(Conversation Recorded on October 31, 2022.)
On this episode, mining and geology expert Simon Michaux returns to give a preliminary framework for responses to the coming energy and material constraints described in the previous episode. This includes both practical thoughts for how to organize communities around resources and also a shift in mindset from short term to long-term and from competition to cooperation. How do we simultaneously lay out all of the biophysical constraints on the table so that we can begin preparing for and adapting to a changing future?
About Simon Michaux
Dr. Simon Michaux is an Associate Professor of Geometallurgy at the Geological Survey of Finland. He has a PhD in mining engineering. Dr. Michaux’s long-term work is on societal transformation toward a circular economy.
Show Notes & Links to Learn More
00:36 – Simon Michaux info + works + TGS Episode #19 (Simon Michaux)
03:05 – Finland committing to being fossil fuel free/carbon neutral by 2035
04:03 – 80% of Finland electricity is from non-fossil fuels, all transport is from fossil fuel
04:50 – Energy Blind
06:35 – Energy density of oil
07:38 – Massive pollution stream and deteriorating environment and huge population
08:27 – Weaponization of gas in Europe
08:55 – Natural gas used to balance the power grid
09:25 – We don’t have enough minerals to deploy electric transportation in time
11:37 – Lithium 8x what it was a few years ago
11:48 – Offsetting resource declines with debt
13:03 – Peak oil potentially in November 2018
13:16 – Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI)
14:30 – Intermittence of Renewables (Wind and solar)
18:06 – Bretton Woods
21:55 – Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
25:06 – Marvin Harris, 3 levels of intervention
28:22 – Steve Keen + TGS Episode #30 (Steve Keen)
31:20 – DJ White and Nate’s book “The Bottlenecks of the 21st Century”
41:41 – Balkanization
42:48 – Contact (movie)
43:09 – Overton Window
46:30 – Enormous problems and dependence on petrochemicals in the food system
48:10 – GMOs and AI in agriculture
52:20 – Drinking water scarcity worldwide
56:25 – Sewage systems using gravity, using ponds with plants and animals to treat waste water
56:30 – Gray water and black water
57:34 – Geothermal for heating, geothermal for power
1:04:53 – We need 4.3 billion tons of copper for the first generations of renewables
1:05:23 – We are running 24 million tons of copper right now
1:05:46 – Olivia Lazard, work on geopolitics of resource scarcity
1:06:00 – Wet bulb temp
1:06:27 – Copper reserves at 880 million tons (USGS)
Teaser photo credit: By Native_Copper_Macro_Digon3.jpg: “Jonathan Zander (Digon3)"derivative work: Materialscientist (talk) – Native_Copper_Macro_Digon3.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7223304
