[Homestead] peak oil was:Morning musing

Strata R Chalup strata at virtual.net
Fri Sep 21 13:17:43 EDT 2007


Several items to add to folks' considerations; no particular direction desired, just adding data:

a) There's a new 'gold rush' on, to the Arctic oil reserves potentially exposed by receding ice.  Might create another economic 'advantage' (in the eyes of idiot politicians) for warmongering with folks like Russia and even long-time NATO allies like Norway and Denmark.  Basically any nation that can stake a geological claim based on continental shelf structure and undersea ridgelines extending from their own landmass.  

b) Biodiesel is totally a red herring.  The 'washing' of veggie oil, and treatment to remove the glycerine, is not only an energy-input step, but is extremely wasteful of dwindling water resources.  The good news is that straight veggie oil is easy to burn.

c) Figures for energy conversion for ethanol and veggie fuel are indeed generally tainted by petroleum-based agriculture.  What the numbers do not generally tell one is that there *is* a case for sustainable agriculture approaches to some of these fuels.  
   - Can they keep the fleets of SUV's on the roads?  No, not even close.  
   - Can they keep the best of the mechanized farm equipment running, so that the nation can be fed?  Yes, absolutely, as long as sustainable practices are maintained and followed.  The key is doing unprofitable and 'oddball' things like building soil fertility at the expense of short-term gain.  
 
d) There is a wonderful synergy out there between urban/suburban environments and the waste stream: veggie oil can be leveraged, in conjunction with electrical power (pumps, heat tape) for home heating and hot water.  That could make a significant difference for individual households who are willing to convert their infrastructure.  This is a great application for waste veggie oil (eg, fryolater leavings), as the problems of filtration and getting the oil warm enough to move are bypassed by being part of a house infrastructure.  The space occupied by a traditional hot water tank could be converted into a veggie oil holding and filtering tank (using the same tank!) and switched to an instant-hot style water system.  Diesel hot water systems for heating and instant hot water, such as Webasto, already exist in the RV marketplace and can be adapted for homes.

e) The food we raise in our own backyards and on our own land keeps trucks off the road and eliminates packaging waste.  Buying things like grains in bulk and raising as much of our own food as we can is an incredibly important way in which we can live sustainably.
This assumes using sustainable agricultural practices (eg, compost and green cover crops rather than dumping petro-fertilizer on the land, pasture-raising animals rather than feedlot, etc).


f) Remember the importance of prayer, for solutions as well as for thankfulness.  The most polite deities wait to be asked.  ;-)



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