The End of Cheap Oil
References abound on this. There are still some people who flatly do not believe this is a problem, nor that our lifestyle will change, and drastically. The auto industry, the petroleum industry, the multi-nationals; don't want us to stop spending. The bigger the SUV you buy, the more they make, both on the sale of the vehicle, and on the sale of fuel for the vehicle.
This You Tube video is 34 minutes long, but covers the interlocking significance of this problem quite well.
This You Tube video is 34 minutes long, but covers the interlocking significance of this problem quite well.
Carla Emery also has a write-up of this problem. It is available on her website;
http://www.carlaemery.com/fossil-fuel.htm
Introducing John Howe. Material from his website; http://solarcarandtractor.com/*/Home.html
'...John Howe is a semi-retired mechanical engineer running his own company, Howe Engineering Co., since 1981. He works 175 acres of mixed farm and wood lot in New England.
'...He became a serious student of energy issues as a farmer and while manufacturing bicycle-powered generators and thresher/winnowers for resale. In recent years his increasing concern about the demise of fossil energy has led to publication of three editions of his energy book with the following subtitles, which read successively:
First edition (2004) . . . . A Plan for Sustainability
Second edition (2005) . . . . The Last Chance for Sustainability
Third edition (2006) . . . . The Last Chance for Survival
The Third Edition of this book is available from Amazon.com.
Contact him for feedback or for more information on solar-powered vehicles and peak oil – howe@megalink.net
In my search for affordable, low impact farm equipment for harvesting grain, I came across John Howe's Website. I bought a thresher from him, and his book, and got to see his solar vehicles. This is his web site;
http://solarcarandtractor.com/*/Home.html
He has a lot of good material, well worth reading. This is his intro;
'...Solarcarandtractor.com is about exploring the promise and limitations of a solar electric future for supplying two huge energy requirements, transportation and agriculture, now provided for almost entirely by oil and all forms of petrofuel derivatives. Energy, in all its forms, supports all life on Earth. Except for nuclear, tidal, and geothermal, our primary energy source has been, and will always be, from incoming solar radiation. Will this be enough to survive the post-fossil fuel age?
'...Three Inescapable Conclusions;
'...1.The only true scalable and energy-positive system that could supersede a fossil-fuel based lifestyle is SOLAR ELECTRIC. This includes the related variation; wind energy. All other “renewable” non-fossil fuel forms are limited, site-specific, compete with food, or are energy negative. Even at its best imaginable scope, a solar electric economy could only constitute a small fraction of our present fossil fuel consumption. Since we now get only two tenths of one percent (!!) from these two forms of clean solar energy, we have a long way to go.
'...2.EXCESS POPULATION, made possible only by the fossil energy age, must and will begin an inexorable decline. We will either take control of harsh realism apriori or the laws of nature and math will cruelly do it for us. Extensive, honest education will be required to publicly pursue this taboo subject.
'...3.The most immediate but unpopular action we should take as a nation is to RATION our diminishing fossil fuel consumption, regardless of its source. This will ensure that all, rich or poor alike, will share in this downsizing of our consumption. Rationing could also buy the time necessary for a controlled transition to solar electric.'
For a 20 page synopsis of his book 'The End of Fossil Energy', use this link;
http://solarcarandtractor.com/*/Books_Videos_files/Survival%20Handbook%20reader%20friendly.pdf
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See the next page ('earthquakes, hydrology, and fracking' for some discussion of what seems to be happening with increasingly intrusive and violent means to extract natural gas. Judging by what has occurred in the last 3 years here in hollis after they started a new water extraction and bottling plant on the local aquifer, I would not be surprised if the same thing accurs when you remove water. See related articles cited.