Authorpreneur Dashboard – Michelle Spaul
The VFUU Price of Oil
Politics & Social Sciences
Come on a tour of our interactions with oil – from the first oil wells to the present day – and just about every use of oil – from industry to bubble bath. VFUU shows how we use oil and the economic and environmental costs of doing so. But don’t worry it is not a heavy book laden with jargon, conspiracy theories and vitriol. It gives oil, and the oil industry, the credit it deserves for making our lives historically healthy and wealthy. It also shows that it would be wise to use less oil. And it gives some fabulous examples of people who have just got on with the job of taking oil out of their lives. Readers have commented on its lively, pacey tone, and it explains every bit of terminology in everyday English.
Book Bubbles from The VFUU Price of Oil
Waste and pollution
We waste oil in as many ways as we use it. We also litter our entire world with it. But from plastic pellets found on every beach and the ocean depths, to run off and motor oil the seas hold testament to our neglect of our home in ways that air, land and even space do not. This short paragraph shows how we all contribute to the pollution of the oceans.
Facts
A non-fiction book should be factual, but it should also be interesting. That is a hard circle to square. Sure, some people read books of facts for interest, but most of us like some context. And we love to know how the fact relates to our lives. I started with a story outline for each chapter and then pulled in everything I found interesting. As a result, the volatile, fickle, unpredictable, undependable price of oil has a strong narrative and is soundly based on fact. Some of it started as my personal knowledge, but I 'fact-checked' as I wrote and collected a huge list of sources. There are over 1,200 referenced sources and three or four times that number of articles that I read for background. My website thevfuupriceoilblog.wordpress.com lists all of the referenced sources. The few mentioned in the book (and this bubble) are those where I used copyrighted material (quotes). Most people were extremely helpful and gave permission, where I could not get permission I removed the material.
What is the UK government doing to promote decarbo
My guess is that you have heard that the guaranteed price of electricity from Hinkley Point - should it go ahead - is £92 per megawatt hour. To put this in context, the electricity from gas-fired power stations costs about £80 per megawatt hour, though this does not include profits and the Hinkley Point price does. Hinkley Point will, would, be supported by a Contract for Difference. It is one of a clutch of mechanisms used by the UK government to support low carbon electricity generation. To learn more turn to this bubble...
From little acorns...
Our oil based economy is so mature that we take many things for granted and openly mock alternatives that use less carbon for just not being as good. Thank-fully there are some intrepid, and clever, people out there who are happy to challenge the status quo. I met many as I researched my book (metaphorically). Among my favourites are the builders of Solar Impulse. As they landed in Seville this week I wanted to celebrate with a bubble.
Finding out the opposite
I loved researching my book; I learned so much. Of course facts, but also (more interestingly) different perspectives and the ways that people use data. In some cases, the outcome was mind blowing. For example, energy efficiency isn’t as good at reducing consumption as the headline numbers suggest. It all comes down to the way we react to energy efficiency. If we install a new, more efficient boiler, we might be tempted to keep the heating on longer or increase the temperature. Using saved energy this way is the direct rebound effect. Or we might keep the savings on our gas bill and put them towards an overseas holiday (the indirect rebound effect). Economics also comes to bear. A big reduction in energy use in one part of the economy, say home heating, should result in lower energy prices. If prices do fall, then industries constrained by energy prices (eg steel making) can afford to use more. This type of rebound is called the macroeconomic price effect. If those industries can also use more efficient boilers, then they can afford to increase production. This fourth rebound effect is called the macroeconomic growth effect. As a result of these effects, we use 10-40% of the energy ‘saved’ by energy efficiency measures.
Why would UK steel plants benefit from recycling?
Recently, we have learned that Tata will close our last remaining steel plants, and some prospective buyers plan to replace existing technology with electric arc furnaces. Why would this be good for the industry? Simply, it would reduce energy bills as arc furnaces recycle steel instead of making it from iron ore. And that can turn around a loss-making steel plant. You can see in the bubble that up to 12 times as much energy is used to make steel from iron ore than is used to recycle the same amount. Unfortunately, Bubblish doesn't show footnotes so you can’t see the upshot of those savings. Here are the rest of the numbers and an outcome worthy of investment: In 2014 the world produced 1.7 billion tonnes of steel. If we assume all the steel came from ore, and we save 35MJ of energy with every kilo of steel recycled, we calculate that we could save 58 billion megajoules of energy a year. That is a pretty meaningless number, so I divided it by the average amount of energy used to heat water in a UK home per day (16.8MJ) and the number of days in the year. The answer is that we could heat a third of UK homes (9 million) with the energy saved by recycling steel.
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the tru
As I researched The VFUU Price of Oil, I started to develop hypotheses and worked through the literature to find out if I was right or wrong. In some cases I had to turn to numbers and create my own calculations. One of the most obvious hypothesis is that the price of petrol should drop with the price of oil. Strangely both the government and those people who oppose 'big government' make the same argument in this regard. Namely, that road fuel duty stops petrol prices falling as quickly as oil prices. I decided to check this out. And found that, while true, UK petrol and diesel prices could have fallen much more quickly during 2015, than they actually did. Unfortunately you can't see the charts in this bubble, perhaps you should buy the book...
Amazing examples
Right when the task of moving from oil seems impossible I show examples that inspire me. In the UK news we are seeing the impact of lack of investment in new technology. I cover this earlier in the same chapter for example, how recycling steel, instead of making it from iron ore, could power 3.5 billion UK homes. New manufacturing technology also uses less energy and, therefore, is more open to renewable energy. There are thousands of examples of the industrial use of renewables. But the one that feels most sustainable/ holistic to me is Güssing in Austria. The whole city is involved and they started with energy efficiency. Now the region hosts heavy industries powered by renewable energy.
a touch of humour
I like this little paragraph - for me it sums up the ethos of the book. There is some data showing an opportunity to reduce oil consumption. There is a (fairly pointed) expose of the reasons supermarkets blast us with cold air and a touch of humour highlighting the ridiculous nature of the situation.
Making it personal
Oil is such a big, political subject it is easy to assume we can make no difference. Throughout the book there are examples of people, no different to you or me, who use less oil. However, this excerpt shows how everyone can quickly reduce electricity consumption and, through that, improve our energy sufficiency. The VFUU Price of Oil shows that oil need not be big or political.
A typical chapter introduction
Because many writers describe oil as though they are writing to experts I have carefully taken a different approach. The chapter introductions tell you what you can expect from the chapter and ease you into each subject. For example, in the transport chapter we learn how oil is used in transport and the importance of transport to our economy. We will look at familiar alternatives to petrol and diesel and some exciting developments like fuel made by bacteria.
How well do you benefit from the drop in oil price
We are constantly told that UK petrol prices can't fall because of the taxes we pay when we fill up. I decided to explore this and found that it is only partially true - you will have to read the book to see the lovingly crafted chart...
Oil is important
We all know oil is important, but most of us couldn't name even the most common place of uses. This excerpt shows that oil is not a scary subject, how can it be? It is just about the things around us and our activities. Nor do we need to bash the oil industry to support a move away from oil.
