RE: So what now do we do?

At 06:47 PM 04/12/2003 -0600, Glenn wrote
(after I pointed out that all of us are using too much energy all the
time. Now for example we have 6 lights burning inside our house)
that reducing consumption is not enough. And I agree, but, still, it would
be a great thing if we in N.America tried to use less. I know how
difficult it is, but . . .
Secondly, I have for a long time not heard about wind power, and I remember
that a few years ago I heard about the use of the ocean tides to get power.
My question to the experts is: if we use that on a large scale what can be
done.

I went through 3 or 4 years during WWII without electricity, and in an area
where all trees were stolen before the last winter and we stayed alive
during the last winter. It was in farming country, so we had food enough,
but the little bit of wood we had we had to use very sparingly to cook one
meal a day. From experience I know that it is possible, though it does
take a lot getting used to it.

Jan
:

>Jan, Two things wrong with that. Reducing consumption by a billion barrels
>per year will only move the peak of oil production by about 6-18 months. It
>is amazing but even severe cuts in usage (which would clearly affect the
>economy) will only change the date of the peak by a couple of years or so.
>After the peak, economics will do a fine job of bringing energy consumption
>down. Jobs will be lost, the economy will decline and there will be a drop
>in demand, causing a temporary crash in the price of crude which in turn
>will cause layoffs to take place in the industry (probably putting me into
>retirement earlier than I wish). But the temporary surplus will not last
>long because of the continued decline in production, so the price of oil
>will skyrocket again until it chokes off enough economic activity to reduce
>demand again.
>
>We need something OTHER than oil or gas to energize us.
Received on Thu Dec 4 21:31:20 2003