A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Collapse
December 29, 2008 – In change there is always opportunity, at least for those with the right attitude. In my case, preparing for the coming “collapse” has brought me full circle, and that’s a good thing.
By Dave Eriqat
Many of my posts on this blog are philosophical pieces, and while they often draw on my own experiences, they are not intended to be about me. This piece is about me, just to let you know.
The Idyllic Years
I grew up, like so many others, during that sweet spot of American history, the few decades between about 1950 and 1980, during which stability reigned, anyone who wanted a job could find one, a single wage earner could support a family, scarcity was not even a remote concern and economic problems were something other countries suffered. “Homelessness” first emerged as a social problem and a de-facto new socioeconomic class after 1980. Prior to that homeless people were referred to as bums, hobos and winos, the latter moniker reflecting the root cause of homelessness for many of them. It wasn’t until after 1980 that people started to become homeless in wide numbers, often for reasons uncorrelated with their own behavior.
Despite the regional wars around the planet (for which I feel ashamed of my country’s involvement) it was an idyllic era here in the United States. And like most of my peers, I indulged in and partook of that wonderful life. I traveled, partied, consumed, whored around, all the while carefree and blissfully ignorant. Well, that’s not entirely true. I was always studious as well, always reading, and regularly reading business and political magazines even in my early 20s. It may, in fact, have been my avid reading of business journals that planted the seed of knowledge deep in my brain that something was wrong with the economic model that began to emerge around 1980. I touched on one aspect of this new economic model in my recent post titled, The Myth Of The “Service Economy”, but there was even more that disturbed me, such as the increasing reliance on leverage to create the appearance of wealth, as opposed to the prior emphasis on actual production of goods to generate real wealth. As many people are now aware, excessive debt, which took root in the 1980s, is one of the chief causes of today’s economic meltdown.
Although I “lived it up” during this idyllic era and am undoubtedly the most profligate spender in my family, most others would consider me frugal! Given a choice between holding onto money or deriving some benefit from spending it, I usually choose the latter, but I’ve never been a “consumer” for the sake of consumption. I’ve never, for example, gone to a shopping mall and strolled around looking for something to buy. Whenever I’ve gone shopping it’s been to buy something specific I needed, or wanted. I also generally bought things that were useful, such as computers for my business, furniture, cookware, and so forth, and tried to buy things that could last forever. The truth is that I hate throwing things out, so the best way to avoid that is to buy things that won’t need to be thrown out.
Refurbishing And Innovating
As my means have diminished and my awareness of the coming changes has increased, I’ve returned to my roots and started refurbishing things rather than buying new things. Why, just this morning I spent half an hour repairing a thermometer that cost a mere one dollar! And this is the second time I’ve repaired this very thermometer! The first time I used contact cement to reattach the bulb to the scale. Unfortunately, the yellow color of the contact cement made the thermometer nearly impossible to read, especially for my old eyes.
$1 thermometer after second repair. Temperature has become such a sensitive issue with me that I have these scattered all over the house!
So this morning I scraped off all the contact cement and reattached the bulb using some clear tape, which works a whole lot better. Thus, I avoided generating another piece of trash – in fact, I’m not even putting out my trash can today, even though it’s trash day, because I have no trash this week – and I avoided making a trip to the store to buy a new thermometer and I avoided the expense, insignificant as it would be.
After repairing the thermometer I decided to clean my coffee roaster, which affords more than mere aesthetic benefit. When the parts are free of coffee residue the coffee beans circulate more freely and a more uniform roast is achieved. Unfortunately, while cleaning the roasting canister, shown below, it literally fell apart in my hands! Astonishingly, the glass and metal parts were held together with what appeared to be silicone rubber!
Coffee roasting canister after cleaning and repair
So I took it apart, scraped off the old adhesive, finished cleaning off the coffee residue, and then glued it back together with fresh silicone rubber. Instead of expending all that effort I could have called up the supplier and ordered a new part, and in the past I might have done just that. But today I’m willing to spend an hour and a half fixing something like this.
What I find interesting, and have noted before, is that refurbishing things is what I did as a child, out of necessity, because my parents weren’t the type to go out and replace things readily. So if something I owned broke, I had little choice but to fix it. Today I find myself reverting to that same behavior for much the same reason, although this time it’s me who’s refusing to buy a new replacement item.
In addition to refurbishing things, I’ve become more innovative in making use of materials I already have. For example, I had an old plastic map I wanted to hang on the wall. But instead of simply pinning it to the wall as I’ve been content to do in the past, I wanted to make it look nice, but at minimal cost. So using some wood scraps, glue and tacks I had lying around, plus $7.50 worth of fabric I purchased, I made a nice frame, as shown below.
Handmade fabric map frame
The end result looks quite nice (especially if you stand some distance away and squint your eyes!), much nicer than simply pinning the map to the wall. To put the minuscule cost in perspective, I have in times past paid as much as $1,600 for a frame for a really nice antique oil painting! I wouldn’t even consider that today. I wouldn’t have spent even $20 for a frame for this map. My self-imposed austerity forced me to be innovative, a skill that people will have to increasingly develop in the future.
Finally, whereas in the past I would have promptly purchased new tennis shoes once mine wore out, today I’m content and not the least bit embarrassed to just slap another layer of duct tape on them instead!
Recognizing The Coming Collapse
Getting back to the collapse, it was around the year 2003 that I recognized that a housing bubble had formed. Having been badly burned a few years earlier when the stock market bubble burst (I recognized that bubble too, but trusted the “experts” and left my retirement money in mutual funds), I decided that I was not going to get burned again. So I spent most of the year 2003 searching the entire country for a cheap house to buy, one I could pay cash for. By that time I already recognized that our problems were deeper than a mere housing bubble and I was concerned about a number of things, including the economy as a whole, the security of my own job, and water and food issues. So I carefully selected a locale that had ample water supplies, a temperate climate and afforded me the option to grow my own food. And owning my house gave me great security in the event of losing my job. Interestingly, my fears about my job security were finally realized this year, and I’m now officially unemployed. Thank goodness I cut my living expenses in advance of my declining income instead of the other way around. It wasn’t until 2005 that I first heard the term “peak oil,” but as soon as I did I knew what it meant and immediately grasped its ramifications, and it vindicated my fears that had motivated me beginning in 2003.
Since becoming aware of peak oil in 2005 I’ve been operating more or less in “survival mode.” That’s not to say that I have panicked at all – I have not – but all my decisions are guided by thoughts about the future, particularly thoughts about basic survival. For instance, I now store bottled water – something I had never done before – and considerably more food than I did in the past. I also have several different means to keep the house warm, two of which are “off the grid,” meaning they are self-contained. I also have a plethora of tools for maintaining the house and garden and today view my own vegetable garden as an integral component of my food supply.
Another consequence of operating in “survival mode” is a change of attitude. Until recently I did not hesitate to spend money on something I wanted, such as a new computer. Today I’m far more circumspect about spending money, not because I’m hoarding money but because whatever I spend it on has to satisfy a need. I have imposed a new austerity on myself, satisfying needs and foregoing wants unless they are inexpensive, such as the occasional $5 DVD. The computer I’m composing this post on was purchased in 2002, practically an antique by computer standards.
Full Circle
I find that in a sense I’ve come full circle, to where I began life as a child. Back then I had no responsibilities, no job, no need to support myself, no dependents to support, nor any money. But I did have a house, a few possessions and food to eat, all provided by my parents, good health and an open-ended future ahead of me. Today I find myself in a similar position, though better off in several ways: I have a paid-for house, furnished with everything I could possibly need, food to eat, no job, enough money to live on for a little while, no debts, no responsibilities, good health and an open-ended future. Granted, that future will involve adversity and coping with change, but it also offers opportunity, especially to people who are in a position to be flexible and willing to adapt. In contrast to my childhood, however, I also possess knowledge, experience and wisdom. How many times have I dreamed about going back to my childhood, but retaining possession of my present knowledge, experience and wisdom? Well, I feel as if I have that opportunity right now, albeit with deeper crevasses sewn into my face.
Born Again
Planning for the “collapse” these past five years has utterly changed my life, for the better. It has weaned me off the consumerist model of living, taught me what’s important in life and what is not, learned me what is good and what mistakes to avoid, such as getting into debt. It has forced me to embrace austerity and scale down my expectations, which has taught me how to live a good life without consuming and spending. In a sense I feel as if I have been reborn, but with the wisdom and experience to “start over” and build a better life. I wish everyone could enjoy a similar awakening and renaissance in the coming years, although I know the sad reality is that most people will probably face an arduous struggle for which they are unprepared.
Clifford J. Wirth, Ph.D. said,
December 29, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Preparing for Peak Oil is wise.
Independent studies conclude that Peak Oil production will occur (or has occurred) between 2005 to 2010 (projected year for peak in parentheses), as follows:
* Association for the Study of Peak Oil (2007)
* Rembrandt Koppelaar, Editor of “Oil Watch Monthly” (2008)
* Tony Eriksen, Oil stock analyst (2008)
* Matthew Simmons, Energy investment banker, (2007)
* T. Boone Pickens, Oil and gas investor (2007)
* U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2005)
* Kenneth S. Deffeyes, Princeton professor and retired shell Geologist (2005)
* Sam Sam Bakhtiari, Retired Iranian National Oil Company geologist (2005)
* Chris Skrebowski, Editor of “Petroleum Review” (2010)
* Sadad Al Husseini, former head of production and exploration, Saudi Aramco (2008)
* Energy Watch Group in Germany (2006)
Independent studies indicate that global crude oil production will now decline from 74 million barrels per day to 60 million barrels per day by 2015. During the same time, demand will increase. Oil supplies will be even tighter for the U.S. As oil producing nations consume more and more oil domestically they will export less and less. Because demand is high in China, India, the Middle East, and other oil producing nations, once global oil production begins to decline, demand will always be higher than supply. And since the U.S. represents one fourth of global oil demand, whatever oil we conserve will be consumed elsewhere. Thus, conservation in the U.S. will not slow oil depletion rates significantly.
Alternatives will not even begin to fill the gap. And most alternatives yield electric power, but we need liquid fuels for tractors/combines, 18 wheel trucks, trains, ships, and mining equipment. The independent scientists of the Energy Watch Group conclude in a 2007 report titled: “Peak Oil Could Trigger Meltdown of Society:”
“By 2020, and even more by 2030, global oil supply will be dramatically lower. This will create a supply gap which can hardly be closed by growing contributions from other fossil, nuclear or alternative energy sources in this time frame.”
http://www.energywatchgroup.org/fileadmin/global/pdf/EWG_Press_Oilreport_22-10-2007.pdf
With increasing costs for gasoline and diesel, along with declining taxes and declining gasoline tax revenues, states and local governments will eventually have to cut staff and curtail highway maintenance. Eventually, gasoline stations will close, and state and local highway workers won’t be able to get to work. We are facing the collapse of the highways that depend on diesel and gasoline powered trucks for bridge maintenance, culvert cleaning to avoid road washouts, snow plowing, and roadbed and surface repair. When the highways fail, so will the power grid, as highways carry the parts, large transformers, steel for pylons, and high tension cables from great distances. With the highways out, there will be no food coming from far away, and without the power grid virtually nothing modern works, including home heating, pumping of gasoline and diesel, airports, communications, and automated building systems.
This is documented in a free 48 page report that can be downloaded, website posted, distributed, and emailed: http://www.peakoilassociates.com/POAnalysis.html
I used to live in NH-USA, but moved to a more sustainable place. Anyone interested in relocating to a nice, pretty, sustainable area with a good climate and good soil? Email: clifford dot wirth at yahoo dot com or give me a phone call which operates here as my old USA-NH number 603-668-4207. http://survivingpeakoil.blogspot.com/
SCOTT ALLEN HUMPHREY said,
December 30, 2008 at 9:40 am
05 was the year I too was made aware of the peak oil situation. Until that time, that was something I never had even considered.
I’ve not had a good nights sleep since discovering this fact. I mean, even conservation will have no positive effect. When one weighs all the other troubles now occuring, And even if positive resolutions are forthcomming, peak oil is the one thing that will have the most dramatic negitive effect the likes we’ve never seen to which there will be no solution.
Quite frankly Dave, maintaining good health is now of no genuine concern to me. Care for some bacon. Put more butter on my toast please. Pass me the scotch please, ill have another.
daveeriqat said,
December 30, 2008 at 10:12 am
You know, Scott,
I’m almost 180 degrees opposed to conventional medical “wisdom.” For starters, the entire sickcare system in this country is for profit! It has utterly no incentive to dispense advice about preventive health care, nor even accurate advice.
Look at the medical establishment’s efforts to suppress all anti-cancer approaches that don’t involve expensive radiation or expensive, profitable drugs.
Look at the international codex effort, which seems designed to induce ill health in us.
That said, the medical establishment’s tired advice against things like bacon, butter and alcohol is suspect at best.
Personally, I believe butter is one of the best fats you can eat, right up there with olive oil. I think bacon is actually not bad either. The worst thing in bacon is not the fat, but the nitrites added by man. I use bacon fat in cooking. And alcohol is quite good for you. Caveat: one should consume all these foods in moderation. A pat of butter here or there, a couple of pieces of bacon a week, a couple of drinks a day. Eating too much of anything, even broccoli, is bad for you. It’s all in the proportions.
If you really want to imperil your health with food, eat aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, artificial fats, hydrogenated oils, MSG, and fluoridated water. If you like, compound that unhealthful diet with topical application of fluoridated toothpaste, deodorants, perfumes, lotions, antibacterial soap, shampoo, and cleaning chemicals. Yeah, all that ought to make one really healthy.
My attitude about food is that the closer it is to its natural state, the better. Looking back at our ancient ancestors, before the advent of agriculture, what did they eat? Nuts, berries, roots, meat. And when they ate meat, I’ll bet they ate 100% of it, fat an all. In fact, the fat was probably the most coveted part since it’s high in calories and tasty and satisfies one’s hunger. If true, then we humans are probably well-equipped to handle saturated animal fat, in stark opposition to the conventional medical “wisdom.” We are probably ill-equipped to handle concentrated vegetable fats like seed oils, and certainly man-made fats like hydrogenated oils, since they don’t exist in nature. The only semi-concentrated vegetable fats that exist in nature and are probably good for us are those found in olives, nuts and coconuts. Again, coconut oil is frowned upon by the conventional medical establishment.
So I don’t think your proposed diet is as unhealthful as you jokingly suggest. Just keep the proportions modest, accompany it with regular exercise and plenty of rest. By the way, I eat those foods of yours, especially the scotch! And I follow my other advice, including the shunning of chemicals, and I avoid the medical establishment like the plague, and I’m exceedingly healthy. Go figure.
Dave
SCOTT ALLEN HUMPHREY said,
December 30, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Dave, this is fact. I eat a lb of hunter bacon a week, a dozen eggs and a bag of hash browns with it. wheat toast with butter.
other fried foods as well. I don’t like a lot of other food items. I like what i like and thats it. last jan when I went for my medical annual, my colestoral number was 178. bp was 112 over 80. i thought DAMM, im going to be here when peak oil occures and the colapse.
shit!!! gimmi some scotch!
SCOTT ALLEN HUMPHREY said,
December 30, 2008 at 12:32 pm
oh yeah, i smoke too. it goes good with the scotch.
Eduard Hiebert said,
December 30, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Hi Dave,
After reading Chris Hedges “Party to Murder” your post caught my attention, with greater interest as I believe democratic discourse must be between real people.
I like a part of your approach as it speaks to a positive assertion of self without aggression.
If you review the above url, you will also find there is a way for us to assert ourselves democratically and not be divided and conquered by the elites. Would welcome your review. From there you can also make direct contact.
Eduard
Eduard Hiebert said,
December 30, 2008 at 8:11 pm
The url is “Taking back our democracy at http://ereform.eduardhiebert.com/v123p.htm
daveeriqat said,
December 31, 2008 at 5:01 am
Eduard,
I looked at your site and it appears you’ve been giving voting a great deal of thought. But is the Canadian system pertinent to the U.S. system? It seems quite different.
In any case, the biggest problem with elections in the U.S. is not the voting process, even though it’s becoming notoriously corrupt, like that in a so-called banana republic. The biggest problem is that campaigns are financed by private contributors – it is legalized bribery, plain and simple. The U.S. Supreme Court equates campaign contributions with free speech, and to some extent I agree. But the damage caused by this legalized bribery is so egregious, we must make an exception in this case. Oh, and which “contributors” have the most money to spend on political campaigns? Corporations! Is it any wonder corporations are getting their every wish fulfilled these days. The Supreme Court helped out there again, by making the preposterous declaration that corporations are “persons,” entitled to all the protections of the Constitution, including that of free speech – i.e. campaign contributions! Sweet racket!
Until we end private campaign contributions and use tax money to finance campaigns, there is utterly no hope of fixing anything or making any progress. I doubt such drastic reforms will occur, a claim that can be reinforced by a simple metaphor: picture a bunch of fat pigs grunting and feeding at a food trough … actually, that’s a cruel metaphor because I like pigs.
Speaking for myself – others must do what they think is right – I’m not going to wait around for “someone” to reform the system. That could be a long wait. I’m moving on and trying to create my own system, hopefully in conjunction with like-minded fellows, of which there are many, and live life. This is a central theme in much of what I write: that one doesn’t have to wait for someone else to solve the problems. One can take control and create a life for oneself, turning their back on the old system if necessary, and let it fade into irrelevance. That’s the path I’ve gone down.
Dave
SCOTT ALLEN HUMPHREYt said,
January 1, 2009 at 8:53 am
Dave, I downloaded that Peak oil assocoates link into my favorites.
In that info was also peak natural gas. I heat and cook with gas. With that info on my mind, I had a spooky experience yesterday.
I was cooking, on the stove. suddenly, the cooking stopped. I noted there was no fire. I messed with the knob, but nothing. I then turned it to activate the ignition. nothing. I then noted the absense of the sound of the gas. Once I established there was no gas to the stove, I then proceded to the thermostat, and activated the furnace. I went to where it is, and waited for the purge motor to cycle, and for the electric ignition to ignite. upon hearing this cycle, I noted no ignition of gas, meanning, no gas. I then went immediatly outside to determine if there was any gas smell, or noise of escaping gas. There was none.
I went back inside and turned the stove knob again, nothing. The gas line presure was zero!
Thoughts of peak natural gas memories, went through my head.
All my border neighbors were gone so i could not determine if they too were effected.
Because I knew I was in perfect standing with my gas provider, I surmised the problem was not related to me. I wondered if this was isolated to just me, or if the whole area was effected. Again, thougts of peak natural gas ran through my head. I was on the verge of a panic. I haden’t expected the shortage so soon but there it possibly was. I suddenly could hear the sound of three fire trucks, in the distance from their sirens and horns. I thought, my god whats happened.
I called 911 and reported that my residense had a drop to zero in my gas line presure, but that I had determined “I” had no leackage. The 911 operator seemed in a highly excited state. I could hear a lot of excitment in the background. My intent in calling actually, was to see if i could extract any information. I could not, and did not get any information. I finally called the service dept of the gas provider. Talked to a live person, explained that I had a drop to zero in my gas line presure. These are always treated as open line situations until proven otherwise.
After this call, I then went back and messed with the stove knob and guess what!? I had gas presure again. I kicked on the furnace and cranked it up. Everything related to gas, seemed normal, again. Less that 5 minites had elapsed from when this began,
t took an hr and a half until a truck arrived. It was a long hour and a half. I explained to the guy what had occured which was, that I had experienced a total loss of gas line presure for approx 5 minutes, but the presure had restored to normal.
The guy raised an eyebrow as I explained what had occured.
He walked around with a gas sniffer device, but no gas leak was detected anywhere on my spot. He then went to the meter, and observed it appeared to be functioning normally. He loosened the fittings to the meter, and noted nothing unusual.
This was the original meter installed back in 1981, and he said what ever had caused the drop to zero, was probably related to the meter. So he said if this event reoccures, They will put a new meter in.
Subsequently, this event gave me a preliminary experience to what it will be like when the effects of peak natural gas start occuring.
It will probably be during an extreemly cold snap, when demand is high. My plan was to evacuate to family, but in a regional loss of gas, this will effect everyone and there will be no where to go to escape.
All of this was on my mind, yesterday.
I have seen the beast. (shaking my head) Its frightning.
daveeriqat said,
January 1, 2009 at 9:13 am
Scott,
Yep, it is sort of alarming when you lose some infrastructure that you’ve been taking for granted. Where I live, I get to experience outages of all kinds pretty frequently: water, electricity, telephone, but not gas, yet.
This is how it will start. A brief shortage here or there, gradually occurring with more frequency and lasting for longer durations. We will get accustomed to them and cope, as I have done. The other day we had an electricity outage for an hour in the morning – thank goodness it wasn’t a cold morning like today – while I was using my computer. There was really nothing to do but go back to bed since it was still dark. So that’s what I did, that’s how I coped.
Since the outage probably occurred as a result of a fierce wind storm that day, I figured it might be out for hours. So I decided that after it got light, if the power didn’t come on within a couple of hours I was going to get out my electric generator. Fortunately, the power came on again just after it got light – great timing.
Actually, although we have frequent service interruptions here, the people who work on these things get them fixed pretty swiftly – I’ll give them that.
Anyway, your experience underscores the need to have alternatives. For instance, my wood burning stove can also double as a cooktop. And I have a standalone electric hotplate that can be powered from my electric generator as well, although that’s not the most efficient way to cook. But it’s intended to be an emergency backup. I also have propane heaters in the house for emergency heat.
We definitely need to become more aware of our own survival needs in the future. We’ve enjoyed a highly reliable system up until now, but I think that’s going to change and we’re going to have to become more self-reliant.
There are other services and systems, the failures of which may catch people off guard. For instance, what if gas stations run out of gasoline? What if food stores can’t restock the shelves quickly enough and the shelves empty out? What if your internet connection goes out for days on end?
I fear all of these things are likely to occur.
Dave
SCOTT ALLEN HUMPHREYt said,
January 2, 2009 at 9:57 am
I am in total agreement. I feel however, these inturuptions will in fact begin to occure regurly, as you have described. Our local electric utility, is currently constructing a new 290 mgw generation station, the third major project in thirty years. It’s coal fired. like the preveious two, they installed electrostatic precipitators, and scrubbers. the fuel source is coal, mined by a non union company twenty miles north of SPI. It’s all trucked in. Incredibly, Im told natural gas can also be used as a fuel source. It is incredible, at least to me, taking into account the peak oil and gas report above, which im sure every utility must, by now, be aware of these projections, but how can they prusume to have any ability to use natural gas as a fuel source if this recourse is also in a production peak? A few years ago, I constructed a very large and super detailed scale model of a coal fired power plant. I went on line looking at photos of power plants from around the globe and was suprised at how many there are that use natural gas as the sole source of fuel. And im talking big producers in the 300 mgw range and larger. It is for this reason that i wonder now why nuclear recources were not more utilizied?
Dr Wirth gives warnning now, in his written report I beleive, that it is actually too late to produce any meanningfull alternitives to head off the comming crisis. I am in agreement although I admit I possess no qualifications to give any competent rational for my agreement. Since first becomming aware of the peak oil and gas situation, I’ve not yet to date, read any exceptible rebutal, in fact, I’ve read NO rebutal. All I hear from the right is we have trillions of untapped BBL”S of crude in the Gulf of Mexico, and elsewhere in the CONUS. Thats a feel good response that I personally feel has no meaningfull merit.
I think DR Wirth’s written report is as factually accurate as it gets. There we have a glimpse, into the near future.
daveeriqat said,
January 2, 2009 at 11:10 am
Scott,
That’s interesting about your scale model. Got any photos?
The U.S. produces about 1/3 of its electricity from natural gas! So once natural gas peaks, if it hasn’t already, electricity will definitely be affected. By comparison, France produces about 80% of its electricity from nuclear power, so it should be much better off, electricity-wise.
I don’t think nuclear power offers much of a solution globally for the simple reason that uranium is a rare material. If we start building nuclear power plants willy-nilly, will we then have to start talking about peak uranium? Then, of course, there is the fact that we still haven’t figured out a safe way to store the radioactive waste essentially forever. Then there’s the fact that it takes a long time to get a nuclear power plant constructed, after which they have a relatively short operating life.
Large-scale solar, hydro and wind power probably cannot offset the loss of natural gas for producing electricity. Since the U.S. does have abundant coal reserves, my guess is that by process of elimination – less oil, less gas, less uranium, insufficient solar, hydro and wind – we’re going to have to use more coal to produce electricity in the future.
Of course, we can also reduce our consumption of electricity, and I think we will have to do that as well.
The ideal solution, albeit a somewhat expensive and long-term solution, is to make houses electricity self-sufficient to the extent possible, primarily by relying on solar energy. If we could improve the efficiency of small-scale solar electricity production and improve the energy storage mechanism, then equip house rooftops with these improved solar technologies, houses could be nearly self-sufficient and independent of a shaky electrical grid. Now, as my cynical little mind examines this idea from the perspective of the people running our system today, it appears most unappealing because it would cut government and corporations right out of the electricity-delivering loop! I’m convinced that if we were to invest a fraction of the funds we spend on fossil fuel exploration and development on improving solar electricity that we could greatly improve the efficiency and lower the cost, but it will not happen because there’s no profit incentive for the people in charge.
Dave
SCOTT ALLEN HUMPHREYt said,
January 2, 2009 at 8:38 pm
I got a 1/50 scale model of a coal mine in the lobby of the ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM 4ft x 16 ft and the powerplant model is situated in washington park here in SPI. Yes I have photos. I supliment my income through this endeavor.