A good read

[killarney_sailor]

Just finished a very interesting new book, Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future by Iain Carson and Vijay Vaitheeswaran, two writers for The Economist. The title does not really do the book justice since it would appear to limit the discourse too much. Better to describe it as an analysis, from a free market approach, of the role of energy in the world in the decades to come. In keeping with the style and approach of The Economist, it is well-written and prepared to skewer both conventional environmentalists on one hand and those who pretend to be conservatives on the other and yet support all sorts of laws that limit markets and provide subsidies.

They also look at which auto and oil companies are posed to be most successful in the years to come and which are 'dinosaurs'. They also posit the idea, taken from various high tech successes, that the automakers and energy companies of the future may not be the huge companies that exist today. I think what is most refreshing about the book is that they discuss 21st century solutions to the problems we face, rather than try to figure out how to apply 20th century approaches.

[CapnHand]

Interesting post. My son and I were having a discussion along similar lines the other day. I'll keep my eye out for that book. One thing is for sure;

As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

[sailaway21]

killarney,
Thanks for the info., I'll look it up.

It's interesting that, at the start of the 20th century, if you told someone that there would be concrete roads all over the continent that would allow travel at speeds of 70 mph they'd probably ask why we'd go to all the trouble of building them. They were as incapable of imagining what the automobile would become as we are today of imagining what the future is. If that Star Trek transporter thing became a reality you could conceivably see the disappearance of roads in about the same century it took for all of them to be built in the first place. How strange would that be? And things like that happen due to the smallest, seemingly insignificant developments. Sort of like the computers we're typing on now. The only thing I know for sure is that I haven't got a clue. But there's probably some kid in a garage somewhere right now who's got the germ of an idea that's eventually going to change everything we know.

[Rockter]

I paid £1.11, equivalent to $2.22+ a week ago for a litre of ultra-taxed British diesel.

Yes folks, that's $10.09 per UK gallon, or $8.30 per US gal.

The place, Aberdeen Airport, Scotland. Date Dec 10. Time approx 10 am.

Welcome to the energy costly, socialist future.

They all flew to Bali to work out how much more costly it's going to be tomorrow.

[sailhog]

Originally Posted by Rockter

I paid £1.11, equivalent to $2.22+ a week ago for a litre of ultra-taxed British diesel.

Yes folks, that's $10.09 per UK gallon, or $8.30 per US gal.

The place, Aberdeen Airport, Scotland. Date Dec 10. Time approx 10 am.

Welcome to the energy costly, socialist future.

They all flew to Bali to work out how much more costly it's going to be tomorrow.

Holy f-----g s--t!

[killarney_sailor]

There was a quote in this book from a former Saudi oil minister who said, speaking of the future of oil, that the reason that the Stone Age ended was not because we ran out of stones.

Originally Posted by sailaway21

killarney,
Thanks for the info., I'll look it up.

It's interesting that, at the start of the 20th century, if you told someone that there would be concrete roads all over the continent that would allow travel at speeds of 70 mph they'd probably ask why we'd go to all the trouble of building them. They were as incapable of imagining what the automobile would become as we are today of imagining what the future is. If that Star Trek transporter thing became a reality you could conceivably see the disappearance of roads in about the same century it took for all of them to be built in the first place. How strange would that be? And things like that happen due to the smallest, seemingly insignificant developments. Sort of like the computers we're typing on now. The only thing I know for sure is that I haven't got a clue. But there's probably some kid in a garage somewhere right now who's got the germ of an idea that's eventually going to change everything we know.

[killarney_sailor]

Worth checking out the book I mentioned since it would suggest that high energy prices, rather than hidden and not-so hidden subsidies is the way to go to achieve a number of goals: resource conservation, environmental protection, national security among them. It is important to note that this is coming from writers for a magazine who really do believe in the wisdom of free markets. The future will be energy costly, irrespective of the nature of governments.

Originally Posted by Rockter

I paid £1.11, equivalent to $2.22+ a week ago for a litre of ultra-taxed British diesel.

Yes folks, that's $10.09 per UK gallon, or $8.30 per US gal.

The place, Aberdeen Airport, Scotland. Date Dec 10. Time approx 10 am.

Welcome to the energy costly, socialist future.

They all flew to Bali to work out how much more costly it's going to be tomorrow.