Profit from the Peak: The End of Oil and the Greatest Investment Event of the Century (Angel Series) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Chris Nelder (Author)
Key Phrases: energy conversion devices, pressure cooker, tar sands production, United States, Saudi Arabia, North America (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...enlivened by an optimistic, practical approach" (Spectator Business, October, 2008)

Product Description

Profit from the Peak contains the information you need to successfully navigate the end of our oil-based economy. It takes a hard look at the future of oil and gas, examines how you can effectively invest in these resources, and profit from energy alternatives that are poised to power the years ahead. Along the way, this book also explores the potential, and possible limitations, of each major energy source, while carefully cover the investing angles of each one.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 286 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (May 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470127368
• ISBN-13: 978-0470127360
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #200,265 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars worthwhile but has some weaknesses, June 24, 2008

By	Lance B. Sjogren (San Pedro, Ca United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First of all, as to the reviewer who advised the authors should question the environmental impact of our voracious appetite for energy:

The human race could adopt a simpler life. The only way that can happen is if we have a massive die-off of most of the human population. Also, it would be a society where people die young due to lack of modern-day health care, and so forth.

I believe the assumption the authors have made regarding energy demand are sound. People WANT to live what they perceive to be a better life. Some of the aspects of such a life are: advanced health care, the ability to travel, the ability to have a career involving challenging intellectual pursuits, as opposed to having to devote one's life to doing grunt work in order to put food on one's own table.

I am totally prejudiced on this matter. I believe the amenties of modern society have been of tremendous benefit to me. (frankly, if I had lived in older days, due to my physical frailties, I no doubt would have died long ago).

Now a few people may prefer the simpler life, but the vast majority of the people of the world want the amenities that we in the developed world have. I don't see the people of China saying, "hey, we'd rather spend our lives harvesting rice and living in mud huts".


-----

OK, so much for the rant, now on to my review.


The book is a good overview of the peak oil situation. For those not familiar with peak oil, it provides a lot of the fundamental facts that those who have studied this issue have discovered.

For example, the fact that once we can no longer run our society on fossil fuels, IF there is a path to a comparable standard of living in the future, the mainstay of our energy use will be in the form of electricity.


There are a couple of beefs I have with the book, though, which led me not to give it 5 stars.

1). It really is essentially a book about peak oil, not investing. Upon reading the book, it seems clear to me that the book is motivated primarily by the desire to expand awareness of the peak oil problem to a broader cross-section of the public, not to provide people investment ideas for how to profit from the transition. And that is all to the good in my view, because I think the former is a much more important goal. So the title strikes me as a bit disingenuous, perhaps trying to snare people out to make a buck on alternative energy and then give them a tutorial on peak oil, with the names of a few companies thrown in in order to justify the title of the book.

In my case both causes interest me. I am retired and I am spending some of my time trying to become knowledgable about peak oil in case I can find a way to do anything constructive to help fix the problem. And, I am also an investor, and focused heavily on commodities.

I tend to be skeptical about investing in new technologies, however, because it seems to me it is very hard to anticipate who the real winners are going to turn out to be, and stocks in hot new areas that seem to hold promise for solving important problems of society (the biggest of which is energy) tend to be bid up to sky high prices and thus are extremely risky. One specific mention was about the oil refiners like Valero who can process heavy sour crude. Well, right now the refiners are in the dumpster due to low crack spreads, so who knows maybe Valero is a good buy right now (I have been on the fence about buying some myself). On the other hand, the oil producing nations are seeking to do more of the downstream processing of oil themselves. I can't remember whether the book mentions this, I think it probably does. The Middle East states have a population explosion and need jobs for their huge population of young people. So they want to build refineries and sell us gasoline instead of oil.

Hence, I think there is no guarantee that US refiners will even have oil to process in the future. When I hear Bush talk about how we need to build more refineries, well it's no more idiotic than most all the other garbage you are hearing from the politicians, but does Bush realize that the oil producing nations are building refineries and want to just sell us finished products like gasoline? (in his defense, I am sure McCain and Obama are equally clueless on that)

Another point, before I forget: The reviewer that said the book was US centric I do agree had a good point. I live in the US and an pretty US centric myself, but I do recall thinking a couple times while reading the book that in some places it focused on the US when it should have been focusing globally.


Now, my last criticism and perhaps biggest: The authors have a definite bias for renewables and against fossil fuels and nuclear.

Now in the long run I totally agree that we need to switch over to renewables because the nonrenewables won't be there any more.

However, the authors express all the pitfalls in terms of cost, timetables, etc. associated with the big existing sources of energy with great zeal, while they speak glowingly about renewables with very little discussion of the huge pitfalls and challenges.

The most obvious example is that they say very little about the fact that since most renewables produce intermittently (when the wind blows, when the sun shines), for us to transition to a future based on renewable energy requires the development of massive energy storage facilities. And I would say that right now even though renewable sources such as large-scale solar generation are not particularly far along in implementation, large-scale energy storage is at a far earlier stage of infancy. So in my view the development of large-scale energy storage is liable to be an even bigger challenge than the development of large-scale renewable energy production facilities.


But all in all, it was nevertheless a very good book. It covers the issues associated with peak oil to a moderate level, so it is perfect for someone new to peak oil to get a solid grounding in most of the important issues, and someone who has already studied the issue somewhat is liable to learn a few new things from the book as I did.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read It Or Weep, May 16, 2008

By	W. G. Lowe - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Profit From The Peak is one of those rare works that not only decodes what is an esoteric and dense subject, but puts forth the information without bias, and without spin.

Personally, I think this volume has within its covers information that can make the reader a fortune. And, Heaven forbid, if things really go off the deep end, it could literally be a life saver.

I've been reading Hicks' work for years now, and can attest to his uncanny ability to take the big picture and distill it into a series of concise, clear and highly profitable steps, time and time again.

Teamed up with Chris Nelder, the duo has really hit this one out of the park. Even a true novice to the concept of Peak Oil can pick up this book and come away with a keen understanding of the core concepts, and a bullet-proof strategy for long-term profit.

For the investor, the principle of Occam's Razor is true here; Go long oil, in all its incarnations. But doing so without understanding exactly how the world got to this point--a total dependence on a finite energy source--would do one a disservice.

There's simply too much at stake, globally and personally, not to be fully up to speed on the concepts and strategies explained so eloquently in Profit From The Peak.

I urge any serious thinker, investor....anyone at all, to read this book as soon as possible. Tomorrow may simply be too late.

23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peak Oil, May 3, 2008

By	Joseph S. Maresca "Dr. Joseph S. Maresca CPA,... (Bronxville, New York USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

According to the authors, the supply of oil is dwindling
rapidly. We must have viable alternatives in the short to
intermediate term. Simultaneously, the supply of oil
is dwindling and global population is soaring to 9 billion
by mid-century. 50% of USA imports of oil are from
Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Ultimately,
true oil could reach $500/ barrel by the author !
How do you fight back? You do so by building autos
that can get 100 MPG amongst other R & D investments.

In addition, the supply of oil will last another 30 years
absent any major oil discoveries. A $20 trillion dollar
investment in R and D is needed to quench the current
industrial thirst for energy. Lastly, 60% of proven oil
reserves are in the Middle East.

There are huge investment opportunities. i.e.
o Suncor Energy is the largest tar sands company.
o Allegro Biodiesel Corporation has expertise in
biodiesel fuels.
o Peerless Manufacturing Company deals in pollution
abatement.

There are a number of viable alternative energy sources. i.e.

o solar energy and power generated in desert environments
o tar sand re-processing
o cleaner burning coal, scrubber technological enhancements...
o nuclear power
o The "Artificial Sun"- a multi-nation fusion project
o wind mill power for farming and rural areas
o hydroelectric power and environmental safeguards of salmon et. al.

The author should have developed some of the above options
in the work. Nonetheless, the book provides a rich source of
information with profound future implications. It is the
"Future Shock" of the energy industry.