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Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil
In this compelling argument for a new direction in US energy policy, world-renowned engineer and best-selling author Robert Zubrin lays out a bold plan for breaking the economic stranglehold that the OPEC oil cartel has on our country and the world. Zubrin presents persuasive evidence that our decades-long relationship with OPEC has resulted in the looting of our economy, the corruption of our political system, and now the funding and protection of terrorist regimes and movements that are committed to our destruction.
Zubrin’s plan is straightforward and practical. He argues that if Congress passed a law requiring that all new cars sold in the USA be flex-fueled—that is, able to run on any combination of gasoline or alcohol fuels—this one action would destroy the monopoly that the oil cartel has maintained on the globe’s transportation fuel supply, opening it up to competition from alcohol fuels produced by farmers worldwide. According to Zubrin’s estimates, within three years of enactment, such a regulation would put 50 million cars on the road in the USA capable of running on high-alcohol fuels, and at least an equal number overseas. He further advocates tariff policies favoring alcohol over petroleum imports.
Energy Victory offers an exciting vision for a dynamic, new energy policy, which will not only go a long way toward safeguarding homeland security in the future but will also provide solutions for global warming and Third World development.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Zubrin’s plan is straightforward and practical. He argues that if Congress passed a law requiring that all new cars sold in the USA be flex-fueled—that is, able to run on any combination of gasoline or alcohol fuels—this one action would destroy the monopoly that the oil cartel has maintained on the globe’s transportation fuel supply, opening it up to competition from alcohol fuels produced by farmers worldwide. According to Zubrin’s estimates, within three years of enactment, such a regulation would put 50 million cars on the road in the USA capable of running on high-alcohol fuels, and at least an equal number overseas. He further advocates tariff policies favoring alcohol over petroleum imports.
Energy Victory offers an exciting vision for a dynamic, new energy policy, which will not only go a long way toward safeguarding homeland security in the future but will also provide solutions for global warming and Third World development.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published November 10, 2007
7 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
About the author
Robert Zubrin
41 books164 followersRobert M. Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer and author, best known for his advocacy of human exploration of Mars. He and his colleague at Martin Marietta, David Baker, were the driving force behind Mars Direct, a proposal in a 1990 research paper intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 22, 2008
Robert Zubrin is an engineer-polemicist best known for advocating exploration of Mars and points beyond. Here, he wants to free the US from it crippling dependence on foreign oil. His cheap and elegantly simple approach? A federal mandate that all new cars be flex-fuel, able to run off of ethanol and methanol in addition to gasoline. I picked up the book because I share his goal; after reading it I'm convinced in his approach.
The book covers a lot of ground, some of it poorly. His chapter downplaying global warming is hopelessly out of date and relies on non-credible sources like Patrick Michaels. This may be a smart sop to his target readership, conservatives, but it hurts his credibility and neuters a strong argument in favor of his proposal. Likewise, Zubrin is wrong to dismiss conservation and hybrid cars as an important part of any solution.
Zubrin's explanation for flex-fuel footdragging in DC is also inadequate. He says it's a knee-jerk libertarian revulsion to mandates. But no one ever accused the Democrat-controlled Congress of being overly libertarian. In fact, we already incent flex-fuel cars by lowering the CAFE standards for carmakers that sell flex-fuel models. A flex-fuel mandate would effectively remove this financial fillip, making carmakers more opposed to a mandate than they would be otherwise. Similarly, Zubrin criticizes some lawmakers for wanting the mandate to apply only to cars made in the US, rather than all cars sold in the US, without acknowledging that WTO rules may preclude the latter. Free trade is a bitch, huh? Zubrin is also a bit shaky on international economics.
If his knowledge of ecology and statesmanship (as he calls it) are weak, he makes up for it with his engineering known-how. His description of chemistry of ethanol/methanol production looks, to the eyes this former ChemE, dead on. I can also recommend most every other aspect of this book. The stuff about fuel supplies in wartime was new to me, and riviting. The chapter on the hydrogen hoax is a righteous smack down. And the discussion of Brazil's enthanol economy, the negative geopolitical effects of our oil dependence, and the international development benefits of switching to ethanol/methanol are all eye opening.
A good contribution to the policy debate, soon to be eclipsed (I hope) by Thomas Friedman's upcoming book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded.
The book covers a lot of ground, some of it poorly. His chapter downplaying global warming is hopelessly out of date and relies on non-credible sources like Patrick Michaels. This may be a smart sop to his target readership, conservatives, but it hurts his credibility and neuters a strong argument in favor of his proposal. Likewise, Zubrin is wrong to dismiss conservation and hybrid cars as an important part of any solution.
Zubrin's explanation for flex-fuel footdragging in DC is also inadequate. He says it's a knee-jerk libertarian revulsion to mandates. But no one ever accused the Democrat-controlled Congress of being overly libertarian. In fact, we already incent flex-fuel cars by lowering the CAFE standards for carmakers that sell flex-fuel models. A flex-fuel mandate would effectively remove this financial fillip, making carmakers more opposed to a mandate than they would be otherwise. Similarly, Zubrin criticizes some lawmakers for wanting the mandate to apply only to cars made in the US, rather than all cars sold in the US, without acknowledging that WTO rules may preclude the latter. Free trade is a bitch, huh? Zubrin is also a bit shaky on international economics.
If his knowledge of ecology and statesmanship (as he calls it) are weak, he makes up for it with his engineering known-how. His description of chemistry of ethanol/methanol production looks, to the eyes this former ChemE, dead on. I can also recommend most every other aspect of this book. The stuff about fuel supplies in wartime was new to me, and riviting. The chapter on the hydrogen hoax is a righteous smack down. And the discussion of Brazil's enthanol economy, the negative geopolitical effects of our oil dependence, and the international development benefits of switching to ethanol/methanol are all eye opening.
A good contribution to the policy debate, soon to be eclipsed (I hope) by Thomas Friedman's upcoming book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded.
November 14, 2012
I first became familiar with Robert Zubrin through the Mars Direct plan, advanced in his 1992 The Case for Mars, which would see a highly economical spacecraft travel to Mars where crew members would live and work for a year and a half, this extended stay and the return flight enabled by the exploitation of Martian resources in situ. As someone on my friends list who reviewed the book said (and my apologies if I've got the phrasing wrong), the plan seems to be approximately technically correct but really doesn't supply a convincing reason as to why someone would like to travel to Mars, never mind (as Zubrin suggests) colonize it. Still, it was an entertaining enough read when I picked it up as a teenager.
I picked up Zubrin's latest book, Energy Victory, with similar hopes. Most of the chapters were inspired by the reasonably informed technolibertarianism that I'd expected, although Zubrin did seem to be upset about hydrogen fuels and electric cars, did seem to be strongly in support of ethanol, and did make references the the profits earned by states like Saudi Arabia without investments in human capital. It was only when I neared the end that things took a decidedly odd turn, as Zubrin began talking about how developing alternative fuels was essential for the West because the Muslim East and its ideologies and religion failed to nurture individualism and freedom nearly as fully in the Judeo-Chrstrian West and how this belief system oppositional to us incorporates Baal and Marduk and how we're facing--in Islam as a whole or in Wahhabi Saudi Arabia, I honestly got confused at this point--must defeat by these malign forces by developing alternative fuels so as to deprive fundamentalists of money and--
I don't go looking for this kind of stuff. Really. All I was looking for in Energy Victory was a mildly provocative book-length treatise on energy futures directed towards a popular audience. This kind of conspiracy-theory geopolitics really is everywhere.
I picked up Zubrin's latest book, Energy Victory, with similar hopes. Most of the chapters were inspired by the reasonably informed technolibertarianism that I'd expected, although Zubrin did seem to be upset about hydrogen fuels and electric cars, did seem to be strongly in support of ethanol, and did make references the the profits earned by states like Saudi Arabia without investments in human capital. It was only when I neared the end that things took a decidedly odd turn, as Zubrin began talking about how developing alternative fuels was essential for the West because the Muslim East and its ideologies and religion failed to nurture individualism and freedom nearly as fully in the Judeo-Chrstrian West and how this belief system oppositional to us incorporates Baal and Marduk and how we're facing--in Islam as a whole or in Wahhabi Saudi Arabia, I honestly got confused at this point--must defeat by these malign forces by developing alternative fuels so as to deprive fundamentalists of money and--
I don't go looking for this kind of stuff. Really. All I was looking for in Energy Victory was a mildly provocative book-length treatise on energy futures directed towards a popular audience. This kind of conspiracy-theory geopolitics really is everywhere.
February 5, 2018
Although I have little doubt that Mr Zubrin makes good points in the book and I surely agree that some of the things he says is occurring, I object to the way that he focuses this book. It comes off sounding as a conspiracy theory. Further, the sources that he uses to back up his points are webpages (many of which are no longer available) and the books that he uses are primarily extremist anti-Muslim. The book would have received a higher rating from me if there was more hard substance and more hard evidence that where I could see the data for myself, plus if he could have toned down the hostility in his word choice, that would have helped him, in my opinion, make a better argument.
December 30, 2016
Whether you're interested in your pocketbook, your safety, or your environment, this book should be on your Must Read list. Zubrin does an excellent job of summarizing the horrible current energy situation and of outlining a viable plan for world prosperity and energy independence. The alcohol-based liquid fuel economy represents a realistic and beneficial goal that is well worth our striving for. While the world will probably never reach a point where fossil fuel resources such as oil become unnecessary, there are so many good reasons to support an agriculturally rooted alcohol industry. Methanol and ethanol can be produced anywhere in the world, helping to bring poor nations out of poverty, providing increased supplies of fuel for growing worldwide demand, and creating price-suppressing competitors to cartel controlled oil producers. The only reasons I can imagine for opposing this potentially world changing and almost costless plan are completely inadequate. Environmental: We can't ruin the Earth by farming more land!, and Societal: Alcohol production will take away from food production and poor people will starve! Both of those issues are adequately covered in the book. Long term, this plan has enormous consequences. Don't miss this book.
ENERGY VICTORY is not a political book at heart. While there are numerous cases where Zubrin shows his leanings as far as corruption in Washington and the War on Terror, the basis of his plan has nothing to do with politics. Even if you don't agree with his almost eager sounding suggestions of ending the financial support of terrorists by bombing oil fields in Saudi Arabia and Iran, you have to agree that it would be better for us not to be sending these undeniably corrupt and freedomless countries so much of our money. Many of the world's largest oil exporters have the worst records on human rights and destabilize the political culture of the world. Even those who disagree with the War on Terror agree that sending less money over there would be a good thing.
The one thing that Zubrin glosses over a bit is the impractibility of actually converting biomass into methanol or ethanol. Transportation costs of biomass represents a huge limitation on this process. The US DOE recently set up a number of pilot cellulosic ethanol plants across the United States. Current projections indicate that to make cellulosic ethanol production competitive, biomass needs to be grown within 15 miles of ethanol plants. In order for a plant to stay operational year round and have enough biomass to run at full capacity, these plants need to be situated in some of the most fertile land we have. Much better would be to find a way to utilize more marginal lands for ethanol production. Some of this issue will be resolved by adjustments in delivery methods. Trains and barges are more efficient than trucks. Also, some form of pretreatment or compaction of material at smaller, more immediate locations could help ameliorate this problem.
Also, it is not exactly clear why methanol is so much easier to produce from biomass than ethanol. Theoretically all plant biomass should be capable of being turned into either. In practice plant cell walls (which have evolved to be resistant to physical, chemical, and biological breakdown) have proven to be extremely recalcitrant to processing. This will prove a challenge for both methanol and ethanol production, but is being worked on by scientists and engineers around the globe. Microbial and plant genetic engineering, and chemical and industrial engineering will solve these limitations and Zubrin's plan will come to pass.
This book presents a bright and promising vision of the future. Read this one and recommend it to your friends. The more people that are aware of the possibilities, the faster this transition will occur, and the better the world will be.
ENERGY VICTORY is not a political book at heart. While there are numerous cases where Zubrin shows his leanings as far as corruption in Washington and the War on Terror, the basis of his plan has nothing to do with politics. Even if you don't agree with his almost eager sounding suggestions of ending the financial support of terrorists by bombing oil fields in Saudi Arabia and Iran, you have to agree that it would be better for us not to be sending these undeniably corrupt and freedomless countries so much of our money. Many of the world's largest oil exporters have the worst records on human rights and destabilize the political culture of the world. Even those who disagree with the War on Terror agree that sending less money over there would be a good thing.
The one thing that Zubrin glosses over a bit is the impractibility of actually converting biomass into methanol or ethanol. Transportation costs of biomass represents a huge limitation on this process. The US DOE recently set up a number of pilot cellulosic ethanol plants across the United States. Current projections indicate that to make cellulosic ethanol production competitive, biomass needs to be grown within 15 miles of ethanol plants. In order for a plant to stay operational year round and have enough biomass to run at full capacity, these plants need to be situated in some of the most fertile land we have. Much better would be to find a way to utilize more marginal lands for ethanol production. Some of this issue will be resolved by adjustments in delivery methods. Trains and barges are more efficient than trucks. Also, some form of pretreatment or compaction of material at smaller, more immediate locations could help ameliorate this problem.
Also, it is not exactly clear why methanol is so much easier to produce from biomass than ethanol. Theoretically all plant biomass should be capable of being turned into either. In practice plant cell walls (which have evolved to be resistant to physical, chemical, and biological breakdown) have proven to be extremely recalcitrant to processing. This will prove a challenge for both methanol and ethanol production, but is being worked on by scientists and engineers around the globe. Microbial and plant genetic engineering, and chemical and industrial engineering will solve these limitations and Zubrin's plan will come to pass.
This book presents a bright and promising vision of the future. Read this one and recommend it to your friends. The more people that are aware of the possibilities, the faster this transition will occur, and the better the world will be.
February 23, 2017
This is my second book to read by Zubrin. They have both been extremely detailed, informative, and tedious. There is a lot of interesting, well-researched information in this book but beware that it is a laborious read thanks to the density of material Zubrin packs into his writing. While most of the book is about the economics and strategic advantages of non-crude oil fuel development, specifically alcohol based fuels, Zubrin also includes and reasons through some discussion of political and religious ideologies, for better or for worse.
March 29, 2009
Basic premise is the USA could be energy independent in 10 years by going with alcohol rather than petroleum based economy. He suggest using both Ethanol (but admits to replace all USA oil consumption would require all 4x current agricultural output) and methanol. I have not heard much about methanol. It is about ½ as energy dense as gasoline (and 2/3 as much as ethanol). But it can be made from Coal and Natural Gas very easily. It costs around $0.93/gallon currently, so without subsidy it would be $1.86 per gallon. Which is slightly higher than current (March 2009 price for gasoline is $2.00 at the pump but includes a $.050 road taxes which leaves gasolean about $1.50). When this book was written Gas was at $3.00, so Methanol was very competitive. The best part of the book covered the Brazilian history. Basically, the country went to Alcohol from Sugar Cane in the 70s due to the fall of sugar prices (70% drop in prices in 1975) and the rise in oil. First, they mandated 10% ethanol mix. Then 15% to a maximum of 24% for conventional vehicles. Then they started to push ethanol cars. The state oil company was ordered to add ethanol pumps at each service station. Then oil prices skyrocketed in 1979 and then the market share of ethanol cars went to 30%. By 1986 oil prices crashed and made oil cost less than ethanol. Brazil was in trouble with the IMF by subsiding ethanol but kept a 20% mixture. Now they are pushing flex fuel vehicles and now these vehicles at 100% of the new car sales. Brazil is now a net exporter of energy. Another interesting piece was on Hydrogen as a fuel. Too expensive to generate (There is no hydrogen free in the environment. It is bonded with Oxygen (water) or Carbon. Hydrogen creates a lot of energy by mixing with Oxygen, so you need energy to separate it.)
The problem of the book is the politics and economics. Most of it is re-treading ground covered by many others - Saudi wahibilism and Saudi support for Madras’s worldwide. It then covers Saudi influence on USA politics. Weak research, mostly secondary sources if they are footnoted at all. Further the actual technical stuff seems to have been pulled from another book titled, "The Methanol Economy", but have not read the original to confirm.
The problem of the book is the politics and economics. Most of it is re-treading ground covered by many others - Saudi wahibilism and Saudi support for Madras’s worldwide. It then covers Saudi influence on USA politics. Weak research, mostly secondary sources if they are footnoted at all. Further the actual technical stuff seems to have been pulled from another book titled, "The Methanol Economy", but have not read the original to confirm.
August 7, 2012
In Energy Victory Robert Zubrin advances the hypothesis that America's liquid fuel needs through the use of alcohol. This is not a new hypothesis, but what makes Zubrin's choice somewhat unique is his choice of alcohol. Zubrin favors the use of methanol over ethanol because methanol can be produced on an industrial scale using feedstocks that aren't also used to produce food.
Zubrin makes one specific policy recommendation in this book. He believes that the Federal Government should mandate that all vehicles sold in the US be "flex fuel" and capable of running on blends up to 80% alcohol. He feels this is necessary to create the market into which alcohol fuels could compete with gasoline. The "flex fuel" options would add a few hundred dollars to the price of a new car.
Mr. Zubrin is a dedicated futurist and it is hard not to be swept away by his obvious enthusiasm for the wonderous world of tomorrow. In an age of ponderous, dreary tomes of impending doom, scarcity, and misery, it is refreshing to read about a future that might not be awful. However I could not escape the feeling that there was more to the story than Mr. Zubrin was presenting. It seemed a little too good to be true that the world was only a readily available $400 option on a new car away from ridding the world of dependency on oil and the Petrotyrannies that supply it. There is the problem too of Zubrin's desire to use the government to intervene in a market to produce his desired outcomes. Such thinking is fashionable in "green energy" circles -- in fact, one could argue that the entire "green energy" industry is nothing more than rent-seeking off of government intervention on behalf of monied special interests -- but it is a dangerous game. Such intrusions into free enterprise seldom produce the benefits sought and often produce negative consequences as great or greater than the "problem" they were intended to solve.
Zubrin makes one specific policy recommendation in this book. He believes that the Federal Government should mandate that all vehicles sold in the US be "flex fuel" and capable of running on blends up to 80% alcohol. He feels this is necessary to create the market into which alcohol fuels could compete with gasoline. The "flex fuel" options would add a few hundred dollars to the price of a new car.
Mr. Zubrin is a dedicated futurist and it is hard not to be swept away by his obvious enthusiasm for the wonderous world of tomorrow. In an age of ponderous, dreary tomes of impending doom, scarcity, and misery, it is refreshing to read about a future that might not be awful. However I could not escape the feeling that there was more to the story than Mr. Zubrin was presenting. It seemed a little too good to be true that the world was only a readily available $400 option on a new car away from ridding the world of dependency on oil and the Petrotyrannies that supply it. There is the problem too of Zubrin's desire to use the government to intervene in a market to produce his desired outcomes. Such thinking is fashionable in "green energy" circles -- in fact, one could argue that the entire "green energy" industry is nothing more than rent-seeking off of government intervention on behalf of monied special interests -- but it is a dangerous game. Such intrusions into free enterprise seldom produce the benefits sought and often produce negative consequences as great or greater than the "problem" they were intended to solve.
July 7, 2012
Support for increasing the amount of ethanol required in all gsoline sold in America. The Brazil model shows that simply raising the percentage to 25% can free the nation of foreign oil dependency. And also put alot more money into the hands of farmers.
And it's not necessary to plant just corn, you know. Sugar cane is also good. In fact, any high sugar plant can be utilized to produce ethanol.
There is an awful lot of untilled land in the USA. And the newer organic methods can keep the fertilizer use low, for those of you who fear fertilizer run-off effects on the lakes and bays.
Give this book a chance -- big oil certainly won't.
And it's not necessary to plant just corn, you know. Sugar cane is also good. In fact, any high sugar plant can be utilized to produce ethanol.
There is an awful lot of untilled land in the USA. And the newer organic methods can keep the fertilizer use low, for those of you who fear fertilizer run-off effects on the lakes and bays.
Give this book a chance -- big oil certainly won't.
July 10, 2008
Robert Zubrin effectively evokes anger at Opec's ability to influence US policy because of their oil monopoly. He then proposes realizable solutions that require zero R&D to implement before addressing broader green topics. It was a quick and thoughtful read, with enough detail to appeal to the engineer in me without overwhelming the guy in a lawn chair sitting in the sun.
This book contains a 5 star idea within occaisionally poor organization. A few chapters are delightful digressions, but seem tacked on as filler.
This book contains a 5 star idea within occaisionally poor organization. A few chapters are delightful digressions, but seem tacked on as filler.
October 28, 2008
Next time I'll buy a flex-fuel vehicle :) That is, according to the author, a key part of getting off our dependence on imported oil.
Zubrin can be a pessimist at times. What he believes/wants, he supports extensively using science and solid arguments, and what he doesn't like he realllly trashes.
I liked the book and learned quite a lot about all kinds of stuff (the world wars, fusion power, radical islam, where the oil profits go (not good...)).
Zubrin can be a pessimist at times. What he believes/wants, he supports extensively using science and solid arguments, and what he doesn't like he realllly trashes.
I liked the book and learned quite a lot about all kinds of stuff (the world wars, fusion power, radical islam, where the oil profits go (not good...)).
March 16, 2010
Zubrin was one of the break-out session speakers that I chose to go to during the 2008 AIPAC Policy Conference. I like MOST of his points, but I'm not sold (nor will I ever be) on corn ethanol. However, I do agree that by funneling money into OPEC, we are essentially funding both sides of the war, making the war situation (particularly in the Middle East) that much more complicated.
May 4, 2009
I'm only on the first chapter right now, but I've seen the author speak twice, and talked to him in person. The man is a genius -- literally a rocket scientist -- and I was completely overwhelmed by his intellect and passion.
If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention...
If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention...
July 7, 2008
Fascinating look at how to resolve the U.S.'s current energy problems/security. Existing technology and methodology. Worth informing yourself.
Read
November 20, 2008Marti says:
An important new book for our time. Fascinating!
An important new book for our time. Fascinating!
August 14, 2012
Good book about how we can change our future and break the oil cartel(BTW- this is my boss). Like it more than his current Merchants of Despair which I can't seem to finish.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews