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Peak Oil - Adjusting to the new reality

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Started 6 months ago by rockabye
Latest reply from rockabye

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rockabye
Member

Now that we are seeing the reality of resource depletion starting to bite we need to put strategies in place to deal with the 'new' world without cheap oil.

As predicted in Heinberg's book 'End of Growth', Europe is now coming to grips with that reality. We won't be far behind.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15669197

Transition Towns are one concept being explored to deal with the developing issues.

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_town

Nice little video

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/resources/anita-sancha-eco-animations-past-peak-oil

Posted Thursday 10 Nov 2011 @ 6:48:26 pm from IP #
rockabye
Member

This is what happens when the shit hits the fan.

Alabama County goes bankrupt after sewer debt overwhelms their budget.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15668788

Posted Thursday 10 Nov 2011 @ 8:11:25 pm from IP #
rockabye
Member

Nature is fooled into flowering in a 'second spring'

Fruit, frogs, birds, insects, plants: they are all enjoying a warm autumn as the seasons go topsy-turvy. Ecologists are observing a rash of freak occurrences and oddities throughout England

A paper led by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, published in 2010, analysed 25,000 trends for 726 species and calculated that on average seasonal events were occurring 11 days earlier than a generation ago.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/13/warm-autumn-wildlife-oddities

Posted Sunday 13 Nov 2011 @ 5:04:04 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

Australian Geographic has a gallery of climate change images here.

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/view-image.htm?index=0&gid=10244

Posted Monday 14 Nov 2011 @ 9:26:58 pm from IP #
rockabye
Member

Country towns go it alone in power generation.

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/content/2011/s3364201.htm

Posted Tuesday 15 Nov 2011 @ 1:14:48 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

Another city goes bankrupt in the US.

"Everyone calls Harrisburg the mini-Greece," says Mr Veronikis. "Our finances are not in order. We can't pay back our debt. And we have a higher power telling us what to do."

How does that make people feel?

"It makes them feel very angry. And powerless."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15749520

Posted Wednesday 16 Nov 2011 @ 4:50:10 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

Legalised 'slavery' as UK unemployed jumps. Big companies reap the benefits.

People taking up work experience places – providing up to 30 hours a week of unpaid labour – face losing benefits if they quit.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/16/young-jobseekers-work-pay-unemployment?intcmp=122

Posted Wednesday 16 Nov 2011 @ 6:02:06 pm from IP #
Catopsilia
Member

Peak oil is one of a constellation of inter-linked global problems that "Business as Usual" cannot possibly solve.
"Is there hope?"
"If you suspect that some young person is not just bright, but also has the seeds of higher sapience then encourage them to learn all that they can (particularly systems science!) about the world and what is really happening. Teach them about resilience and adaptability. If they are truly sapient they will learn without much prompting."
http://questioneverything.typepad.com/question_everything/2011/11/is-there-hope.html

Posted Thursday 17 Nov 2011 @ 4:24:46 am from IP #
Catopsilia
Member

There was a great range of viewpoints at the Conference of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil - US (ASPO-US).

"Take Home Messages

* We don't have an energy problem in the short term. We have a liquid fuels problem.
* The current oil shock is not a shock -- it is the new reality.
* Energy efficiency is the next big investment opportunity.
* Solar is a HUGE resource -- Just do it!
* Nothing is more valuable than the Negawatt.
* Peak oil is intimately tied to poverty as social service agencies shift from sharing abundance to managing scarcity.
* Topsoil is a non-renewable resource."

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/8606#more

Posted Thursday 17 Nov 2011 @ 10:28:37 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

Documentary movie by John D. Liu on ecosystem restoration, sustainability and Hope.

Hope in a changing climate.

Restoring degraded areas in China. Dramatic results.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQjKLYcu1PI

Posted Saturday 19 Nov 2011 @ 7:18:21 pm from IP #
rockabye
Member

China is now taxing oil and gas for damage to the environment.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-10/china-resource-tax-for-crude-oil-gas-set-at-5-10-of-sales.html#

And why solar is scaring the pants off power companies.

http://www.climatespectator.com.au/commentary/why-solar-parity-scares-big-utilities

Posted Sunday 20 Nov 2011 @ 11:41:56 pm from IP #
rockabye
Member

To help everyone come up with new ways of doing things these programs are worth a look.

http://www.dynamoeffect.org/EN/

Posted Tuesday 22 Nov 2011 @ 4:05:48 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

Finding more oil in the US. One step forward and 3 steps back.

http://oilshalegas.com/bakkenshale.html

Of course the Canadian tar sands are also being counted on by many oil addicts.

"Canada's vast tar sands – also known as oil sands – are the second largest reserve of carbon in the world after Saudi Arabia, although the energy needed to extract oil from the ground means the process results in far more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil drilling, as well as causing the destruction of forests and air and water pollution.

Nasa scientist James Hansen says if the oil sands were exploited as projected it would be "game over for the climate".

"The scale of oil industry lobbying exposed in these documents is quite extraordinary. It's especially worrying that Baker held a secret meeting with Shell about this key European vote on tar sands. But worse still, he's now covering up what was discussed."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/27/canada-oil-sands-uk-backing

And this

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/27/britain-canada-oil-sands-idiotic

Posted Monday 28 Nov 2011 @ 5:16:34 pm from IP #
rockabye
Member

The tar sands oil saga continues. Politicians doing the bidding of big oil. Strangely enough G W Bush got it right when he said americans were addicted to oil.

This is from the comments section and really shows what we are up against.

"I don't think our oil is dirty...it just keeps getting better....God put those resources in the ground for a reason and the majority of these companies are doing their best to harvest the resources ethically."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/nov/30/oil-sands-tar-canada-uk-fuel

Posted Wednesday 30 Nov 2011 @ 10:48:42 pm from IP #
dbindoff
Member

So what are we up against Rockabye, I can't see what the UK is on about? Apparently a lot of political pressure to pander to Canada. As I understand it the tar sand oil finds a ready market in the US and Canada is not backing the UK .

Posted Thursday 1 Dec 2011 @ 1:15:55 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

I'll let you figure out you own answer but US pres republican candidate John Huntsman put it better than I can.

'When we take a position that isn't willing to embrace evolution, when we take a position that basically runs counter to what 98 of 100 climate scientists have said, what the National Academy of Science has said about what is causing climate change and man's contribution to it, I think we find ourselves on the wrong side of science and, therefore, in a losing position.'

Posted Thursday 1 Dec 2011 @ 1:55:05 am from IP #
dbindoff
Member

I was really hoping you'd just give me the answer - it makes life so much easier when someone who has a good grasp on things just tells it like it is

Strange in these latter days to be agreeing with a republican on a matter of science.

Posted Thursday 1 Dec 2011 @ 2:07:21 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

How about lies, deception, ignorance and stupidity to start the ball rolling.

Of course seeing as how it was Mark Twains birthday yesterday I should have added this one from him.

"Faith is believing something you know ain't true."

And for those with ideas of changing things for the better.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Posted Thursday 1 Dec 2011 @ 2:28:09 am from IP #
Catopsilia
Member

Mobus' thoughts on an imagined political party called "The Truth Party":

"Here is the truth that some hapless politician with good intentions might state:

Folks, the truth is that maybe 90% of you and your children are going to die prematurely after suffering various forms of privation over the next several decades. Sorry to have to tell you this. And I'm also sorry to say I have no solutions to offer, because, frankly, we have created an unsolvable predicament. But I would like your vote anyway."

http://questioneverything.typepad.com/question_everything/2011/11/the-truth-party.html

Posted Thursday 1 Dec 2011 @ 10:45:40 am from IP #
Catopsilia
Member

"Adjusting to the new reality" - that is just what our leaders in every field cannot and will not do.
More than ordinary people, they are locked into "business as usual" BAU. We are on our own.

The Archdruid:
"During the years immediately ahead of us, unless I’m very much mistaken, the political, economic, and cultural institutions of the industrial world can be counted on to do just about anything other than a meaningful response to the crisis of our age, and any meaningful response that does happen is going to have to come from individuals, families, and community groups."
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2011/11/pepperspraying-future.html

Posted Thursday 1 Dec 2011 @ 11:27:03 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

The UK is set to substantially over-achieve on its carbon-cutting targets, with potential economic benefits in cost savings and the growth of new industries, according to government research.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/01/uk-carbon-cutting-targets-research

Posted Thursday 1 Dec 2011 @ 7:28:07 pm from IP #
rockabye
Member

Some good ideas here.

Any electrical device that is time-flexible (in other words, is not too sensitive to when its energy is delivered) could be used. These could include industrial or commercial air conditioners, water heaters and refrigeration.

http://www.dynamicdemand.co.uk/index.htm

Posted Tuesday 6 Dec 2011 @ 7:10:54 pm from IP #
rockabye
Member

Warren Buffett to buy Californian solar power farm worth $2bn.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/dec/07/warren-buffett-invests-in-solar-energy

Posted Thursday 8 Dec 2011 @ 6:09:48 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

They bailed out the banks in days. But even deciding to bail out the planet is taking decades.

Nicholas Stern estimated that capping climate change would cost around 1% of global GDP, while sitting back and letting it hit us would cost between 5 and 20%.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot

Posted Friday 16 Dec 2011 @ 7:56:38 pm from IP #
rockabye
Member

Interesting new tech approaches to reducing the cost of solar PV and grid storage issues.

http://scienceprogress.org/2011/10/new-solar-technology-you-never-heard-of/

Solving the problem of grid storage, renewable intermittency etc.

http://scienceprogress.org/2011/06/top-5-coolest-renewable-energy-technologies-youve-never-heard-of/

Posted Monday 19 Dec 2011 @ 6:57:56 pm from IP #
gazmo88
Member

Looks like we might be going to get much more efficient solar cells soon as well:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215141617.htm

44% efficiency for little added cost ?

Suits you sir !

Posted Monday 19 Dec 2011 @ 11:04:05 pm from IP #
dbindoff
Member

I just noticed this 'announcement' from Silex Solar

http://www.silex.com.au/public/uploads/announce/SS%20commences%20Mildura%20ASX%20December%202011.pdf

It refers to triple junction , 40% efficient, active cooled PV panel system, just starting a 2Mw demonstation plant in Mildura. I hope its for real, that would put us at the cutting edge once again, I believe?

At 40% efficient, solar is potentially the pre-eminent energy source on every metric, for the foreseeable future!

Imagine 40% efficient solar EV charging stations dotted around the country, oil could not compete if we do it well.

Posted Thursday 22 Dec 2011 @ 9:18:44 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

Apple to develop hydrogen fuel cell.

“Our country's continuing reliance on fossil fuels has forced our government to maintain complicated political and military relationships with unstable governments in the Middle East, and has also exposed our coastlines and our citizens to the associated hazards of offshore drilling,” Apple says in the patent filings.

“These problems have led to an increasing awareness and desire on the part of consumers to promote and use renewable energy sources.”

http://www.news.com.au/technology/smartphones/apples-plans-for-iphone-battery-that-would-lasts-for-weeks-without-needing-recharge/story-fn6vihic-1226230445104

Posted Monday 26 Dec 2011 @ 2:00:28 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

Wonder how long before we start seeing this here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/27/motorists-crime-trend-fuel-theft

I know number plate theft is on the rise here in Qld due to there popularity in use for petrol theft at servos as people fill up and drive off without paying.

Posted Wednesday 28 Dec 2011 @ 9:53:19 am from IP #
rockabye
Member

Every person in Britain will need to pay about £5,000 a year between now and 2050 on rebuilding and using the nation's entire energy system, according to government figures. But the cost of developing clean and sustainable electricity, heating and transport will be very similar to replacing today's ageing and polluting power stations, the analysis finds.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/28/uk-switch-low-carbon-energy

Posted Thursday 29 Dec 2011 @ 7:31:12 am from IP #

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