Buildings

Energy conservation key to R.I.’s economic future

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Contrary to what many now believe, Rhode Island’s relative prospects are excellent. This is because the primary challenge to America’s economic recovery is likely to be the cost of energy. As recovery spurs rising energy consumption, prices will increase, perhaps dramatically. Since energy underpins all economic activity, those regions capable of operating in an energy-constrained environment will have relatively bright futures. Rhode Island, which already uses less energy per person than any other state, is particularly well-suited to meet the challenge.

When the oil gives out (new book excerpt)

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“One way to evaluate the prospects of Eldertown might be to start from the viewpoint of one of the more apocalyptic environmental groups. The peak oil movement focuses tightly on the issue of energy, the Achilles heel of industrial society. Convinced that global oil production will soon peak — or perhaps already has — the peak oilers predict a horrendous cascade of disasters in our near future.”
(Roszak was author of the 60s classic The Making of a Counter-Culture. In this book, he predicts that as the Baby Boomers become seniors, they will shake society once again – for the better)

Rethinking the Rust Belt

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The fantasy that historical change can only continue in its most recent direction underlies many of the difficulties we face in making sense of the deindustrial are. Unthinkable as it may seem, the economic map of North America in 2050 might well resemble nothing so much as the equivalent map in 1880 — a possibility that requires reframing many common assumptions about the shape of the future.