Christmas Eve 2050: Q&A
More about the post-peak scenario presented in “Christmas Eve 2050,” the first of three snapshots of life in a deindustrial future.
John Michael Greer
Passive Cooling
Air conditioning and refrigeration are the most significant contributors to end-use household electricity use. Here’s some suggestions on how you can reduce your cooling costs not by a few percentage points, but by orders of magnitude.
Technology – Nov 22
Should Google go nuclear? (new fusion tech, and Robert Hirsch’s nuclear past)
Geoengineering: new talk of manipulating Earth’s climate (updated)
She harnesses viruses to make things (bio-nanotech)
Waste management: One man’s trash… (plasma tech)
Breaking the H2 marriage (new catalyst)
A Tale of Four Predictions – Hubbert, Deffeyes, Yergin & Jackson
According to the EIA the world through August 2006 has produced roughly 100 million fewer barrels of crude + condensate than if we had simply maintained the December 2005 production level. This is consistent with the Hubbert/Deffeyes model. It is not consistent with the Yergin/Jackson model.
Climate Policy – Nov 21
Greenhouse masses
More paying for ‘carbon neutrality’
China shifts to support a Carbon Tax
US scorns French ‘polluter pays’ tax proposal
Climate change means big business for reinsurers
The peak oil crisis: picking the peak
It is not much of leap to believe that CERA is coming under heat from those who recognize that a bad call on peak oil will be devastating. This CERA report, which is obviously an attempt to defend their position, may be a sign that the message of peak oil may just be getting through to the corporate world.
Peak Oil – Nov 21
Even If The Optimists Are Right, Time Is Getting Tight
Mexico: output short of demand
Lynch: Oil to Fall Below $45
Australian nuclear debate – Nov 21
Govt inquiry: Nuclear power a practical option for Australia
Response: Nuclear option no solution to climate change
Australia as global nuclear waste dump?
Global copper thefts on rise
Thieves target wind farms for high-cost copper cables
Australia: High-voltage copper theft strands commuters
South Africa: Copper theft causing chaos
Copper thieves strip Italy in “red gold” rush
Canada: Despite the dangers wire theft continues
UK: Theft causes widespread blackout
Micronesia: A new type of crime rises
Food & agriculture – Nov 20
Ethanol driving up meat prices
L.A. urban farmers plow new fields
A locally harvested menu takes some legwork
Grandma’s Veggies May Have Been More Nutritious
Environmental cost of Sweden’s imported food
One study concluded that local broccoli would cause 60% less greenhouse emissions. Another study calculated that 50 items from a supermarket travelled more in total than the distance from earth to moon.
Peak oil and U.S. cities
Progress report on the dozen or so U.S. cities that have passed peak oil resolutions or that are on track to do so.
