Desert Dove and Saguaro Cactus: What do you plan to do when all the oil is gone?, WUaS Energy Pages

A friend writes:

Dear Scott,

What do you plan to do when all the oil is gone?

-R




Hi R,

I think we need a worldwide energy plan, not just a nationwide one, which includes the costs of human-induced climate change, and which we've lacked for many decades now. The New York Time's blog Dot Earth (http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com), by Andrew Revkin, many of which recent articles are linked here at WUaS, offers the best, realistic, progressive overview of what's being done and what's good science - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Ocean_%26_Climate_Management_Plan - and what we might do when oil runs out.

I'm ALL in favor of wind energy, just not near Cuttyhunk, or human populations. Twenty miles offshore, for example, to lessen noise and light pollution, makes a lot of sense to me, - or at least very well planned (Environmental Impact Statements, etc.) taking people, species and habitat into consideration. I see wind energy as being much less efficient than nuclear, but much more sensible for storage reasons; both are more efficient than solar, I think.

I also think sharing ideas, based on good scientific research, about what we do when oil is gone, which is now a decades-old conversation, is very sensible.

Here are three further WUaS (World University & School) wiki pages (editable web pages) related to this:

Energy Technologies: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Energy_Technologies

Solar Energy: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Solar_Energy

Wind Energy: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Wind_Energy

Each of these have links to other teaching and learning resources, for example, here: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Ocean_%26_Climate_Management_Plan#World_University_and_School_Links.

There are obviously many other fora for this, too, (some of which are already linked to these pages).

I'm personally interested in this solar car made by an inventor in Maine, called the Sunnev:
Haines, Art. 2010. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0JNohHaqM4 Infinity Miles per Gallon Solar Car - Sunnev]. Maine: New Farmer Films.



While this solar car is legal on smaller roads in Maine, it also only goes 20-30 miles on level roads, bascially uses bicycle wheels, and is very light. How to transform something that doesn't produce CO2, into something that goes 70 mph, is safe and warm, - so as to be able to replace the possibly 500 millions cars in the U.S. fleet, as well as growing numbers of CO2 producing vehicles in China, India and Indonesia, for example, - is a fascinating project. But I haven't heard about such a transformation ahead for the Sunnev. Nevertheless, we're living in very innovative times.

But a worldwide plan vis-a-vis a worldwide economy has so much merit, and is a very complex, metaphorical 'spreadsheet.' The recent Cancun summit on climate change (and energy) didn't get very far and neither did the Kyoto Protocols (1997), but at least nations are talking.

Thanks for your question, and I'm very glad people can converse openly about what we do when oil runs out on the web, as well as in email.

Ongoing innovation in energy technologies, and dramatically, is my short answer to your question "What do you plan to do when all the oil is gone?"

Happy New Year!

Sincerely,
Scott

http://scottmacleod.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-winged_dove

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguaro 

(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/02/desert-dove-and-saguaro-cactus-what-do.html - February 8, 2011)