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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Design-Bioregional-Energy Policy-The Sustainability of Bio...

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  • From: Robyn Francis <erda@nor.com.au>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Design-Bioregional-Energy Policy-The Sustainability of Bio...
  • Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:31:48 +1000

On 18/6/07 4:03 AM, "Marimike6@cs.com" <Marimike6@cs.com> wrote:

> I see they used 755.2 trillion btus of natural gas-- nearly all, I would
> suspect, in electrical generation-- plus 325.5 trillion btus from nuclear
> power,
> 699.1 trillion btus from coal, 176.1 trillion btus from biomass and a
> negligible amount (2.7 trillion btus) from hydroelectric power. Or, very
> roughly,
> 1,200,000,000,000 btus total for the year.
>
> That's a lot of juice. Just so we can wrap our heads around the concept,
> could someone with a grasp of the new solar technology size a system for us
> that
> could, say, provide just a trillion btus per year? I'd like to see what
> we're
> talking about.

IMO Looking at renewables to replace such a massive consumption of energy is
a doomed techno-fix approach.
The permaculture approach would be to look first at where energy savings can
be most effectively achieved. E.g. In the state of Qld 40% pf domestic
electricity is used for water heating, the state government has now made
solar water heaters mandatory for all new homes and offers subsidies for
homeowners to switch from electricity to solar.
Smart business initiatives are slashing power consumption on that front e.g.
20% power savings simply from switching off all computers & equipment of
stand-by and non-essential lighting at night when the office is closed.

Once you start eliminating these excessive and wasteful demands on
production (and they really start to add up to substantial amounts once
there's a good number of strategies), then exploring the logistics of
renewable sources for essential needs become a far more feasible exercise.

Robyn

"Change your life - not the climate"









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