permaculture

["Charles de Matas" <cdematas@hotmail.com>]

<<The underlying problem, the "Type 1 Error" is having an infrastructure 
that
requies so much energy. When oil was cheap and abundant, we didn't have to
pay much attention to efficiency. Now we do.

Even with all the permaculture ingenuity in the world, biofuels cannot match
the ease and concentration of fossil fuels.

1) Sunlight, ultimate source of the energy, is diffuse, so a lot of area is
required to gather it.

2) The organisms which gather and store the energy are not "efficient"; they
require most of the solar energy for their biological processes.

3) The human process of growing & gathering the materials, processing them
and tranporting the resulting fuel all take energy.

4) Unless one is paying attention, the continual harvesting of crops grown
for fuel will deplete the soil.

It's MUCH MUCH easier to avoid wasting energy in the first place.

I'm coming to believe that the prime example of a Type 1 Error is a
high-mobility lifestyle - especially cars.
> >

I agree completely with the above.  Biofuels will not be able to subsitute 
for fossil fuels at current levels of consumption, without creating their 
own environmental problems which may be far worse than we are experiencing 
now.  The developed countries need to reduce their level of energy 
consumption and learn to live without excessive consumerism.  The 
"developing" countries need to control their populations if they are to 
enjoy a better standard of living.
Charles

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