conflicting economic, political, and social pressures, his analysis accepts their existence as given. The relative succes or failure of the NOCs is gauged by the extent to which they have achieved their objectives. However, in the long term their existence will depend only on their economic and financial performance and with this consideration in mind the NOCs' fundamental raison d'etre should be scrutinized.

The final synthesizing chapters discuss the general role of the NOC in the international oil industry. The

author argues that in attempting to in- crease their managerial independence NOCs are diversifying their activities, securing technical and financial inde- pendence, and most significantly they are expanding internationally. Grayson contends that multinationaliz~tion (in order to spread technical and'political risk) is a 'natural ' stage in the develop- ment of companies in an oligopolistic industry. With the exception of political appointments at board level the ambi- tions of NOC executives are no differ- ent from those of their MNC counter- parts thus, 'what makes business sense

Book reviews

for the oil MNCs and the independents makes sense for the NOCs as well'.

The trend towards multinationaliza- tion and independence from govern- ment control is already evident in these NOCs (with the exception of Veba) and Grayson argues convincingly that the 'seven-sisters' may become a group of up to thirteen 'sisters'.

D. Hann University of Surrey

Guildford, UK

Energy research - a catalogue of effort

ENERGY RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Part One: ENERGY CONSERVATION

edited by J. Furnival with contributions from J. Foster and Susan E. Owens

Energy Technology Support Unit for the UK Department of Energy, HMSO, London, UK, 1979, 114pp, £2.50

Part Two: ENERGY RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

edited by Susan E. Owens

Social Science Research Council, London, UK, 1980, 428pp, £7.50

Part Three: RENEWABLE ENERGY

edited by J. Furnival with contributions from J. Foster and Susan E. Owens

HMSO, London, UK, 1980, 440 pp, £16.00

With publication of the third volume of this series a review of all three was con- sidered useful for those concerned in energy research. The first and third registers consist of single sheets of data

all uniform in layout giving the field of application, sector, Energy Technology Support Unit (ETSU) reference num- ber, project title, name of investigator, address for enquiries and project des- cription with name of sponsor, contract number, timescale and total cost. The second part has a somewhat different layout, omitting reference numbers substituting a subject index, but pro- viding virtually the same information. Each volume has an index referencing institutions, individuals, sponsors; part two presents this better (Geo Abstracts Ltd of Norwich produced the index).

Project coverage To arrive at a total of projects listed, one of the aims of this review, was not possible using ETSU reference num- bers. My estimate, however, would be that Part One lists 98 projects, Part Two 331 and Part Three 425. It appears reasonable to assume that the total of 854 projects listed excludes duplication although the status of an individual project varies from virtual abandon- ment to what appears to be a declara- tion of intent. As many of the projects are not costed it is not possible to give a figure for total expenditure.

The coverage is such that the lists of institutions, participating organizations - and countries - appear to cover most

of the UK universities, many of the established research organizations, nationalized industries and leaders of free-enterprise industrial manufactur- ing. The USA, UNDP and EEC as well as International Energy Agency are listed as sponsors of some items. To gain an appreciation of the breadth of any sector of energy research it is pos- sible to consult the contents lists of Parts One and Three. The sub-divisions cover 20 subjects. Part Two has no such facility.

It is a pity that all the three volumes could not have been brought into a single updated version from which anyone with either a simple concept or a fully developed plan could see at a glance the extent of contemporary effort. This is possibly the most difficult information to extract and the most important for the future of energy research. The complete register does not appear to have been designed to this end but it could have been; a cross- index, of the type seen in Part Two, fully annotated for the side issues as well as the broad headings would be quite invaluable for the newcomer. It is often not the subject areas which are covered that are important but what is left out.

Balance

One might ask whether this very large volume of research work is in reason- able balance, whether one branch of effort is likely to neutralize another and whether, indeed, there appears to be evidence of firm control and full co- ordination.

ENERGY POLICY March 1982 69

Book reviews~Publications received

To this last question the answer is doubtful . Obviously, expenditure is cont ro l led as grants are not handed out wi thout method , purpose or scrutiny, while duplication, equally, is relatively easily avoided. To review the overall effort is as impossible as ETSU, the D e p a r t m e n t of Energy and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) have found it to be. No authority can do more than create the original 20 classifications and then wait for pro- jects to be put forward. It is then inevi table that the value of some of the early ideas will be in doubt in the light of later projects. This is evident in the field of wave power, where expendi- ture may be cut. The best cost per kWh is far above more practical alternatives.

However, in the area of combined heat and power whence it is recognized the greatest savings of fuel can be made, there is only one project in Part One where a dozen could be conceived. In Part Two the index discloses five. Part Three has no appropriate sector in the contents and neither subject index nor checklist; the assumption is that there are none. The informed reader must make the appropriate judgement

- six projects out of a total of 854 for a technique officially recognized to have a fuel saving potential of 30 million tons per year.

A major question to be asked is how soon these research projects will be evalua ted - and by whom - against some solid yardstick to obtain strictly

comparable values of worth? The doubts expressed concerning wave power are legitimate - and urgent - when o ther projects , such as the neg- lected C H P alternative, are desperate for funds. Yardsticks must measure both horses and courses but where are the standards and the institutions that will have the considerable courage needed to determine value obtained for the hundreds of millions of pounds these three impressive volumes represen t?

Norman Jenkins Ewshot, Surrey, UK

Publications received

Access to Energy: 2000 and After, Melvin A. Conant (The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, USA, 1979, 134 pp, $9.75)

Boiler Efficiency and Safety, edited by W.S. Robertson (Macmillan Press, Basingstoke and London, UK, 1981, 140pp)

The Challenge of Energy, edited by Mohammad W. Khouja (Longrnan, Harlow, Essex, UK, 1981, 127 pp, £4.50) Twelve papers on six themes: objectives and challenges facing OPEC; pricing; inter- national dimensions; liquified natural gas; growth opportunities for the Arab oil- exporting countries; and the effects on the developing world of increasing oil prices and OPEC aid. The papers were delivered in 1979 and 1980.

Current Published Searches, National Technical Information Service (United Kingdom Service Centre, Alton, Hants, UK, 1981, 140 pp, free) This database comprises about 750000 document/data records covering a wide range of subject headings.

A DCFAnalysis of a Totem Based District Heating Scheme, D.C. Andrews and R.J. Lowe (Energy Research Group, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK, 1981, 40 PP)

The Debate Over Acid Precipitation: Opposing Views - Status of Research, report by the Comptroller General of the United States (US General Accounting Office, Washington, DC, 1981, 44 pp)

Decision Making for Energy Futures, David Pearce, Lynne Edwards and Geoff Beuret (Macmillan Press, London, 1979, 296 pp, £10.00) This is a study of the procedure adopted for the inquiry into the application by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd for the construction of an oxide fuel reprocessing plant at Windscale, Cumbria in 1977. The authors set the case study in the context of the planning machinery as a whole and ask whether this is flexible enough to deal with such issues of national importance. The conclusion, that there is a danger of inadequate democractic controls over these issues, is followed by recommendations for changes.

Domestic Energy Conservation and the UK Economy, Economists Advisory Group Limited (Association for Conservation of Energy, London, UK, 1981, £20)

Dynamic Linear Programming Models of Energy, Resource and Economic- Development Systems, Anatoli Propoi and Igor Zimin (IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria, 1981, 67 pp, $7.00)

The Economic Development of the United Arab Emirates, Ragei El Mallakh (Croom Helm, London, 1981, 215 pp, £13.95) Although the United Arab Emirates has a population of around one million, its oil reserves are greater than those of the USA. Given its high economic growth rate the UAE is an excellent area in which to test and evaluate policies for rapid economic development.

The Economics and Politics of Oil Price Regulation, Joseph P. Kalt (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, 1981, 326 pp, £24.00) Since the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the governmental regulation of domestic energy markets has both changed and ex- panded. Kalt looks at one aspect of this regulation - federal regulation of petroleum prices. The consequences of such price controls are classed as 'allocative and distri- butional' and estimates of the efficiency gains and losses and the wealth transfers corresponding to these categories are presented.

The Emerging Synthetic Fuel Industry, edited by Albert Thumann (Van Nostrand Reinhold, Wokingham, Berks, UK, 1981, 196 pp, £30.60)

L'Energie Solaire en France, Patrick Criqui (Les Editions du CNRS, Paris, France, 1981, 237 pp)

Energy and Security, edited by Gregory Treverton (Gower, Aldershot, Hants, UK, 1980, 165 pp, £9.50) A broad introduction to the issues of energy and security. Looks at issues such as the 'oil weapon' and the short-comings of the Non- Proliferation Treaty.

Energy Basis For Man and Nature, Howard T. Odum and Elizabeth C. Odum (McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead, Berks, UK, 1981, 337 pp, £9.50) Aimed at the general public, political leaders, and students who may need a short, concise statement of the principles of energy as they relate to man, his history and present problems. This second edition brings up-to-date research into the relation- ship between energy, economics and ecology. It includes a new chapter on computer simulation.

70 ENERGY POLICY March 1982