"Zoom" - book review

Written by Chris W. December 12, 2007

"Zoom: the global race to fuel the Car of the Future" by Iain Carson and Vijay Vaitheeswaran. New York: "Twelve" (Hachette Book Group USA), c2007. 336 pages, bibliography and index. $27.99. ISBN 0-446-58004-X

These guys understand how the future works. You see, the future is never the opposite of the present- it is more like an exaggeration of it. Both authors of this incisive book therefore do not waste time chatting about how we will commute to work in 2050 in our own personal hovercrafts. No, they focus on the Car- a concept that is clearly here to stay, but one that will have to use a different fuel if the human race is to have a future.

Iain Carson and Vijay Vaitheeswaran are senior correspondents for The Economist. The seem to possess the perfect sensibility to write this book. They are able to factually explain the enormous challenges of achieving sustainability and fighting climate change, while preserving the traditional bottom line reporting of following the money. It is vital to present this topic in this fashion, just as it is vital for the human race to maintain a focus on both money and sustainability in meeting this challenge. All money, the Exxon approach, is failing. All sustainability and no money, the approach of certain environmental zealots, is equally doomed.

The good news is that this book is mostly optimistic. It finds many examples of the kinds of ventures that embody both the value of creating weatlh and the value of solving a problem. Within these pages, you will meet Amory Lovins and Vinod Khosla, environmental and entrepreneurial visionaries. You will review the strange histories of GM and Toyota, Exxon and BP and OPEC. You will learn why the fossil fuel economy is doomed, and why it nonetheless retains enormous financial and political clout. The oilmen are not above dropping the price of their product just long enough to bankrupt the fledgling renewable fuels industry, if they could make it work.

Some of the information herein is startling, humliliating, or both. Were you aware that the Ford Model T was a flex-fuel vehicle that was capable of running on ethanol, and posted better mileage numbers than the average new vehicle sold in the USA? Were you aware that the human race requires that China and India "leapfrog" their economies over the early stage of industrialization that Europe and the USA experienced in the 20th century? If they fail to do so, so much CO2 will be produced that humanity will fail to combat climate change until it is too late. Fortunately, note the authors, China and India do not seem to wish to repeat our mistakes. Now, it would be nice if we could learn to walk a different path ourselves...

This book covers the topic about as well as it can be covered right now. They would love to tell you if the future Car will be a plug in electric or a hudrogen fuel cell vehicle, but nobody knows yet. It is of interest to those curious about climate change, investing, sustainability, current events, and vitally important but nearly unknown people. At several points you may shake your head in astonishment and mouth the phrase "who knew". Well, now you are going to know. Someday, everyone will.