Re: Energy Sources now and in the Future - World moves on Oil
From: Wayne Tyson (landrestcox.net)
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:09:16 -0700 (PDT)
Norm and CoHo:

Cohousing may be a pretty good example of changing direction and momentum from mad, mad, mad overconsumption toward a more frugal way of living or it may be mostly symbolism--I don't know.

Certainly the world moves on oil. The cost of extracting it, along with the technical difficulties of slurping up the last remnants, still is "cheap" enough to make a profit. But the costs of extraction will not get any cheaper (in real terms) with time. It is true that oil is "needed" for vehicles, etc., but much of what is used is not "needed," it is DEMANDED. There's a big difference.

As for gas, the earth is already being fracked for the stuff, and much more expensively and destructively than in the past. T. Boone Pickens (How's that for irony--are we living in a comically con world or what?) and others commonly brag that there's enough gas in the North American Continent to keep us going for another hundred years. That may be true, but what about your grandchildren and great-grandchildren?

The Age of the Cornucopia of Plenty is descending. Cohousing is just one possible strategy of making do with less. Has it realized all of its potential? What has it achieved so far? What remains to be achieved?

WT

----- Original Message ----- From: "Norman Gauss" <normangauss [at] charter.net>
To: "'Cohousing-L'" <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 3:49 PM
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Energy Sources now and in the Future - World moves on Oil



There is a tendency to forget that the world moves on oil.  All of its
airlines, railroads, trucking fleets, and commercial shipping are fueled by
oil.  Much of its electricity is generated by the use of fossil fuels.  If
the cost of extracting and refining oil permanently increases, so will the
cost of much of what is for sale in stores. Even the poor will suffer. BP may have goofed in public relations, but at least they are trying to extract more oil until it becomes so expensive that burning it is not cost effective
anymore.

As for natural gas, so far, transportation has not accepted it as a cost
effective fuel.  It might be available for generating electricity and
heating buildings, but for now vehicles need petroleum products, as
gasoline, diesel oil, jet fuel, etc.

Norm Gauss

-----Original Message-----
From: Wayne Tyson [mailto:landrest [at] cox.net]
Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 3:05 PM
To: Cohousing-L
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Energy Sources now and in the Future


CoHo:

Forgive me if this point has already been made, but no finite resource can
be exploited infinitely. "Conservation," or avoiding waste, can delay the
inevitable, but once finite resources like petroleum and coal become more
and more expensive to extract, their products and benefits will increasingly

become the property of, and for the exclusive use of, the most wealthy. As
such points are approached, "production" will fall, hence consumption will
fall too.

The burning of petroleum removes this highly efficient source for
higher-priority uses like lubrication and, say, sterile,
disposable/recyclable products like hypodermic needles (which have saved
many a life and extended life-expectancy) from the equation earlier, meaning

that extraction of energy from biological sources will become even more
uneconomical than it is now (even now it is largely a heavily subsidized
con-job). "Biofuels" are only possible because of fossil energy inputs, now,

and the basic con is that outputs exceed inputs. However, that is doubtful,
and even the "calculations" made to justify this practice (which diverts
agricultural space and products from food production, thus raising food
prices, and increasingly lays waste to complex ecosystems) can claim only
marginal net outputs in excess of inputs (like sugar-cane). The "catch" is
that sugarcane can't be grown just anywhere (and the expansion of sugarcane production or any other crop-based source of energy requires the destruction

of the ecosystems that now occupy the space "converted" to such production.
The value of such ecosystems is NEVER factored into such calculations.

All world cultures are on a terminal binge--terminal, not just for humans,
but for much of the earth's life.

There is no free lunch.

WT


----- Original Message ----- From: "Norman Gauss" <normangauss [at] charter.net>
To: "'Cohousing-L'" <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 12:57 PM
Subject: [C-L]_ Energy Sources now and in the Future



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TPES_outlook.jpg

The Dept. of Energy has compiled a graphical representation of energy
sources now in the future.

If you can display the above webpage on your computer, you will see that
the
sources of energy are listed in order of decreasing importance as follows:
1. Liquid (Oil mainly)
2. Coal
3. Natural Gas
4. Renewables (Wind, Water, Solar)
5. Nuclear

Anyone who believes that non-fossil sources of energy are the wave of the
future should take a look at this chart.

Norm Gauss

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