Uit de olie

by Jeremy Leggett

Systemic global risks of oil supply, climate shock and financial collapse threaten tomorrow's economies and mean businesses and policy makers face huge challenges in fuelling tomorrow s world.

Jeremy Leggett gives a personal testimony of the dangers often ignored and incompletely understood - a journey through the human mind, the institutionalization of denial, and the reasons civilizations fail. It is also an account of tantalizing hope, because mobilizing renewables and redeploying energy funding can soften the crash of modern capitalism and set us on a road to renaissance.

Genres: Sustainability, Economics

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Dr. Jeremy Leggett is an expert on renewable power, energy policy and climate change. He worked as an oil geologist before become an environmental campaigner for Greenpeace. A prominent commentator around the world, Jeremy is executive chairman of the UK’s leading solar company, founding director of the world’s first private equity fund for renewable energy, and author of Half Gone: Oil, Gas, Hot Air and the Global Energy Crisis (titled Empty Tankin the US).

He is founder and CEO of Highlands Rewilding.

Reviews

[Niels · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quit the book 80 pages from the end. The message - peak oil is here, and we better worry and start changing - I can identify with. The way it is written, on the other hand, is boring. Too many repetitions. Chapter after chapter the same pattern emerges: warn for peak oil, speak at a conference, complain about the people who say otherwise. After 50 pages, everyone got the message, but this went for 200 more pages.

[Lieselotte Thys · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ik geloof hem wel maar veel te langdradig. Heb naar mijn gevoel 20x hetzelfde gelezen.

[Siti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insider view on peakist theory and how infinite economic growth is impossible in a world with finite resources. Need to start repurposing readily available materials.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this book Leggett considers the causes of the 2008 financial crash and if we have reached the peak oil point, and the effects and implications that this has had so far, and will have in the near and medium future.

He looks at how the architects of the financial crisis have escaped mostly scot free, the way that the oil oligarchs and bankers have ingratiated themselves in such a way that they cannot see a way out of the problem that they have caused, and beyond the end of oil. A lot of the accusations that he makes in here are well founded, and reading this will make you seethe with the vested interests and complacency of the political and business elite.

The book is written as a collection of chapters and articles. Whilst it is once to have a change of pace in the text, there didn't seem to be a lot of logic with regards to the order. Leggett has a unique position, in that he mixes with the oil and political leaders, and most importantly he is not afraid to speak his mind to them. he also speaks of those business leaders that want to see change and foresight and leadership, but are not getting it.

This is a very important subject as it will affect the whole of humanity in the long run, but the text did get a little tedious to read at times.

[Alexander Tas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written look at the most recent history surrounding the debate of Peak Oil and the transition to a low carbon future. While most of the book is a play by play starting with the Dot Com bubble of 2001, following through the financial crisis of 2008 it offers a stark glimpse at what the near future might hold in terms of possible financial crisis, and possible oil crises. Leggett uses both anecdotes (stories of speeches he's given, conversations he's had, reactions to speeches or events as they transpired) mixed with data gathered by Carbon Tracker, and forecasts made by the industry to weave a dystopian look at the near future, and the lack of preparation on part of both governments and industry. Don't worry, it ends on a semi positive note with glimpses of possible better futures and how we might start to think about how to get there.

While dark and foreboding, it's an easy read (whether or not your caught up on the current events) and serves as a good jumping point for anyone looking to know more about the recent history and near future of energy.

[Michael Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very easy read for a message so powerfully dystopian. The facts are irrefutable and Jeremy Leggett's experience and literal 'been there' history combine to be an excellently told essay on the need to escape fossil fuels.

[Dries Dewulf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it and weep!

[Howard Johns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight from Jeremy into the madness of big oil and the struggle for a renewable future