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| View Larger Image | The Empty Tank: Oil, Gas, Hot Air, and the Coming Global Financial Catastrophe
by Jeremy Leggett
| | List Price: | $24.95 |  | | 1 New starting at: | $19.89 | | 13 Used starting at: | $4.99 | | | | | Sales Rank: | 341141 | | Studio: | Random House | | | Binding: | Hardcover | | Number Of Pages: | 256 | | Publication Date: | November 01, 2005 | | Publisher: | Random House |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
In The Empty Tank, Jeremy Leggett, an internationally renowned geologist and energy entrepreneur who spent the 1980s working for Big Oil, sounds the alarm about an unprecedented crisis.
The oil topping point–the day half of all the world’s oil is used up–will be reached, by many calculations, sometime soon. In fact, it may already be upon us. When the financial markets realize what’s happening, an economic crash and soaring energy prices will result. The entire global marketplace we all inhabit will crack and crumble.
Oil companies and governments don’t want you to know this. They have been covering up depletion, while stoking addiction and holding back alternatives. Leggett shows how major energy producers have been exposed providing false information about climate change and underground reserves.
He describes how governments collude with private enterprise and one another to keep the global economy hooked on oil. And he explains the science behind oil extraction, demonstrating with unimpeachable expertise why the well is indeed running dry a lot faster than we think.
Written with verve and eloquence, The Empty Tank explains how we became addicted to oil and why that addiction is leading us toward disaster. Yet Leggett also points the way forward. All the technology we need to get off the road to disaster is already at hand. A new Manhattan Project for energy can save us if we can wake up and confront the problem directly, as this important book urges us to do.
"Among the shelf full of books on the oil situation that have been published in the last year or so, (this) is far and away the best."
-Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute
What’s it all about? ... tough titles made simple by David Shukman
THE EMPTY TANK by Jeremy Leggett
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
OIL, gas, hot air and the global energy crisis, according to the explanation on the front cover. Delving into the nightmare scenario of mankind sleepwalking to global disaster, this book focuses on two related dangers: how we’ll run out of oil far sooner than we think and how burning what’s left of it will warm our planet to a catastrophic level. The central contention is that the oil industry is in a state of denial about the size of its reserves. The scandal over Shell’s distortion of its real figures is said to be the tip of the iceberg. And the conclusion is stark: that we’re all using the black stuff at a far faster rate than geologists are finding new deposits, and that as soon as the truth gets out there’ll be panic in the markets, soaring prices and a mega-crash. It’s scary.
SO IS IT READABLE?
YES, though towards the end some sections lapse into lists of points. But the writing is always clear and conveys complicated but important technicalities in very accessible terms.
DAVID SHUKMAN is environment & science correspondent for BBC News
Daily Mail, 18 November 2005 |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 7 reviews)
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Financial Catastrophe 
Jeremy Leggett is a very, very smart man. I enjoyed his book "The Empty Tank" very much. The book is well written and interesting to read. I am more concerned with declining oil production and falling global water tables than climate warming, but again, Mr. Leggett is a reasonable man, well educated and knows geology and the oil business. He has important ideas. Very good book. Regards, Keith Renick, Peachtree City, Ga.
July 14, 2008 | |
Poor "facts" and citations cause this to lack credibility 
In the first chapter, Mr. Leggett cites two "facts" which don't stand up to any reasonable scrutiny.
First, he asserts that raising the fuel effeciency of light cars and trucks by a mere 2.7 MPG would eliminate the U.S.'s need for Middle Eastern oil imports, which he estimates at 5 million barrels per day (BPD). Given that he cites the total U.S. oil demand at 20 million BPD (which seems to agree with internet sources on recent U.S. demand) -- that means saving a quarter of the oil we consume. But FAR from all of that oil is useb by cars and light trucks. Diesel fuel, heating oil, jet fuel, and the heaviest component used commonly for asphalt are all examples of these other uses. So, in round numbers, he is stating that raising the fuel economy of such vehicles by under 3 MPG will save perhaps a third of such oil they burn. Yet the average MPG of such vehicles is stated at well over 20 MPG. Thus, in round numbers, one would expect a savings of more like under 2 million BPD. He does have a citation for this "fact", making me wonder about all of his citations.
Secondly, he states on the same page as the assertion above that there are SUV's that get only 4 MPG. This is simply ludicrous. On the www.fueleconomy.gov website, the worst SUV (Jeep Grand Cherokee) is cited at 12 MPG City, and the worst car of all (16 cylinder with an 8 litre engine) is cited at 8 MPG City. I noted he doesn't cite this "statistic" - little wonder.
If Mr. Leggett isn't going to bother to check out (or proofread) basic "facts" that the layman can discern, such as these examples above, while trying to give background information -- how is the reader to trust the more technical/geological information we're supposed to rely on him not to distort because (as he's fond of repeating) he is a geologist with experience in the oil industry?
So, I would recommend the reader look elsewhere for a more realistic, better researched, and better documented "fair and balanced" look at this issue.
March 13, 2006 | |
Interesting points, but poorly written and emotional 
The topic of peak oil is receiving attention lately, and this book does its part to explain the story. The author's arguements for the early timing of the peak are not wholly convincing, as too much pertinent data is not available to clearly see the picture (as he notes). On the whole the book is written in very colloquial language, and uses an emotional style and language that works against building credibility for the author. Overall there are many interesting points here, but a serious edit is required to bring the quality of the writing up to a standard one would expect when discussing a scientific topic. There are definitely a few nuggets to follow up on if you can slog through the book.
January 09, 2006 | |
Excellent review, well balanced view of Energy Issues we face 
As an investor who continue to research this area, I found the book very concise and easy to read without the need for a technical background. A good summary of many related subjects in one book. I share the author's views on depletion and the long term advantages of renewables and its required support and adoption. However, I found his imminent doomsday scenario of a 1929 style depression triggered by 'an empty tank' to be without supporting analysis. If this is a 'wake up' call for industry and society to act, I am all for it.
January 02, 2006 | |
Fact-Fille, Well Reasoned!
Leggett begins by reminding us that oil is vital to almost everything we do. The world currently consumes about 29 billion barrels/year, and U.S. officials estimate this will rise to 43 billion by 2025. With this increase, the U.S. will find itself more tightly tied to mid-East rulers - yet, at least one estimate is that raising CAFE requirements 2.7 mpg would eliminate the need for Saudi and Iranian oil. Instead, we have allowed SUVs to be largely exempted from efficiency requirements, resulting in a DECREASE in mpg in the last decade.
One expert suggests that the U.S. Armed Forces are increasingly being transformed into a global oil-protection force; the U.S. recently invaded oil producer #15 because its ruler was a tyrant using deadly force against his own people, while ignoring #1, #2, #4, #6, #10, #12, #13, and #14 - perhaps the real reason is that producer #15 is also #3 in reserves.
Leggett, a Cambridge PhD in geology, has no doubt that a peak in oil production is coming - the only question is "when?" The most optimistic (U.S. government and oil companies) projections predict the peak will occur in 2030, the least optimistic (leading independent geologists) see this occurring much sooner - 2005. The optimistic rely in part on relief via Alberta's oil sands and Wyoming's oil shale. However, even the most optimistic oil sands estimates foresee about 3 million barrels/day by 2012 (only 3% of total demand), while pessimists are doubtful that enough water and natural gas (for heating the oil) can be utilized to achieve this. Similarly, optimists see 2 million barrels/day from Wyoming oil shale by 2011, while pessimists doubt the environment can support even that.
Another source of optimism is mid-East countries' claims of ability to easily ramp-up production. Leggett writes, however, that even taking them at their word (and there are reasons not to), this would not cover increased demand by 2011 (assuming 1.5%/year increase), or today (assuming a 3.5%/year increase - that of China and the U.S. already).
The one topic presented that I did not understand involves converting coal to gasoline - developed and utilized by Nazi Germany during WWII. Leggett states that China is producing this, and expected total costs are $15/barrel - certainly a bargain at today's prices, but Leggett does not treat this as a potential solution to oil shortages. (It would still produce CO2.)
As for natural gas - Leggettt says 40% of U.S. reserved have been used, 70% of reserves lie within Russia and the mid-East, and U.S. demand is expected to grow 50% by 2025.
Leggett cites a few instances of oil companies threatening individuals and organizations with loss of support for publishing predictions of near-term shortages - the likely reason being immediate and drastic losses in their stock values.
And then there is the accompanying problem of global warming. The insurance industry represents about 10% of the global economy and is at high risk of bankruptcy via superstorms and drought-related fires. The media, however, unintentionally downplay the issue by providing equal time to those claiming "no problem" - despite the growing evidence in support. For example, the ten warmest years in history have all occurred since 1990, and each year since 1997 has fallen into that category. Worse yet, the CO2 rise may be accelerating, per measurements in 2003 and 2004 at the premier site in Hawaii.
Leggett believes we CAN replace oil, natural gas, and coal with renewable energy, but NOT before the shortfall first takes effect. He also cites Lovins that it would be economical to do so - costing $180 billion in the next decade, and saving $130 billion/year by 2025. He is concerned, however, that we may only go part-way, and also increase coal utilization - increasing the severity of global warming.
Reading "The Empty Tank" was a pleasure - despite its important warnings.
December 28, 2005 | |
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