Archive for “Energy” category
51 - 55 of 263 posts
9 Feb 2009
Aotearoa‘s Transition
Manawatu Gorge Windfarm with Naresh and interested looking sheep
We are staying up the Pohangina river valley with my sister and family. They live in the rich, rural heartland of the North Island of New Zealand. They have a small holding; 5 acres and run a few lambs and a couple of beef cattle and have a small vege garden and horses for the kids. It’s potentially very resilient and has the makings of a sustainable lifestyle if the rest of their lives weren’t so resource hungry. Like most Kiwis they live a normal unsustainable life amidst a potentially easily sustainable and resilient land, a real contradiction to my eyes.
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3 Feb 2009
With investment in research and development for renewables plummeting, and the much-hyped hydrogen economy in the doldrums, its about time we had a new improbable and unfeasible energy source to get excited about. I am an avid collector of such stories, from the termite gut enzyme powered cars to the mining of the moon for Helium 3. I was delighted to read, therefore, about the dead fly powered lamps soon to be all the rage, apparently.
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28 Jan 2009
We are often asked whether the Transition model should be adapted to explicitly reflect what is happening in the global economy at the moment. This is an ongoing discussion, and one I will return to in subsequent posts, but of course, the intertwining of what is happening in the economy and the peaking in world oil production have been explored by others, as well as the recent observation that peak demand seems to have arrived in advance of peak supply, although peak supply is, of course, not far behind. One of the tools that I personally have found extremely useful over the last few weeks in terms of really getting my head around how economics works, has been Chris Martenson’s ‘Crash Course’.
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23 Jan 2009
The Local Government Association recently published a paper called ‘Volatile Times: transport, climate change and the price of oil”, which you can download here. It looks at the challenges faced by local authorities through the lens of peak oil and climate change, and is a very useful document for any Transition groups working with their local authorities. It starts with a clear setting out of the peak oil concept, and then looks at what Councils can do to respond. Transition initiatives, and Nottingham in particular are cited as case studies, the ‘Oil Independence in Oakland’ report is cited, including the great quote “quite simply, if Oakland is to reduce its dependence on oil, its residents must drive less”. A very useful document.
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15 Dec 2008
I once heard a comedian (I don’t remember who) say “we’re told we have to think about future generations… what have future generations ever done for us?” Although I try to dedicate as much of my time as possible to helping leave this planet in a better place than it was in when I popped out into the world in Chiswick Hospital many moons ago, sometimes there are jobs you find yourself doing that are so unpleasant and downright horrible that one does feel somewhat begrudging towards future generations. Like insulating under the floor for example.
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