Renewable Energy

The Logic of Abundance

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Too many discussions of the future after peak oil start from the assumption that the only alternative to collapse is maintaining the arrangements for energy distribution and use we have today. This kind of thinking, rooted in a logic of abundance shaped by three extraordinary centuries of unparalleled energy glut, forms one of the principal barriers in the way of workable responses to a challenging future.

The Politics of Wood Heating

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It may seem a strange title for a commentary about a form of home heating that is often seen as quaint and dated. But if politics is the process by which we decide how to manage our lives together, then yes, there certainly is a politics of wood heating. Some people heat with wood and like it, and other people think it is a terrible way to heat houses, and there you have the makings of a contest of ideas and therefore politics.

Web & media – Mar 22

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-A road not taken
-Our Obsession With Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities and Our Health
-Richard Heinberg Lecture Peak Oil Pt 1
-Q&A with Chef Dan Barber: Can organic farming feed the world?
-The Global Food Market (VIDEO): Why Do Some Eat Well While Others Starve?

Renewables & efficiency – Mar 22

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-Throwing the Race for Green Energy
-A Rising Green-Tech Tide Will Lift All Boats
-The war of words over home-produced electricity feed-in tariffs could cost dearly
-Wind resistance
-Marine energy projects approved for Scotland

ODAC Newsletter – Mar 19

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OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna this week caused no surprises in deciding to keep production quotas unchanged. Saudi oil minister Ali Al-Naimi described current prices as “beautiful”. Indeed as the group met the oil price rose to $82/barrel, close to its 2010 high despite only 53% compliance by OPEC to its quotas and low US demand.

Energy concentration revisited

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The difference between diffuse and concentrated energy sources, the theme of last week’s Archdruid Report post, means that some of today’s highly touted alternative energy schemes may be worth much less than currently claimed, while other technologies that receive much less attention may be the wave of the future. A closer consideration of energy concentration and its effects helps clarify which is which.

The end of Australian manufacturing?

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Alan Kohler had an interesting column in The Business Spectator recently (“The cars that ate Australia“) warning that as our car fleet transitions from the internal combustion to electric vehicles, local car manufacturers need to start looking to manufacture EV’s or they (and all their suppliers) will end up shutting down.

Limits on the Thermodynamic Potential of Archdruids

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I often read John Michael Greer, the Archdruid. He’s a smart and thoughtful guy who worries about some of the same things I worry about, though he tends to have decided they are all hopeless, whereas I tend to see society as having a lot more options than he perceives. He has read very widely and often comes up with interesting historical analogies that hadn’t occurred to me, so he’s well worth the spot in my reader.

Post Carbon Exchange #1: Richard Heinberg & Lester Brown (transcript added)

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In this premier Post Carbon Exchange, Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg talks with Lester Brown, Founder of the Earth Policy Institute, about hopeful developments in alternative energy, as well as the importance of Brown’s updated path toward a sustainable future, “Plan B 4.0”.