The Secret World of Energy - The Evolution and Use of the World's Energy Systems

Every minute enough of the Sun's energy reaches the Earth's surface to meet the world's energy demands for a whole year. Combine this powerful energy source (the very source of life for our planet) with other readily available energy sources like wind, moving water and heat from within the Earth (geothermal heat), it almost seems incredulous that our human population depends on the burning of fossil fuels to meet nearly all of its energy demands. And this picture doesn't look like it will change very much in the near future.

Why fossil fuels? The fossil fuels we largely depend on today are coal, oil and natural gas. They are called non-renewable energy sources. But if you think about it, that description is actually another way of saying we use them faster than they form. Over 100,000 times faster to be exact! So how did we ever decide this would be the primary energy resource to power human development and progress?

Continued @ Ecology

Letters at 3AM - Things to come: Part 2

Long after we've stopped expecting anything intelligent from Congress, a conservative from Maryland has turned the tables on us all. On March 14, and again on April 20, Republican Rep. Roscoe Bartlett gave two extraordinary speeches in the House (available on his Web site or from the Congressional Record). Bartlett tried to make his colleagues understand that the United States must change drastically to accommodate the coming scarcity of oil. His speech received scant coverage and prompted no action. Nevertheless, Congressman Bartlett represents a healthy sign: People of all political persuasions are beginning to face reality.

Bartlett summed up the problem and suggested the solution. "Oil companies have admitted that their estimates of the reserves were exaggerated." Demand for oil is outpacing supply and refining capacity. This will cripple our economy's ability to grow. "We have a debt that we cannot service. It will be essentially impossible to service that debt if our economy does not continue to grow." Government itself, then, will be severely hampered. "At $100 or $200 a barrel" other oil sources, like Canadian sand tar, may become economically viable, but that will take an enormous investment (and, a point he did not make, a great deal of time to get up and running, so scarcity in the short term will occur anyway). "We're also running out of topsoil, without which we need oil-derived fertilizer to grow food." "The green revolution" (advances in agribusiness that enable us to feed so large a population) has been "very largely the result of our intensive use of oil." A "transition to sustainability" is a matter of survival, but it "will not happen [by] applying market forces alone." (Yes, this is a Republican speaking.) Bartlett pointed out that "the hydroelectric and nuclear power industries did not arise spontaneously from market forces alone. They were the product of a purposeful partnership of public and private entities focused on the public good. This is what we have to do relative to alternatives." He proposed "a Manhattan-type project focusing on renewables." "The real challenge now is to use conservation and efficiency to reduce our demand for oil so that we have enough oil left to make the investments on alternatives and renewables [that] can take the place of oil."

Continued @ The Austin Chronicle

America's Endangered Forests

Today, the National Forest Protection Alliance - a network of 135 organizations from around the country - released its third biennial report listing twelve of the country's most endangered national forests.

It could easily be argued that every single one of America's 155 national forests face mounting threats to wildlife, clean water and wild places. In part this is due to the Bush Administration's public lands policies, which have clearly titled the playing field to favor their friends and campaign contributors in the resource extraction industry.

However, as any seasoned public lands activist will tell you, another part is due to the U.S. Forest Service itself, which has not only failed to confront a post-WWII legacy of industrial-style resource extraction that scared the land with over 400,000 miles of roads and the near liquidation of our ancient forests, but continues in many places to operate with a frontier mentality that clearly is out of line with 21st Century realities.

"Our national forests face myriad threats from Bush administration policies and Forest Service management," said Jake Kreilick, NFPA's Endangered Forests Project Coordinator and author of the report. "Collectively, the forest profiles in this report illustrate the poor ecological state of the national forest system as a whole, in large part from Forest Service efforts to place private, industrial interests above the long-term interests of the American people who own these forests and the long-term survival of the critters that calls these forests home."

Continued @ CounterPunch

Car companies tackle hybrid mileage complaints

With consumers complaining that hybrids vehicles don't get the gas mileage advertised on window stickers, Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Co. are stepping up efforts to let drivers know why they might not get the desired fuel economy.

Hybrids, which combine a gasoline engine with an electric motor, have become hot sellers because they are touted for their fuel efficiency at a time when gas prices are hovering around $3 a gallon. In September, Toyota's Prius, the top selling hybrid in the U.S., saw sales jump by 90 percent compared with the same period last year. The vehicle sticker pasted on Prius windows at dealerships says the Environmental Protection Agency estimates the car goes 60 miles on a gallon of gas.

But there have been increasing complaints that many cars, and especially hybrids, don't deliver the miles per gallon estimated by the EPA. According to a study by Consumer Reports that tested the mileage of vehicles in real world conditions, hybrids had some of the biggest disparities, with fuel economy averaging 19 miles per gallon below the EPA city estimate. The problem is that the EPA estimates assume that drivers are operating under certain ideal conditions, such as not using air conditioning and accelerating slowly, that can be very unlike what people actually do on the road.

Continued @ Detroit News

Nanotech solar breakthrough will help spur viability of alternative energy

Imagine being able to paint your roof with enough alternative energy to heat and cool your home. What if soldiers in the field could carry an energy source in a roll of plastic wrap in their backpacks?

Those ideas sound like science fiction þu particularly in the wake of the rising costs of fossil fuel.

But both are on the way to becoming reality because of a breakthrough in solar research by a team of scientists from New Mexico State University and Wake Forest University.

Continued @ PhysOrg

Permaculture and Seattle's Energy Descent

Maybe its no coincidence that at a time when gas prices reach $3 a gallon and an American city is flooded with hunger and despair as a result of climate change, that here in Seattle a growing number of people are rallying around the desire to bring the concepts of permaculture home to the city. We need healthy, fair, sustainable examples of how humans can live on the earth, and we need them now. And for many, permaculture is the articulated solution we've known must exist.

"Permaculture" is a somewhat awkward word used to describe a holistic process by which people learn from and design sustainable human settlements and ecosystems. It began as a movement 27 years ago when two Australian ecologists hypothesized that perhaps the efficiency and integrity of living in an ecosystem could be brought back into our modern culture's conversation with the earth and its' resources. We have simply forgotten a lot of basic life skills that are non-harming to the earth's cycles, and it is no wonder that permaculture is now a worldwide tool that millions of people use. Permaculture teaches everything form food preservation to running photovoltaic systems, from creating food "forests" to constructing green buildings, to urban planning. Permaculturists have created sites all over the world, and locally, that demonstrate how to live abundant lives using considerably fewer resources. The results nourish us individually as well as having far-reaching relevance for cultural change as a whole.

Continued @ Eat the State

The Future Needs Futurists

Being a futurist sure sounds like a fun job. Observe the world at large, amass predictions and inspire awe at one's visionary talents.

But is there a future in it?

According to the Association of Professional Futurists, prospects are starting to look quite promising. As companies and government agencies grapple with the seemingly scorching rate of technological innovation and change, more are engaging the services of self-described futurists for advice on how to adapt.

"It used to be there were a few superstars," said Andy Hines, a founder of the 3-year-old association. "What you're starting to see now is a lot of lunch-pail sorts of futurists."

Today, a number of corporations and agencies, including British Telecom, IBM, the FBI and even Hallmark, have futurists on staff. Scores of other firms employ them as consultants.

Continued @ Wired News