Customer Reviews

Freedom From Oil: How the Next President Can End the United States' Oil Addiction

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an important and timely book. David Sandalow is to be commended for writing a well-researched, non-partisan book that offers a candid assessment of our addiction to oil; the adverse consequences that flow from that addiction, and a realistic assessment of various policy options regarding liquid fuel substitutions that could, and should, be vigorously pursued by the next administration.

The introduction of "Freedom From Oil" makes several important points, whic include:

"First, oil is everywhere. Everyone reading this book will use oil-directly or indirectly-in the next day.

...Second, drivers have no substitutes for oil.

....Third, our political dialogue about oil is stuck in the 1970s, focusing on just one part of a larger problem.

....To become independent of foreign oil, we must become independent of oil. That doesn't mean no oil in our vehicles. It means giving drivers a choice between oil and other fuels.

This conclusion is not radical. Experts across the political spectrum have been saying it, in different ways, for many years. But it has not permeated our political dialogue on the topic of oil.

Which leads to a forth insight: Ending oil dependence will require political leadership.

The changes required to end oil dependence are far-reaching. Lead times are long. Many current proposals are far too small. For the scope of change needed to solve this problem, presidential leadership is essential." (pg. 4)

From there Sandalow write a hypothetical memo from the President states: "I plan to deliver an address from the Oval Office one month from today. The topic will be oil dependence." Freedom from Oil then proceeds with a dozen or so memorandums from various cabinet-level members and top advisors (i.e., national security, enviroment, economic, etc). The book also includes some interesting interviews from real-life individuals. The hypothetical format of the book is slightly unorthodox, but it is very effective given general theme of the book - what would happen if the next President made breaking the United States' addiction to oil a top priority?

In Part I, Sandalow defines "The Problem" by writing a memorandum by a fictitious U.S. president who is requesting a holistic analysis of our oil addition from all of his cabinet members. Sandalow repeatedly notes that that the U.S. consumes approximately 24% of the world's oil production, yet has only 2% of the world's reaming oil supply. In addition, he notes that 96% of our transportation fleet is utterly dependent on oil, and that there are virtually no (scaleable) substitutes currently available, at least not in the short-term.

Part II of this book outlines possible "Solutions" to the oil addiction. This includes a candid analysis of the various policy and technology alternatives: Plug-In-Cars, Biofuels, Fuel Efficiency, Coal, Hydrogen, Smart Growth, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and Diplomatic Strategy. (Note: nuclear energy, photovoltaic/solar energy, and wind energy are not discussed in the text as they have effectively no impact on the transportation fleet in the short or immediate term - and are thus irrelevant unless we radidly move towards all electric vehicles).

Part II of the book is fairly comprehensive, but I do have a minor criticism regarding Biofuels. It is my perception that the author does not sufficiently explore the range of challenges involved with scaling-up U.S. liquid fuel production from ethanol and other biofuels beyond today's 4% of the total fuel mix.

In other words, while production of various biofuels could be ramped up to perhaps one-third of our gasoline consumption within a few decades (assuming hundreds of billions of dollars were immediately diverted towards this goal), there are some complicated issues regarding the price of food produced domestically, not to mention the potential adverse impacts on world poverty. (The author briefly mentions the "tortilla riots" that occurred in Mexico during 2006 due to the increase price of corn, which in turn was/is an artifact of increased corn production being diverted to ethanol production, but he seems to downplay potential impacts to domestic/U.S. food prices).

Despite this issue, I applaud Sandalow for his balanced approach regarding the issues surrounding alternative transportation fuels from coal, coal-to-liquids, and his candid assessment of the much-hyped "hydrogen fuels." (he notes the tremendous amount of raw energy required just to produce free hydrogen molecules, and the "astronomical costs" of converting our 169,000 gasoline stations and infrastructure for hydrogen transportation and storage, etc).

Part III of this book is called "Decisions," which offers several difficult yet realistic policy decision options for the next U.S. administration. These policies include significant changes in tax structure, mass transit funding, subsidies to the oil and gas industry, etc. Changes are required immediately. Let us hope that the current crop of politicians seeking the presidency in 2008 might actually debate the various energy policies suggested by Sandalow, as our addiction to oil is about to become a truly global crisis. Why?

Quite simply, the world oil production data over the past 2+ years increasingly suggests that we have entered a plateau in global oil production, which will ultimately be followed by an inexorable decline in global oil production. Many non-partisan experts in various non-profit entities such as ASPO and the UK-based Oil Depletion Analysis Center suggest 2010/11 as the tipping point, ergo, the next president will have to deal with this epochal moment in history.

My major criticism of Sandalow's book is that he does not even mention Peak Oil - despite this phenomenon (along with global climate change) being the "other inconvenient truth" as well as the primary driver of why we need to become "free from oil" - beginning yesterday. (fyi: Despite the massive increase in the price of oil over the past couple of years, according to the EIA data as of September 2007, it appears that the global production peak in regular crude oil + condensate occurred in May 2005 at 74,298,000 barrels per day, and that the global "all liquids" peak occurred in July 2006 at 85,540,000 barrels per day. The world is now producing 1.2 m/b/d less crude oil than it did 2 years ago, and 1.2 m/b/d less total liquiud fuels than it did 1 year ago. If we are on a plateau regarding global oil production, then a slow and permanent decline is on the immediate horizon).

To be sure, Sandalow's book is well researched (with plenty of footnotes that are worth reading), but it would have been more persuasive if he made some mention of the growing evidence that world oil production may be peaking. This issue should have been discussed in Freedom from Oil, and for this reason alone I am giving Sandalow's book four stars instead of five. (For those interested, I highly recommend the award-winning documentary film "A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash")

Despite this criticism, Sandalow correctly and effectively illustrates that the next several U.S> presidents will face very difficult challenges that will require considerable leadership - not to mention lots of sacrifice from the general citizenry. As Freedom from Oil makes clear, real presidential leadership is required in 2009 and beyond if we are to begin earnestly tackling the most difficult challenges that today's generation faces - our addiction to oil, and the long-term challenges stemming from global climate change.

Summarizing, this book should be required reading for all American citizens - and especially those who are seeking to become the next President - as nothing is more important at this stage in human development than beginning the long and difficult journey to free ourselves from our disastrous addiction to oil.

As one who has extensively studied the issue of peak oil, especially as it relates to transportation in the US, I was initially very excited when "Freedom From Oil" was released. The book is an absolutely wonderful overview some partial solutions to the oil dependence problem, but I feel it is major flawed - the author very clearly assumes that the overall goal is continuing to make the automobile to overwhelming dominant factor in transportation in the US and fails to cover the nation's aviation system. Mass transit is only mentioned once or twice, and rail of any sort doesn't even get enough mention to be included in the index. The reality is, as much as there are many promising alternatives to oil, we dramatically need to cut back energy use in this country to a sustainable level. This is going to require a massive investment in mass transit, as well as the development of high speed rail along major corridors, much like is done in Europe. I was shocked that mass transit or high speed rail didn't have a chapter of its own, though increased transit funding was mentioned as part of the smart growth chapter. He only vaugely suggests that mass transit might receive some funding from an increased gas tax (the suggestion occupies all of once sentence in the book). Additionally, the use of airlines as the almost exclusive means of long distance transit in this country wasn't even covered. "Airline" isn't even in the index. He also glosses over wide-scale deployment of electric cars, choosing to focus more on plug in hybrids (though an article is included in which another party states that the plug in hybrid is only a transition vehicle, which is fairly acurate). Overall, Freedom from Oil was an interesting but highly frustrating read, as Sandlow skirts around and fails to cover some of the most significant changes this country needs.

I had to read this book for class and here is my response essay. Feel free to plagiarize me.

"Freedom from Oil" is an important introduction to understanding political interest group's persuasive techniques. It has little weight in actually offering advice to reduce our nations "dependence" on energy. Mr. Sandalow has done a terrific job rubbing the backs of a bunch of people that could potentially profit from shifting away from oil. This is an important technique to utilize, however the underlying problem of our nation's addiction to energy is superficially mentioned.

Out of the 215 pages of this book, 7 pages are dedicated to the built environment. I laughed through all 7 of the pages about "smart growth" and I would enjoy reiterating what I sardonically digested. I have been researching about "smart growth" for about 2 years. I cringe at the mention of term because it is transformed into a dichotomy of walkable urbanism versus drivable sub-urbanism. Walkable urbanism is so commonly, that it is almost sad, mentioned in stark opposition to the suburbs. The problem with making things black and white is everything is either suburbs or "smart growth." I am not a fan of the jargon of "smart growth" or of the development practices that are commonly referenced as examples of "smart growth" but there are very important concepts that are couched within this title. These concepts are age old. They stretch back to the way humans have built since they started building things. They only strayed away from this model 60 years ago when the federal government supported a single pattern of development.

The text reinforces the uselessness of building intelligently. Sandalow makes blanket statements explaining how smart growth is ineffectual. "Policies often take many years to implement, during which time other variables (such as oil prices and characteristics of the vehicle fleet) change substantially" (Sandalow, 152). Also, "To reduce traffic congestion, congestion pricing is a far more effective tool," (Sandalow, 153). He gives 7 pages to explain about "smart growth" and spends most of the text explaining how it is ineffectual. As I sit in the wee hours of the night and contemplate why a man who is the Assistant Secretary of Energy for Policy and International Affairs and was a senior fellow at Brookings Institute from 2004 to 2009 cannot find anything better to say about building differently then the patterns that have put us in this energy crisis I cannot fathom why.

The icing on the cake in this book is always the key points "From the Desk of the President." The points mentioned, in a nut shell, are "Americans drive more and enjoy it less", "more roads don't cure traffic congestion", "federal policies favor road building over mass transit," and "telecommuting can cut oil use while improving productivity and quality of life." (Sandalow, 157) All of these are points that can be deduced from the essay, however the one solution gathered from the text is telecommuting, at least go with the increase mass transit! I am a huge supporter of telecommuting, but this does not even address the fact that people have (this is a perspective/paradigm) to drive everywhere they go. Making all cars run on ethanol and batteries does not solve the issue. We can not sustain traveling huge distances to get what we need. It does not fit into the model we have to live in, reality.

This is written in the format of faux government officials advising the President of energy policy options. The book is so intensively researched and so fact-rich that any qualms about the structure are quickly lost. Indeed, I wish that whoever occupies the White House would read this and take the information and projected solutions realistically. Minerals are finite. Minerals are unevenly distributed about the globe, thereby making energy hogs (like Americans) dependent on imports from regions which happen to be unstable or undependable or filled with dangerous fanatics. Combustion of fossil fuel liberates carbon which was trapped in the earth for some millions of years, thereby increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. (Not everyone agrees. A West Virginia political candidate was quoted as saying that "there's no scientific proof whatsoever that greenhouse emissions are caused by fossil fuels." That such simple minds are in positions of influence is either touching or disturbing, take your pick.) Sandalow debunks the common wisdom that scientists will certainly rush in and save the day by easily turning sea water into combustible (non-carbon emitting) hydrogen or conquering the problems of controlled fusion reactions. Sandalow discusses real-world short-term and long-term actions which should be taken. For instance, widespread use of "plug-in electric hybrid vehicles" would provide immediate energy efficiency and pollution limiting effects. It might be that we now living can escape the worst effects of our energy madness, but our grandchildren won't. If the problem had been this bad in 1908 and was ignored by the people of that year, we would be quite peeved about now, and rightly so.

Good introductory book for the problem and possible solutions. But the solutions do not go far enough and the problems (climate change, peak oil, power of oil companies, international pressures) are not deeply enough analyzed for my taste.
Read this and then get "Heat" by George Monbiot to understand the magnitude of the challenge that is upon us.

Sandalow provides a pithy and extremely timely analysis of the American economy's addiction to oil, and then lays out a highly persuasive and plausible plan to manage this addiction - and eventually end it. This book is chock full of the latest information on a variety of fronts, from the many different impacts that oil addiction has across the economy, to the many new technologies and innovations that are emerging in response to the rising price of oil. Personal vignettes of individuals on the front lines of these trends keep the book grounded, in terms that the reader can relate to easily.

The book is cleverly written, taking the reader behind the scenes to see how real government policies are researched, shaped, and eventually decided inside the executive branch of the government. The reader sees how the many different strands of a policy to deal with oil addiction are developed, and later, how they come together to reinforce one another.

Finally, the timing of the book is perfect. The candidates are now developing their own policy positions on topics of major national importance. Every policy shop from both the Democratic and Republican sides must study this book carefully. It is quite possible that the national campaign in 2008 may begin to advocate some of the policy initiatives laid out in this book.

Review of Freedom from Oil, by David Sandalow
What did you do last summer to reduce our country's dependence on oil?

In June 2006, I was making short videos for my web site. I'm an advocate for putting 100,000 electric cars on the road to supplement the 5,000 cars converted to run on battery power. Those additional electric vehicles (EVs) could boost demand for an advanced battery with longer range. I figured that, in addition to converting my vehicle to run on battery power, I could motivate others to do something to become "economic patriots."

David Sandalow did something even more creative than my video series on youtube. The policy analyst from the Brookings Institution had lunch with Newt Gingrich and Howard Dean.

The question he put to both men was the same one that advocates of a post-oil economy have asked since the OPEC embargo of October 1973: "What should the United States do about its dependence on oil?"

Surprise: The answer from both Dean and Gingrich was essentially the same.

Sandalow `s book is a work of sheer imagination: Why didn't I think of that? Organize a book around the next President's first major policy speech. Imagine that it's April or May 2009, all of the appointments to cabinet positions have been confirmed and the first task facing these new Secretaries is a memo from the President:

The structure of the book is straightforward. Anyone with some chutzpah could have written this, but Sandalow's access through his employer made it easier to compile. By showing responses from the Secretaries of Agriculture, Homeland Security, Labor, Housing, and Defense (as well as the more obvious areas of transportation, commerce and energy), the author shows how pervasive oil has soaked its dependence in our economy and lives. Since reading the policy statements of the Carter Administration (and the "Moral Equivalent of War" speech), I've seen just about every attempt to reduce dependence on oil fail to produce significant results. As Amory Lovins (Rocky Mountain Institute, a think tank for energy analysis based in Snowmass, Colorado) put it so clearly, the only reason the U.S. economy became less dependent on oil after 1973 was a direct response to price. As soon as motors became more efficient, the demand for oil softened, more supplies were uncovered, the price for gasoline slid, and the pressure to find more substitutes for oil subsided.

Around 1992 Lovins wrote a clever tale about a housewife who was appointed by "the next president" to lead the Department of Energy. What would an "ordinary" person do to "clean house"? The tale took the housewife and the reader through every advance then under discussion in the 1990s and the structure of Lovins' book helped the reader see the many savings possible when the life-cycle costs of projects are considered. Life-cycle analysis is the hallmark of the Lovins approach to discussing alternatives to petroleum and since his Soft Energy Paths appeared in 1977, there hasn't been much doubt that something remarkable could be done ... if we just decided to do something about our dependence on oil.

Four impacts
Sandalow begins his analysis by noting that our policies aimed at reducing oil dependence have failed because the focus was on reducing dependence on FOREIGN oil. Duh. Big surprise. We should have been looking at ways to reduce dependence on oil in general.

He captured on five pages the four points that I failed to summarize in 30 minutes of video (that currently sits on youtube in an account labeled "Mistermath"). If there is just one portion of this book that future car buyers should be forced to read, it should be pages 21 to 25. One point is central to the drumbeat that electric car enthusiasts have been repeating for three decades: our dependence on oil strengthens oil-exporting nations. The second, that oil dependence helps Al Qaeda, is a new extension of this theme.

The third comes from a military analyst: dependence on oil leads to deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, anywhere there are troops deployed in the field, the dependence of armed forces on oil puts personnel involved in transportation of fuel supplies in jeopardy.

Sandalow's point is emphasized with a profile of General Richard Zilmer (who deserves a medal of honor for pushing solar-powered generators to replace the need for gasoline or diesel powered generators). Nine additional profiles are sprinkled through the text, making the executive summaries more digestible. Sandalow is not just a policy wonk adept at summarizing talking points. His imaginative selection of advocates has introduced me to the complex variety of skills that will be needed to move into the post-petroleum era.

His fourth point should be displayed on every gasoline pump: "oil dependence undermines democracy and good governance around the world."

The most disappointing feature of the book is the timing. Sandalow assumes that the next president won't act until months have passed in the new administration. As I write this review in October 2007, I fear I'll have to wait 18 months before the major energy policy speech is given. But there's always the hope that some current candidate for the nation's highest office will start the process now to sift through recommendations by various future secretaries. Sandalow's key points (push more batteries, use the federal buying power to jumpstart demand for plug-in hybrid vehicles that run largely on batteries, change zoning to encourage compact development, reduce highway subsidies) will attract detractors, but some candidate could gain a bump in the polls by driving in an all-electric vehicle now and avoid using any gasoline for the next year of campaigning. (Ha!)

The book ends with the text of the major policy speech, which could in fact turn into both a stump speech for current candidates and a major segment of the next inaugural address to the nation. Can you imagine the next president saying the following sentences on January 2009?

> The federal gasoline tax will be increased 10 cents per gallon per year for the next five years.

> Within six months, every car I drive in will be a "plug-in" hybrid vehicle.

> When U.S. automakers invest in energy savings and higher fuel efficiency, then the federal government will cover health care for retired autoworkers (the proposed "great bargain" with carmakers)

As an impatient advocate of alternatives to gasoline, I also quibble with how to build demand for the next generation of batteries. Sandalow focuses on plug-in electric vehicle hybrids. He correctly identifies lithium-ion batteries as the next bleeding edge technology breakthrough needed to give hybrid cars the extra range on battery-only to truly make a difference. But manufacturers have to be persuaded somehow to raise the threshold for when the gasoline side of the car turns on. In the Lexus hybrid, which I recently test-drove, the fastest electric-only speed is around 24 mph. Any faster and the gasoline engine engages. Slowly accelerating from a full stop is possible on battery only, but if I stomp on the pedal, the non-electric side of the car takes over. My hope is that it will be possible to drive an electric hybrid up to 35 or 45 mph without the gasoline engine starting up.

The book correctly focuses on the need to increase the number of lithium-ion batteries in use. By increasing demand for a better battery, the price of the battery should come down. Huh? Doesn't increased demand turn into a higher price? Well, initially, of course, but if 100,000 hybrids were suddenly on the road, needing 10 batteries each, that's 1 million more batteries than before. More battery manufacturers would be attracted into a stable new market for batteries if there are lots of users of the batteries. In short, higher demand for lithium batteries should attract more makers of the batteries, increasing production, and, as Adam Smith pointed out roughly 250 years ago, increase in supply leads to a fall in the market price.

Again, why wait for Detroit? Why wait for the federal government to buy 100,000 vehicles? Why not call now for economic patriots to convert their vehicles to battery power? Two years after installing lead acid batteries, the owners of these new electric cars will need 1 million replacement batteries - which is the same impact that Sand's policy would achieve. The electric vehicle that I'm waiting for (delivery date postponed several times) will have lithium-ion batteries...if 200 other people also come together to buy several containers of these new batteries and help bring the price down. I list on my web site the full story and I encourage economic patriots to consider their "power of one consumer" acting with others to drop the price of lithium-ion batteries.

Richard Minner, the co-author of the 1991 book Why Wait For Detroit? Drive an Electric Car Today, calls this "priming the market." Just as some pumps need water to be in the pipe leading to the pump in order to build suction, so, too, the market for battereies won't get growing until about 100,000 additional EVs are on the road. That would mean about 1 million lead-acid batteries that would have to be replaced every two years, which would provide a steady stream of about a half-million batteries that could be turned into the longer range of an advanced battery (like lithium-ion).

Well, many EV advocates live in the state of "What if?" and experience suggests that what will really happen is closer to what Sandalow suggests: Wait until spring 2009 for a major policy shift away from dependence on oil. Enthusiasts who want to push the envelope can visit my web site and get more tips on how 100,000 friends of the U.S. economy could help build demand for lithium-ion batteries now, instead of waiting two years for Sandalow's speech to be delivered.

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Sandalow really has a creative idea for the book but he repeats himself in every letter that he writes. He should have attempted to bring many sides of the issue into the book rather than give his own opinion in every chapter while making it look like it's not. I applaud his effort but didn't enjoy the book. It didn't really even bring any new ideas to the table. If you want a book that talks about higher taxes for those making over 75k and electric hybrids, this is the book for you.

Enjoyed the writing style which is addressed on an important needed change for our global oil users. Will take a team effort between everyday users, industry,governments and investors to change.

This book is a must read for the right the left and everyone in between. It covers all bases, clearly explaining what will work and what won't. It show's why it won't be easy and will not happen within the next president's (first) term at the least.
This is a big problem for the world at large and is going to take a serious effort by everyone from the top on down to solve it.
Should be required reading for all entering government!!