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.
I love to learn and to pass on what find. When I started to find out about oil, it was natural to start writing about it - and things span out of control
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.
Book Excerpt
The VFUU Price of Oil
At a personal level, we waste energy so we can communicate without waiting for equipment to warm up. If you have a landline, you probably have a digital phone, which sits drawing power. A router115 powered up day-in, day-out is equally hungry for electricity. How often do you turn off your printer, monitor, scanner and other equipment? For the cost of a multi-way socket, you can turn them all off with the flick of a switch and reduce your electricity bill by tens of pounds a year. If the value is not clear, remember: tens of pounds across 30 million UK homes adds up to the best part of a billion pounds. If we saved this energy we could turn off a fairly big power station or lots of little ones.
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