I have seen the future, and I doesn't like it.

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

Life after the oil crash.
Ok, last time, I went and pinned it on a vid that most people cannot read at work.
So I am letting y'all boot up something you can read quitely when you oght to be working :)

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

In case you have trouble reading graphs, this one has a Blue Peter style 'talk you through the implications' - complete with original sources, for those who wanna check.

It might seem like I am doom mongering , but I just want to say -
Let's put more into Planned Parenthood, make it optional, but make it a damned sight easier at home and abroad.

Let's have oil rationing, sooner rather than later. Let's also have everything rationed if it's made with oil.

let's try to be civilised about the few resources left and share them out among ourselves.

Let's start reducing consumption , reusing things and recycling more.

let's remember that civilisation as we know it will be over by 2050, if it lasts that long.

Comments

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

Like the man said - I muniutes worth of sunshine gives you all the energy of ... a minutes worth.

A gallon of oil gives you all the energy that those carbon rich little critters that made the oil manged to absorb in their entire lifetimes!

Oil is energy rich compared to sunshine for this reason alone. you look at how much energy you get from a block of wood, that only took a few dacdes - perhaps even just years - to produce. Even that is better than fresh and natural sunlight.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

We can make energy storage that's as good if not better than nature's. And we can concentrate it more than nature does. And we can access more of it by putting collectors in space.

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

how, exactly?
i mean , what does this e concentrate of yrs look like?
is it easily portable? instantly usable - like wot oil and petrol is?

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

Yes. In fact, it often looks very similar to oil. And there's multiple options, and not all have been invented yet.

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

Oh - right!
We have the answr to the problem , but it isn't invented yet.

We need to imagine something - cna't say if its a machine or a chemical, even - but it is there waiting to be invented.
We can't tell you the science behind it, or how it might operate, but we will have it by Christmas.

Because Santa clause will bring us some if we ask him.

Yeah right, dream on...

As a green , I advocate wind, hydro electric and wave power. 3 practical solutuions that are proven to work and here already - i can show you images of such things if you google them.

You can show me nothing.

And yet, I know that my wind farms, Hydro electic plants and solar panels - even thhough I can show working examples - these will not be enough to meet the demands of our society. Not enough kilowatts. We have got to reduce demand.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

Read Scientific American. There's articles every week about new stuff. There have been several articles in the last year alone about this topic. Just because I can't describe an exact thing to you doesn't mean it doesn't exist or that it won't exist.

Also, I didn't say they were waiting to be invented. I said they do exist and that more will be invented.

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

yeah I read Scientific American , and also New Scientist.

The thing is, I'm not some veggie who wants to sit at home all day and eat meusli while I live off dad's trust fund.

I want a job, and am holding one down in a city that is one of the greatest places on Earth - but it all depends on hi tech and that means it needs lots of gigawatts.

Now, i am not a professional engineeer, but I have read about geothermal, hydro electric, cold fusion and several other energy creating systems. and the big problem is that none can work and give us power in the scales that we want. sure, you can get a few magawatts off of some - but it just isn't enough.

America now uses more oil than it produces - but nobody is making up the difference with solar, or wind , waves, tidal or any other sort of power.
they are off to the Middle east to buy oil. Loads of it. because only oil delivers the sort of power on the scales that America needs.
And while some of these systems are not yet mature and have growth capacity in them, we still need to start using less and giving the boffins time to do the R&D.