Energy Victory by Robert Zubrin

I was flipping channels the other night (an extreme rarity because I normally just flip the TV off when there is nothing on) and I caught this guy that looked familiar talking about a book. Robert Zubrin, who had great ideas how we can send humans to Mars with 2 or 3 separate missions (using natural resources there to create oxygen and fuel) and save billions of dollars, instead of NASA’s current plans. He probably looked familiar to me because I am a Discovery Channel geek.

Anyway, he was talking about mandating flex fuel cars. This would add about $100 per car and $1 million per engine (for testing & certifying). There approximately 250 different engines used in the US, which is $250 million and what he says is the amount we spend importing Oil in 3 seconds. Every question I thought about as I listened to him, he answered. This proves he did his resaerch and listened to opposing view points, something that is extremely important. Thinking from both sides of the argument, he reasoned his stance very well. This is the first book I think I’ve even thought about buying since I saw the movie Riverworld.

He proposed this to the Whitehouse and was shot down because apparently they “don’t do mandates”! How logical.