If you think the energy situation is bad today, wait a few years. That's the glum reality outlined in "Profit From The Peak: The End of Oil and the Greatest Investment Event of the Century," by authors Brian Hicks and Chris Nelder.

Written from the perspective of capitalists with a conscience, the authors systematically depict the world of dwindling energy supplies and rising demand, and provide guidance on how to prosper in a post fossil fuel era. The authors make their case by drawing on a wealth of energy research from government agencies, universities, independent analysts and industry groups. They provide useful links to online resources that enable the reader to delve deeper into the data that supports their strong arguments.

While the authors reference the environmental impact of fossil fuels, they refreshingly write as principled pragmatists rather than as all too familiar Earth-first advocates. (Al Gore isn't mentioned.) They instead cite the impending high cost of fuel and energy independence (quoting ideas from security hawks including James Woolsey and George Schulz) among their rationales for fleeing fossil fuels. With an accountant's acumen, they calculate the hidden cost (when factoring in tax breaks to the oil industry and military costs) of a barrel of $75 oil being $480.

The first half of the book focuses on the current and short-term prospects for meeting our energy needs using fossil fuels, and it doesn't look good. Hicks and Nelder convincingly argue that the clock is running out on energy as we know it. Oil's inevitable countdown is well known to peak oil enthusiasts, but the authors go further to state that all non-renewable energy sources -- coal, oil, natural gas and even high grade nuclear materials -- will be past their peak (when half of what has been identified as a usable energy source is gone) by 2021. Pitting shrinking supply against the backdrop of the future's accelerating global energy demand (driven largely by China and Asia) spells market disruption and escalating prices.

The authors then shift to making lemonade from these lemons by dispassionately identifying the investment opportunities during the shift away from fossil fuels. It will be renewable energy and energy efficiency to the rescue, and those who are smart will start investing today, before energy prices spike dramatically higher.

Based on the research that the authors have identified as the most reliable, they pinpoint the potential as well as the limitations of each type of clean energy, and suggest the public companies that are the best bets to capitalize on these emerging markets.

Biofuels, for example, are not a panacea for transportation, the authors contend. "...Nowhere in the world is there enough unneeded arable land and water to grow the requisite feedstock for the immense volume of biofuels we will need...." Because of this reality, people must drive less and take public transit more, according to the authors. Smart investors should follow the path of billionaires including Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and George Soros, who have been putting millions into railroads, they conclude.

Hicks and Nelder consider neglected or unpopular ideas to solving the energy conundrum as long as they make business sense, such as increasing gas taxes (acknowledged as political suicide) or giving U.S. tax dollars to China to develop renewable energy to minimize competition for diminishing fossil fuels.

The authors are unafraid to draw conclusions based on the analysis they have chosen to cite. Contrary analysis does exist, but Hicks and Nelder have carefully selected studies that have been vetted and supported by most energy experts. They take stock in a recent projection that the carbon markets could become the world's biggest commodity market, as well as believing that carbon taxes are a more efficient mechanism than a carbon cap and trade system.

The authors take their most critical tone in deflating the hype around the proposed "hydrogen economy." The financial and energy costs of trying to remake the energy infrastructure around hydrogen don't come close to adding up, according to the authors.

Hicks and Nelder take a page from the non-profit group Apollo Alliance and others by surmising that the impending energy pinch calls for a drastic response in the form of a "Manhattan Project" for energy. They state that we need to "rethink and remake our entire infrastructure, our economics, and even our culture."

The authors fall short, however, of detailing what role government should play in spurring these changes. Instead they lay out the free market solutions, including wind, solar and wave energy, as well as the less-than-sexy but potentially lucrative arenas of smart grids, demand response and combined heat and power systems. Human ingenuity and a thirst for wealth are assumed to take care of the rest.

In straightforward language that informs and engages, "Profit From The Peak" reveals that the emperor has no crude, and urges investors to plan for a turbulent tomorrow today.

It's worth a peek and more.

("Profit From the Peak" is available for purchase from our bookstore)