Education

Sustainable means bunkty to me

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What? Don’t know what bunkty means? Now you know how I feel about the word “sustainable.” My paper towels separate into smaller segments than they once did. It’s sustainable! These potato chips arrive in a box that says SUSTAINABLE in big letters on the side. I’m eating green! When I’m in a hotel, I hang the towel back up rather than throw it on the floor (would I ever do this anyway?) and the placard says I’m being sustainable. Can it be that easy? I claim that not one among our host of 7 billion really knows what our world would look like if we lived in a truly sustainable fashion. Let’s try to come to terms with what it might mean.

The peak oil initiation

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A commonplace of discussion in the peak oil scene for most of its existence is the way that communication so often fails between those who get peak oil and the majority that doesn’t. In this third post discussing the interface between peak oil and magic, the Archdruid offers another way of looking at these breakdowns. Step into the lodge room and make the secret sign–today’s meeting of the Ancient Hubbertian Order of Peak Oil is about to begin…

The renewable revolution – II

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After I published in “Cassandra’s Legacy” a post titled “The renewable revolution” I was surprised at discovering that many of the commenters reacted negatively to it, taking for granted the fact that renewables, in the form of photovoltaics or wind, “have a low EROEI” and, as a consequence, are unable to exist without a subsidy from fossil fuels. This view has its origins in the 1990s, when it was commonplace to state that “A renewable plant cannot provide enough energy to repay the energy needed to build the plant.” That is, the EROEI of renewables was supposed to be smaller than one.

Perhaps the “low EROEI” of renewables was true in the 1990s, but it is not true any longer.

Climate change, peak oil – the video game

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The global economy is headed toward collapse, revolutions are breaking out across the Middle East, famine is ravaging Africa and the world is approaching a peak oil crisis. No, these are not headlines ripped from the news; these are the challenges facing Windows and Mac gamers in “Fate of the World: Tipping Point from Red Redemption.”

This hardcore strategy game puts players in hypothetical situations within a realistic world, with threatening scenarios based on the latest science and modeling technologies covering the next two centuries. Players must balance economic, political and environmental needs in order to save the world (or destroy it).

Peak Oil keynote by Randy Udall and sustainability conference call for participants

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Randy Udall’s humorous and poignant presentation on peak oil was published today, recorded at the Local Future conference. Local Future invites visionaries, activists, and leaders to apply to the 2011 International Conference on Sustainability, Transition and Culture Change: Vision, Action, Leadership. Confirmed speakers include Nicole Foss, Dr. Steve Keen, T.S. Bennett, Sally Erickson, Guy McPherson, Jan Lundberg, Gregory Greene, Kurt Cobb, Stephanie Mills and Aaron Wissner. [The Udall video is posted here.]

“The Quest” questioned – the series

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Journalist Mason Inman does what the mainstream media won’t: he gives a balanced, critical look at the claims of energy historian Daniel Yergin about peak oil. (Latest in a series. )

#3 – We’re finding oil faster than we’re using it?
#4 – Only the pessimists have been wrong?
#5 – Peak oil = running out of oil?

A brief economic explanation of Peak Oil

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Unless and until adaptive responses are large and fast enough to constrain the upward trend of oil prices, the primary adaptive response will be periodic economic crashes of a magnitude that depresses oil consumption and oil prices. These have the effect of shifting consumption from incumbent consumers—the advanced economies—to the new consumers in the developing economies.

Don’t be a PV efficiency snob

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A common question I get when discussing solar photovoltaic (PV) power is: “What is the typical efficiency for panels now?” When I answer that mass-market polycrystalline panels are typically about 15–16%, I often see the questioner’s nose wrinkle, followed by dismissive mumbling that 15% is still too low, and maybe they’ll wait for higher numbers before personally pursuing solar. By the end of this post, you will understand why this response is annoying to me. At 15%, we’re in great shape: it’s plenty good for our needs.

Ignoring Daniel Yergin

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Upon reading Yergin’s latest missive to the world’s policy elite, I found myself utterly bored. Could this man ever say something that would upset anyone other than a small group of activists who are extremely worried about oil supplies peaking before the end of this decade? I doubt it. He is paid to soothe, and these days so soothing is his writing that it should be placed next to the Sominex on the drugstore shelf.

No matter how well-reasoned one’s arguments are, as a tactical matter, a head-to-head confrontation in the media with Yergin will be a draw at best, but more likely a loss since reason is not what moves crowds. I agree that the fact that Yergin must now address peak oil explicitly and at length shows that he is actually on the defensive. Before, say, 2005 he wouldn’t have bothered even to mention it. This shows some progress, but not among those who matter most.

35 reasons you might want to attend the 2011 ASPO-USA conference

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2. To make your voice heard in Washington about this issue – because we don’t have much time to begin to act, and every person here who says ‘I care deeply about this’ helps reinforce our message of the centrality of this issue.

3, To hear Wes Jackson talk about what we’re going to eat in the coming decades.

4. To get the latest in the emerging story on Shale Gas reality.

5. Because where else can you hear Nicole Foss and Jeff Rubin arguing deflation vs. inflation in the hallways?

6. Because our future depends on getting the word out and we need your help.

7. Because if you want to do with your retirement funds in this economy there are more experts here per square foot than anywhere else.

More thoughts on peak oil

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In Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, Daniel Yergin, chairman of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, gave his explanation of what’s wrong with peak oil. Here’s why I don’t find his analysis altogether convincing. … I submit that meeting the growing global demand for crude oil over the last five years has posed significant challenges for the world economy. And those who worry that the next 5-10 years might be like the last should not be dismissed as crackpots.