil free, it is blended with gasoline. There are also only 378 E85 ethanol pumps in the country. The United States can't even get a blending standard of 10% ethanol in all gasoline passed. The idea that somehow we will force the big oil companies to install massive amounts of E85 pumps is very far fetched.
This is one of the reasons I am a big fan of biodiesel. Biodiesel can be pumped from any regular diesel pump which is available at a gas station. There is no need for a new biodiesel infrastructure, it can simply be expanded. It is also the fastest growing of the alternative fuels. Diesel engines were originally designed to run on peanut oil.
Biodiesel is growing very fast because centralized fleets of heavy diesel equipment can simply switch the fuel they are using to biodiesel easily. It also provides less wear and tear on engines and burns cleaner than regular diesel. Also, biodiesel was recently used to power a jet plane. We can keep our aircraft if we use biodiesel. http://www.greenflightinternational.com/
The next section is on wind energy. Wind Energy is the first truly profitable renewable energy source. The breakthrough in making wind energy profitable is when research started working on creating tidal turbines for the ocean. The blades and engines of tidal turbines could handle far more torque than regular wind mills. This design allowed the creation of 2.5 megawatt 200 foot tall wind turbines like the ones produced by the Clipper company. One of these turbines can power 800 homes. Tidal energy of course is fascinating. Although, it isn't mentioned in the book, Finavera is opening the first tidal power plant in alliance with PG&E on the United States west coast in 2012. According to the book tidal power could provide potentially between 8-20% of our energy and wind could provide 20% of the United States energy. If they are going to talk about tidal and wind energy, why don't they talk about distributed hydroelectric. There is nothing in this book about improving hydroelectric energy which is the largest portion of renewable energy used by the United States.
Coal energy and nuclear are discussed. Clean coal which is a process of capturing carbon and sequestering it in the ground is described. What is missing from the description is the idea of cofiring coal with biomass to reduce emissions. There is a little bit of discussion of GreenFuel Technologies at MIT, but it does not have much detail on using algae to scrub CO2 from coal plants. http://www.greenfuelonline.com/ . Sequestration is a good idea, but reducing emissions at the source seems to me to be a better idea. The description of nuclear energy here is at best cursory. It describes how nuclear energy is completely unsafe. Coal represents 50% of the United States utility use.
In the opening chapters, the story of Felix Kramer who created the first plug in electric hybrid with $700 worth of nickel hydride batteries is told. Austin Energy is already selling conversion kits to turn hybrid electric cars into plug in hybrid cars. Although, the story is not in the book, the story of http://www.greasecar.com/ which provides kits to convert diesel engines to run on vegetable oil is very similar. This is of course a very inspiring story.
They then describe how we can encourage the big three automakers to convert to mass producing plug in hybrid electric vehicles. This is not very convincing. General Motors killed both the EV-1 electric car and the multi-fuel turbine car. The Volt is the planned plug in hybrid of General Motors. The authors did mention Tesla Motors http://www.teslamotors.com/ which is producing a high end $92,000 electric sportscar and plans on producing an all electric sedan for $50,000. Supposedly the government should buy lots of plug in hybrids, this will supposedly encourage people to buy more plug in hybrids. Also they mention Senator Obama's "Healthcare for Hybrids" plan to retool America's auto factories. I really didn't get how it was supposed to work. I wish the authors had instead discussed how we should encourage more innovation inside the country to create a more competitive automobile market for alternative cars.
The section on solar energy is not very convincing. Solar energy is very expensive and we are far behind Japan and Germany. Investing in photovoltaics seems like a long term project. It is at the end of the chapter where things get interesting. Solar turbine technology in large installations has grid parity in pricing with non-renewable energy. It is just getting off the ground. Solar concentrators also seem to be much more affordable than photovoltaics.
The best eneryg policy is energy efficiency. It costs half as much to reduce energy use as to introduce new energy. The United States uses more energy per capita than most industrialized nations. Japan uses 4000 kilowatt hours per person, California uses 8000 kilowatt hours, and the rest of the United States uses 14,000 kilowatt hours per person. I didn't know California was a separate country from the rest of the United States. The book suggests we should adopt California's energy efficiency legislation for the whole country. Different methods for energy efficiency like fluorescent or led lighting, green buildings, energy saving appliances, and insulation are discussed.
A central idea of this book is that the United States should revitalize our economy by investing in "Green Collar" jobs in every community. The environmental industry is worth $341 billion dollars and provides 5.3 million jobs. I am interested in knowing which sectors of the economy exactly are part of the environmental industry. This is not explained completely. "Green Collar" jobs are high technology jobs focused on energy efficiency, clean energy, green buildings, mass transit, and clean cars. This is essential to jump start our economy for the 21st century. Part of this is investing in massive Hoover Dam style projects like rebuilding the energy grid along more distributed lines and building lots of new clean light rail mass transit.
After talking about "Green Collar" jobs the book reveals an interesting plan for farmers. There are some dubious qualities about it. Biofuels are going to jump start the heartland. Greys Harbor, Washington where Imperium Renewables has set up a clean biodiesel plant is trumpeted as the town of the future. We get a picture of where first farmers build biofuel plants, then they invest in wind turbines to sell wind energy, then they convert their farm machinery to biodiesel, then they invest in solid waste digester for manure to produce methanol and fertilizer. A kind of clean energy farm for the future.
The main dubious idea is that corn ethanol is good and that cellulosic ethanol is the fuel of the future. Ethanol will never be completely oil free, it is blended with gasoline. There are also only 378 E85 ethanol pumps in the country. The United States can't even get a blending standard of 10% ethanol in all gasoline passed. The idea that somehow we will force the big oil companies to install massive amounts of E85 pumps is very far fetched.
This is one of the reasons I am a big fan of biodiesel. Biodiesel can be pumped from any regular diesel pump which is available at a gas station. There is no need for a new biodiesel infrastructure, it can simply be expanded. It is also the fastest growing of the alternative fuels. Diesel engines were originally designed to run on peanut oil.
Biodiesel is growing very fast because centralized fleets of heavy diesel equipment can simply switch the fuel they are using to biodiesel easily. It also provides less wear and tear on engines and burns cleaner than regular diesel. Also, biodiesel was recently used to power a jet plane. We can keep our aircraft if we use biodiesel. http://www.greenflightinternational.com/
The next section is on wind energy. Wind Energy is the first truly profitable renewable energy source. The breakthrough in making wind energy profitable is when research started working on creating tidal turbines for the ocean. The blades and engines of tidal turbines could handle far more torque than regular wind mills. This design allowed the creation of 2.5 megawatt 200 foot tall wind turbines like the ones produced by the Clipper company. One of these turbines can power 800 homes. Tidal energy of course is fascinating. Although, it isn't mentioned in the book, Finavera is opening the first tidal power plant in alliance with PG&E on the United States west coast in 2012. According to the book tidal power could provide potentially between 8-20% of our energy and wind could provide 20% of the United States energy. If they are going to talk about tidal and wind energy, why don't they talk about distributed hydroelectric. There is nothing in this book about improving hydroelectric energy which is the largest portion of renewable energy used by the United States.
Coal energy and nuclear are discussed. Clean coal which is a process of capturing carbon and sequestering it in the ground is described. What is missing from the description is the idea of cofiring coal with biomass to reduce emissions. There is a little bit of discussion of GreenFuel Technologies at MIT, but it does not have much detail on using algae to scrub CO2 from coal plants. http://www.greenfuelonline.com/ . Sequestration is a good idea, but reducing emissions at the source seems to me to be a better idea. The description of nuclear energy here is at best cursory. It describes how nuclear energy is completely unsafe. Coal represents 50% of the United States utility use.
The final chapters are a summary of what needs to be done. The Apollo Alliance combines a coaltion of labor, environmentalists, businesses, and community based organizations. It aims to create "Green Collar" jobs and improve the environment. They have proposed a five point plan to change the United States economy.
1) Increase energy efficiency with green manufacturing of appliances, lighting, and transportation, improve conservation, and build green buildings.
2) Reduce reliance on oil by increasing mileage standards for vehicles, introducing biofuels, and plug in hybrid electric vehicles.
3) Reward renewables and carbon free electricity. They suggest a 25% renewable portfolio standard for utilities by the year 2025. This is a pretty steep expectation.
4)Build cities that are more dense and green with light rail, an improved distributed energy grid, and more green buildings.
5)Put carbon caps in place. They suggest a carbon tax. This will not be very popular with most businesses. The other option they suggest is a cap and trade system where carbon emissions are given a specific value. This is much more likely to inspire innovation, but will still leave some rampant polluters.
The problem with this whole idea is the cost. This will cost $300 billion dollars, $30 billion dollars per year for ten years. The legislation was tried in 2005, but it didn't even make it to vote. http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2005/05/18/inslee-apollo/index.html .
The ideas in this book need to be brought down to earth and made into a more manageable form. There is a lot of dreaming and political rhetoric and not enough hard nuts and bolts solutions. The five proposals of the Apollo Alliance seem to cross party lines and pieces of them could be implemented. There are a lot of very interesting ideas in this book. Because of its very liberal slant, it might be a hard read for libertarians or republicans.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Comic Book News and Reviews:Pulp Secret Report 05/10/07
Bill Willingham, the author of Fables is in this video. It is not what you would expect.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Freedom From Oil-- David Sandalow-- Review
Ford Edge Hydrogen HybridFreedom From Oil How The Next President Can End The United States Oil Addiction by David Sandalow, Introduction by U.S. Senator Richard G. Lugar. This book presents what looks like a bipartisan solution to helping end the United States dependence on oil. The book is about how the United States can diversify its transportation sector away from oil to other sources like electricity and biofuels. The book largely consists of memorandums between a fictitious president and his different advisors. At first, when I read this, I thought "oh no", a book about committee meetings between a politician and his staff. But, luckily it turned out to not be so dull.
There is a lot of material covered in this book. Some of it is surprising. Each chapter has a guest cameo. General Richard Zilmer talks about how it is necessary to introduce solar and wind power in the military to reduce the need for vulnerable fuel convoys, Chelsea Sexton who starred in Who Killed The Electric Car talks about the need for electric cars. There are a lot of interesting cameos.
96% of the United States transportation sector relies on oil. The majority of this oil comes from the Middle East and countries unfriendly to the United States like Venezuela. The political costs of this oil are high, vulnerability to attack on oil fields by terrorists, problems sanctioning Iran, going to war with Iraq, being dependent on non-democratic countries like Saudia Arabia, global warming, dwindling suppies, and pollution. The costs are described in plain language.
The book itself is divided into three sections, problems, solutions, and decisions. In the problems section, David Sandalow describes how every president since Nixon has tried on some level to reduce dependence on foreign oil and failed. Taxes on oil and gas are practically unpassable as legislation. So is breaking the pork barrel politics which hands out benefits to oil and gas companies. Yet, the next president has to do this according to Mr. Sandalow.
There is also some material on the intransigence of the car companies in relation to change. There is a culture built around the internal combustion engine and big powerful race car fantasies.
The section on solutions is very interesting. I don't agree with him on many points, but he is talking about real things which can be done which is more than most politicians are doing. The main focus of the book seems to be getting millions of plug in hybrid electric vehicles on the road with a combination of tax incentives for individuals and incentives for American companies to retool factories so we can produce better cars. The second focus is on developing a strong biofuels infrastructure. This is focused on ethanol mainly, with wishful thinking on cellulosic ethanol.
There is also a section on improving fuel efficiency for cars by improving engines and materials. It is mostly about improving engines. Although he does mention that the fuel efficiency standards should be the same for cars and light trucks. He has come up with a new acronym which is kind of funny, Fuel Reduction and Energy Efficiency standard, FREEdom standars. I think the section on fuel efficiency could have included more on the idea of reducing weight for cars. The Hypercar created by the Rocky Mountain Institute doubles fuel efficiency by building the body of the car from superstrong carbon fiber.
There is an overemphasis on corn ethanol which many people are debating as a fuel source. Sugarcane ethanol, the main ethanol crop in Brazil is much more environmentally friendly. I don't think it would be that bad for the American public if we had sugar shortages because it is being used as a fuel. It might even be healthy. There is a bit on importing ethanol from Brazil instead of oil from Venezuela. This of course is completely opposed to by the American farm lobby.
I think the book shortchanges biodiesel. Biodiesel in my opinion is a better source of fuel than ethanol. Biodiesel can be used in any diesel engine with minimal changes. Also biodiesel can be made from feedstocks like human and animal wastes, restaurant grease, and oil seed bearing trees all of which use much less land than corn or sugar cane. I am going to mention two companies in the biodiesel arena. Aquaflow Bionomics in New Zealand grows algae to clean up settling ponds, the algae then is processed into biodiesel. This is a double benefit for the environment. Another company is Cleanfuel Technologies. Algae is grown in a process where it extracts carbon from flue stacks. Then the algae is processed into biodiesel.
http://www.greenfuelonline.com/gf_files/GreenFuel%20Growth%20Rates.pdf
Hybrid diesel engines are also being developed. I think as a potential fuel source algae trumps cellulosic ethanol.
Cellulosic ethanol is discussed as the fuel of the future. There is a description where they plan to make every gas station have an E85 pump. E85, is a mix of 85% ethanol and 15% gas. I am not sure how they are going to do this. It is a nice idea, however, they have to pass the legislation through congress and senate. They can't seem to get the congress or senate to pass a 10% requirement for ethanol in gasoline. I am really not sure how they will do this. A lot of the big companies are already invested in FFV's or flexible fuel vehicles that can run on either gasoline or E85. General Motors has invested a lot of money into this.
Coal liquification is considered a good idea in this book. At least that was my take when I was reading the book. He says something different during the video presentation, that coal gasification is not so good. Maybe, I interpreted things the wrong way.
There is a lot of material covered in this book. Some of it is surprising. Each chapter has a guest cameo. General Richard Zilmer talks about how it is necessary to introduce solar and wind power in the military to reduce the need for vulnerable fuel convoys, Chelsea Sexton who starred in Who Killed The Electric Car talks about the need for electric cars. There are a lot of interesting cameos.
96% of the United States transportation sector relies on oil. The majority of this oil comes from the Middle East and countries unfriendly to the United States like Venezuela. The political costs of this oil are high, vulnerability to attack on oil fields by terrorists, problems sanctioning Iran, going to war with Iraq, being dependent on non-democratic countries like Saudia Arabia, global warming, dwindling suppies, and pollution. The costs are described in plain language.
The book itself is divided into three sections, problems, solutions, and decisions. In the problems section, David Sandalow describes how every president since Nixon has tried on some level to reduce dependence on foreign oil and failed. Taxes on oil and gas are practically unpassable as legislation. So is breaking the pork barrel politics which hands out benefits to oil and gas companies. Yet, the next president has to do this according to Mr. Sandalow.
There is also some material on the intransigence of the car companies in relation to change. There is a culture built around the internal combustion engine and big powerful race car fantasies.
The section on solutions is very interesting. I don't agree with him on many points, but he is talking about real things which can be done which is more than most politicians are doing. The main focus of the book seems to be getting millions of plug in hybrid electric vehicles on the road with a combination of tax incentives for individuals and incentives for American companies to retool factories so we can produce better cars. The second focus is on developing a strong biofuels infrastructure. This is focused on ethanol mainly, with wishful thinking on cellulosic ethanol.
There is also a section on improving fuel efficiency for cars by improving engines and materials. It is mostly about improving engines. Although he does mention that the fuel efficiency standards should be the same for cars and light trucks. He has come up with a new acronym which is kind of funny, Fuel Reduction and Energy Efficiency standard, FREEdom standars. I think the section on fuel efficiency could have included more on the idea of reducing weight for cars. The Hypercar created by the Rocky Mountain Institute doubles fuel efficiency by building the body of the car from superstrong carbon fiber.
There is an overemphasis on corn ethanol which many people are debating as a fuel source. Sugarcane ethanol, the main ethanol crop in Brazil is much more environmentally friendly. I don't think it would be that bad for the American public if we had sugar shortages because it is being used as a fuel. It might even be healthy. There is a bit on importing ethanol from Brazil instead of oil from Venezuela. This of course is completely opposed to by the American farm lobby.
I think the book shortchanges biodiesel. Biodiesel in my opinion is a better source of fuel than ethanol. Biodiesel can be used in any diesel engine with minimal changes. Also biodiesel can be made from feedstocks like human and animal wastes, restaurant grease, and oil seed bearing trees all of which use much less land than corn or sugar cane. I am going to mention two companies in the biodiesel arena. Aquaflow Bionomics in New Zealand grows algae to clean up settling ponds, the algae then is processed into biodiesel. This is a double benefit for the environment. Another company is Cleanfuel Technologies. Algae is grown in a process where it extracts carbon from flue stacks. Then the algae is processed into biodiesel.
http://www.greenfuelonline.com/gf_files/GreenFuel%20Growth%20Rates.pdf
Hybrid diesel engines are also being developed. I think as a potential fuel source algae trumps cellulosic ethanol.
Cellulosic ethanol is discussed as the fuel of the future. There is a description where they plan to make every gas station have an E85 pump. E85, is a mix of 85% ethanol and 15% gas. I am not sure how they are going to do this. It is a nice idea, however, they have to pass the legislation through congress and senate. They can't seem to get the congress or senate to pass a 10% requirement for ethanol in gasoline. I am really not sure how they will do this. A lot of the big companies are already invested in FFV's or flexible fuel vehicles that can run on either gasoline or E85. General Motors has invested a lot of money into this.
Coal liquification is considered a good idea in this book. At least that was my take when I was reading the book. He says something different during the video presentation, that coal gasification is not so good. Maybe, I interpreted things the wrong way.
I am not a big fan of big coal. Coal accounts for 50% of our stationary energy use. Claiming that we will reduce global warming by investing in clean coal then sequestering the carbon dioxide in holes in the ground seems like a fantasy. I think there are other options for coal like the aforementioned GreenFuel Technologies. There is also cofiring with biomass. http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy00osti/28009.pdf He says wind is simply not an option. I disagree with him. There is no discussion of diversifying the United States energy base with more geothermal, improved hydroelectric plants, solar power, more natural gas, and even nuclear energy. Diversification is essential, it is the best way to create a positive bipartisan energy policy.
The next section is about driving and highways. There is a brief statement that instead of putting money into roads, we should put money into mass transit. Also we should allow more telecommuting. Telecommuting at the level which he is describing would require a major change in the way most Americans think about work. Maybe if we put some money into better trains, things like the GE Hybrid locomotive http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1840706/posts people might be more interested in mass transit. I love trains.
The ideas in this book are interesting. Many of them seem implementable, I'd say about half of them. This is far better than most political books which I have read.
He summarzies the main goals of his program for ending oil addiction. He even spends some time describing what oil addiction is. Then he creates a speech which reminds me slightly of Ronald Reagan's speaking style on how we should kick the oil habit.
Here is the summary of his ideas reworded in my own language:
1) Transform the vehicle fleet to PHEV-- plug in hybrid electric vehicles . Get the government to order a PHEV fleet.
2) Change the fuel supply to ethanol and other biofuels.
3) Spend more money on mass transit and telecommuting.
4) Invest in research in cellulosic ethanol, biobutanol, and improved battery technology.
5) Create a gas tax to fund the changes as well as introduce a PHEV rebate for tax payers.
6) Change our diplomacy. During the video he mentions that we should cooperate with China in creating better standards. He implies that we should open our borders to Brazilian ethanol.
He describes his solution as a big government solution. Personally, it seems a bit too big government, but it is a better start than almost any other politician has come out and talked about. This is well worth reading if you are interested in energy policy.
David Sandalow is an Energy & Environment Scholar and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute.
The next section is about driving and highways. There is a brief statement that instead of putting money into roads, we should put money into mass transit. Also we should allow more telecommuting. Telecommuting at the level which he is describing would require a major change in the way most Americans think about work. Maybe if we put some money into better trains, things like the GE Hybrid locomotive http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1840706/posts people might be more interested in mass transit. I love trains.
The ideas in this book are interesting. Many of them seem implementable, I'd say about half of them. This is far better than most political books which I have read.
He summarzies the main goals of his program for ending oil addiction. He even spends some time describing what oil addiction is. Then he creates a speech which reminds me slightly of Ronald Reagan's speaking style on how we should kick the oil habit.
Here is the summary of his ideas reworded in my own language:
1) Transform the vehicle fleet to PHEV-- plug in hybrid electric vehicles . Get the government to order a PHEV fleet.
2) Change the fuel supply to ethanol and other biofuels.
3) Spend more money on mass transit and telecommuting.
4) Invest in research in cellulosic ethanol, biobutanol, and improved battery technology.
5) Create a gas tax to fund the changes as well as introduce a PHEV rebate for tax payers.
6) Change our diplomacy. During the video he mentions that we should cooperate with China in creating better standards. He implies that we should open our borders to Brazilian ethanol.
He describes his solution as a big government solution. Personally, it seems a bit too big government, but it is a better start than almost any other politician has come out and talked about. This is well worth reading if you are interested in energy policy.
David Sandalow is an Energy & Environment Scholar and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute.
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