The Impending World Energy Mess [Paperback]

Robert L. Hirsch (Author), Roger H. Bezdek (Author), Robert M. Wendling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2010

The Impending World Energy Mess will help educate readers about the realities of energy in general and oil in particular.

The reader will be able to cut through the smokescreens that various self interests have, and are, promulgating and understand that there are a number of credible studies that clearly demonstrate that world oil production is close to going into decline, which will create long-term world oil shortages.

The huge economic impacts associated with impending oil shortages are brought into sober, balanced perspective and readers are given tools to minimize the impending negative impacts on their personal lives.

Finally, The Impending World Energy Mess provides a balanced discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of a number of electric power production technologies, and in particular, the inherent weaknesses in solar and renewable technologies. The Impending World Energy Mess provides a practical basis for understanding and personal action.

Included in this book is a special Foreword from Dr James Schlesinger - First US Secretary of Energy, Director of Central Intelligence, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.

In the next five years, world oil production will begin to decline - which means less and less oil will be available each year. The result will be annually deepening worldwide economic damage.

There will be no quick fixes. Even crash program mitigation will take more than a decade to impact.

Societal priorities will change dramatically. Compromises will be required. Years of energy hopes and fantasy will have to yield to pragmatism.

Oil and energy issues are complicated. You need to understand the situation in order to make intelligent choices for yourself and those close to you.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed. With over a hundred years of combined experience in energy and economics, the authors provide you the straight story, including realities that others have been reluctant to discuss.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Robert L. Hirsch is is a Senior Energy Advisor at Management Information Services, Inc. (MISI); a consultant in energy, technology, and management; and founder of AlumiGen, a startup company based on his invention for hydrogen production. Previously, he was a senior staff member at SAIC, RAND, and Advanced Power Technologies, Inc.; Vice President of the Electric Power Research Institute; Vice President and Manager for oil and gas upstream research at Atlantic Richfield Co.; Founder and CEO of ARCO Power Technologies, Inc.; Manager of Exxon's synthetic fuels research laboratory; Manager of Petroleum Exploratory Research at Exxon; Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration (Presidential Appointment); and director of fusion research at the U.S. AEC and ERDA. He has over 40 years professional experience, 15 patents and over 50 technical publications. His doctorate is in engineering and physics.
Dr. Roger Bezdek in President of Management Information Services, Inc., a Washington, D.C. economic research firm specializing in energy and the environment. He has over 30 years experience in consulting and management in the energy, utility, environmental, and regulatory areas, serving in private industry, academia, and the Federal government. His consulting background includes energy technology and market forecasting, estimating the costs and benefits of Federal energy research programs, assessment of DOE energy R&D programs, estimation of Federal incentives for energy development, energy industry forecasting, creation and management of Federal energy R&D programs, and energy price and market forecasting. Dr. Bezdek has served as Corporate Director, Corporate President and CEO, University Professor, Research Director in ERDA/DOE, Senior Advisor in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and U.S. energy delegate to the European Community and to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He has served as a consultant to the White House, Federal and state government agencies, and numerous corporations and research organizations. During 2008, he presented energy briefings to the staffs of Hilary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama. He as over 300 professional and scientific publications. His doctorate is in economics.
Mr. Robert Wendling is a senior economist with 28 years experience in energy technology policy and incentives, economic assessment of energy development, environmental economics, regulatory policy, regional economic analysis, nuclear, fossil, and renewable energy technologies, economic and energy forecasting, Internet and Intranet systems, and modeling and forecasting systems. His consulting background includes economic and employment analysis of the energy industry, simulation of the impact of energy and environmental legislation, managing energy R&D and demonstration projects, assessment of energy technology forecasts, electric utility planning and forecasting, development of environmental impact statements, and assessing the effects of regulatory policies. He has served as CEO, corporate vice president, Director of STAT-USA in the U.S. Department of Commerce and at senior management and policy positions in the Department of Energy. He is the author of 50 professional publications and lectures frequently on various energy, energy and employment forecasting, regulatory, and legislative impact topics. His degrees are in economics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Apogee Prime (October 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1926837118
• ISBN-13: 978-1926837116
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 0.6 x 6.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #828,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A real eye opener of a book! October 5, 2010

By Rose

Format:Paperback

This is a real eye opener of a book. I had not read Hirsch's 2005 report
until I heard about this book and then I went and read both. What is
really interesting in this book is the fact that Hirsch and his team
seem to have approached things differently. Instead of assuming a sharp
peak in oil production, as they did in the 2005 report, they have now
built their analysis around what has happened in the last five years,
and then extrapolated on from there what they think is coming next.
There are many other differences in both approach and analysis from the
first report and I found the new book to be both enlightening and useful.

The stylistic approach is also different between the earlier report and
this book, but this has clearly been written for a general audience and
not for just the oil sector. I found it an easy read and found no
evidence at all of it being poorly written (as asserted by the previous
reviewer.) I also have to wonder if everyone actually goes digging
around on obscure websites to find out about this subject. Clearly if
you are in the oil business you might do that, but the general reader
probably has better things to do and might appreciate an overview such
as presented in this book. I did.

I also found the layout to be both easy and visually simple and
generally cohesive and coherent.

I was not at all disappointed with this purchase and found it to be the
most up to date and simple read on the subject. The content of course is
unnerving and you are left wondering whether any of the politicians will
actually read this book and start to do something about the inevitable.
Before it is too late. (If it isn't already!)

34 of 42 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't say anything new October 4, 2010

By B_R

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Hirsch and team should be commended for their groundbreaking 2005 report. It still represents one of the finest peak oil studies to date. It examined the impact of a decline in world oil production, as this book does.

This book, however, isn't what the doctor ordered. It suffers from many problems:

1) It doesn't say anything new. Maybe if they had written it in 2005 it would have been valuable. But it doesn't say anything Heinberg or Deffeyes or Kunstler or Simmons or the many others who have written about peak oil and its aftermath haven't already said. The book's only contribution over prior books is that it provides up-to-date projections on the timing of peak oil, but that itself is nothing new thanks to the many recent projections from the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil, the German military, the US Defense Department, Kuwait University, etc. All of them point to a definitive peak of production between 2010 and 2015, as Hirsch does.
2) It's poorly written. They can be forgiven for this - it's not like they have much experience writing books. But again, other authors have treated the subject in a better organized fashion.
3) It's badly edited / formatted. This is likely the fault of the publisher, but they did an unprofessional job.
4) It's expensive. Again, this is likely the fault of the publisher.

I was excited to read this book, but was let down.

The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies
The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century
Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage (New Edition)
Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak
Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy read about a complex subject October 6, 2010

By GRSG

Format:Paperback

This really is an important book as stated by James Schlesinger who wrote the foreword. I had been made aware of the Peak Oil issue a few years ago by a friend of mine who makes bio diesel fuel out of sunflower seeds in his basement.(it really works!) He had told me to visit Matt Savinar's website which I promptly did. It looked a little doom and gloom to me, but I kept an eye on the subject nonetheless.
Now I've read this exceptional book and I find myself thinking about how I can prepare for the coming storm. Dr Hirsch and his colleagues Bezdek and Wendling are no slouches when it comes to detailed research and cross checking data. They also think right out of the box, which is absolutely vital when considering such a complex subject as the world's oil industry.
Naysayers will object and say that there is plenty of oil left in the world and the authors will agree; that's not the problem, which they go to great lengths to explain. The problem is that it is not going to be so easily available in the future. If it was we'd still be sticking pipes in the ground in Pennsylvania and Texas and having gushers come in. That really doesn't happen anymore, hence placing wells in some of the most difficult areas of the world like the North Sea and Alaska. I mean would we really be putting oil platforms out in the ocean, if we could just stick a pipe into the ground in Colorado?
This book has been written for people who have the capacity to understand this subject and who can act on its advice.
If you wish to protect yourself and your families assets over the next ten to twenty years, you need to read this book