The Energy Risk Conspiracy. The End Of Electricity. There seems to be a consensus that the depletion of fossil fuels will follow a fairly impressive slope. What may need to be looked at more closely, however, is not the "when" but the "what. " Looking at the temporary shortages of the 1970s may give us the impression that the most serious consequence will be lineups at the pump. Fossil-fuel decline, however, will also mean the end of electricity, a far more serious matter. It is easy to assume that the main issue with fossil-fuel depletion is the problem of what to put in our automobiles. For some, the problem may seem hardly big enough to worry about. The average motorist will have to accept paying far more for gasoline than in earlier times.
But that view may be totally wrong. For that matter, it is not only fossil fuels and electricity that form a tightly integrated group, but a triad: fuels, electricity, and metals. Is there tangible evidence for such a rapidly plunging slope? It is "end use" that is significant. Duncan, Richard C. Chaos as an everyday thing. You know you're living in a chaotic situation when (1) the mainstream media are constantly surprised by what is happening; (2) short-term predictions by various pundits go in radically different directions and are stated with many reserves; (3) the Establishment dares to say things or use words that were previously taboo; (4) ordinary people are frightened and angry but very unsure what to do.
This is a good description of the past two years throughout the world, or at least in most parts of the world. Consider the recent enormous "surprises" - the election of a Republican senator in Massachusetts; the financial collapse of Dubai; the near bankruptcy of various large states within the United States and four or five of the member states of the European Union; severe world currency fluctuations. These "surprises" are commented on each day in the world press and by leading politicians. What are we seeing in California, in Greece, in most of the world's governments? Is Europe more stable? The Fall of Petroleum Civilization - peak oil. The fall of petroleum civilization: peak oil will take place primarily in the U.S. as it is most dependent on limited resources.
Helpful in understanding trends is an honest assessment of alternative energy, in terms of potential for a given population size and number of decades usage. Additionally, U.S. foreign policy can be glimpsed more and more clearly in its drive to maintain its oil-fueled, corporate-based empire. Coal Gasification:"Oil-crisis solutions are not technological"- Jan Lundberg "Oil companies spent $8 billion on exploration in 2003, but discovered only $4 billion of commercially useful oil. Oil supply basics: 10 points by Jan Lundberg (Feb. 2005) Experts: Oil Production Peak InevitableNational Public Radio show, August 25, 2004. Matthew Simmons, chief executive of investment bank Simmons & Co. Trade and oil: U.S. agriculture exports only buy 11% of oil imports, whereas before the 1970s oil shocks it was one bushel of wheat per one barrel of oil.
Thinking in straight lines. Let’s face it, we, the civilized, educated, enlightened part of humanity like things to be straight. Let primitive tribesmen live in picturesque and practical round huts—we require abstract boxes of steel and concrete clad in plate glass, with plenty of nice straight lines, true vertical and horizontal planar surfaces and lots of ninety-degree angles to please the eye. Let these tribesmen spend their days meandering up and down picturesque winding paths laid down by grazing animals—when we build a road, we take a map and apply a ruler to it, and anything that’s in the way of that ruler, picturesque or not, must be dynamited and bulldozed because everyone knows that traveling in straight lines is more efficient.
This is good enough for most of us, and so we have come to regard straight lines as natural. But the fiction is indeed very convenient. To start with, all straight lines are interchangeable and compatible. Straight lines are popular with engineers as well. Similarly with oil. Culture Change - Petro-addiction. Six Easy Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization. ALEXANDER ROSE: Good evening everybody, please take your seats.
As some of you know we start these talks off with a long short, a short film that exemplifies long term thinking. This long short is one of the shortest at sixty seconds and probably covers the longest time span at several million years. STEWART BRAND: And for the next four and a half billion years. Good evening I'm Stewart Brand from the Long Now Foundation. As for tonight's speaker how many here have read Sum Tales of the Afterlife, how many have given copies to their friends. That happens a lot and it's going to happen more. DAVID EAGLEMAN: Okay so this is you and you live in a fantastic, terrific society and you would probably think that there's no way that anything's ever going to happen in this society.
Blind Spot - Watch the Documentary Film for Free - SnagFilms.