NewsFollowUp.com

search

news

pictorial Index

home   
Energy_2

= go to NFU page

back to page 1

 

 

 

    Energy crisis: Turning-point of humanity below

Rudo de Ruijter,

Independent researcher, see also finance uranium  articles

e-co lab, Ecological Construction Laboratory, highly energy efficient and sustainable construction.  Right: highest monthly utilities bill $39, location: just south of Chicago.  For homes, offices and schools.  See also Passivhaus Institute

Office building meets Passive House standards in Germany.   MORE

related topics  related topics related topics
 

Energy crisis: Turning-point of humanity

Rudo de Ruijter,

Independent researcher

 

After more than 150 years of increasing availability of energy and an explosive growth of the world population, we are now entering an era of always decreasing availability of energy. The world population will shrink. For this new era new economic principles are needed to maintain prosperity. Part of this is a bank-reform, that members of Parliament can compel if they want.

 

 

The oil-price rises explosively. This time it is not about some action of OPEC, a threat of war or a cold winter. Today's rises in price are the result of a turning-point in the oil supply. Demand keeps growing and the oil extraction has reached its ceiling. And, as the oil exporting countries use more and more oil themselves, less oil is offered on the export-markets.

 

Those who count on alternative energy sources are wrong. Gas, coal, nuclear, hydro, wind and solar energy cannot make up the shortage of oil. The world population will have to do with less energy. .

 

Today's mix of energy use consists of  36 percent oil, 24 percent gas, 28 percent coal, 6 percent nuclear, 6 percent hydro-power and 1 percent renewables, like wind and solar energy.

 

The Canadian researcher Paul Chefurka has made an analysis and a prognosis of each energy source. See the pictures left and beneath. For explanation and details, please read his article World Energy and Population [1] http://www.courtfool.info/en_World_Energy_and_Population.htm

 

 

 

Most big oil fields in the world are "empty" now or slowing down. (Peak-oil.) For the extraction from the remaining smaller fields a lot more investments are needed and the extraction speed is lower. The lowering capacity can only partly be compensated by other sources of energy.

 

The peak in gas extraction is expected within a relative short time. The richest coal (anthracite) is depleted for the most part. The remaining coal is poorer in energy and demands higher extraction cost. Coal has a high CO2 emanation, and solutions to this problem are still in an experimental stage. The capacity of existing and planned nuclear plants is far to small to compensate the fall in energy. A rapid making-up of  arrears cannot be expected with nuclear plants. For hydro-energy the interesting locations are already in use and, here too, a multiplication of capacity cannot be expected. Renewable energy, like wind and solar, hardly represent anything compared with global energy consumption. In spite of hopeful developments, its share will remain insignificant for still a long time.[1]

 

World population

 

The explosive growth of the world population has been possible by the one-time consumption of fossil energy. We now have reached the top of the energy-extraction. The extraction of the remainder demands more cost and efforts for a lower output.

 

The lowering availability of energy will logically lead to a shrinking world population.

 

 

 

 

Big differences per country

 

The world population consumes in average 1.8 TOE (Tons of Oil Equivalence) per person per year. The use of energy in the world varies a lot. The 2.8 billion people in China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh consume 0.8 TOE per person per year. In the US this is 8 TOE per person per year.

 

If we take a look at the dependency on energy-import, we notice that, calculated per inhabitant, Western European countries, Japan and the United States import more than 2 TOE per year (numbers from 2005).

 

 

 

When there are shortages on the energy export-markets, those countries are in trouble first. In this situation the US has the advantage that most energy is still traded in dollars. Financially they can dispose of it freely (by inflation and growth of the external debt) [3]

 

The role of the other energy-importing countries is double. On the one hand their demand for dollars helps to keep the dollar rate upright (and with the dollar rate, the US-imperium). On the other hand, most often they are also military allies of the US, who likewise profit of the submission of Iraq [3] and the occupation of Afghanistan. [4]

 

Oil applications

 

Today's oil crisis makes it painfully clear, that various forms of energy cannot be exchanged easily. Oil is made into diesel oil and fuel (70 percent), petrol/gasoline (13 percent), bitumen, lubricating oil, kerosene, butane, liquid petrol gas, naphtha, benzene and toluene.

 

From these, naphtha, benzene and toluene are the raw materials for chemicals, plastics, synthetic fibers and rubbers.

 

Chemicals are in cleaning products, medicins, anti-freeze, paints, insecticides, fertilizers, soap and explosives. Plastics are used in bags, beer-cases, suit-cases, dustbins, dashboards, pipes, gutters, tubes, floor-coverings and polystyrene. Synthetic fibers and rubbers are made into textiles, silicons and tyres. [5]

 

All those products have their places in our daily life and most of them cannot simply be exchanged by others.

 

Transport and cohesion

 

Everywhere in the world the massive availability of diesel and petrol has determined the organization and cohesion of societies. Distances to be covered, considered normal unto now, will become very expensive, particularly in food-supply, commuting, trade and industry. In social life too, short distances will become more and more important.

 

Food and energy

 

The modern high-output food production swallows a lot of energy. In the US the production of 1 unit of energy in food demands 1.56 unit of fossil energy. When we also take into account transportation, processing, packaging, distribution, conservation and cooking, 1 unit of energy in food demands not less than 7.36 units of fossil energy. [6] The biggest threat for the intensive agriculture in 2008 is the doubling of the price of fertilizers, as a result of the oil-crisis. [7] Products of high-output agriculture will become too expensive for a large part of the world population. The biggest economy in energy can be made with traditionally produced food from farmers in the neighbourhood.

 

Continuing is war

 

With the present size of the world population it is quite certain, that there will not be enough food and energy in the coming 75 years. If the world population does not shrink radically and the strive for economic growth is not banned, more and more of our children will be sent to war to get more food and energy. (Of course these wars will be camouflaged as peace-keeping operations, development aid, democratizations and anything else the leaders of industrialized countries come up with to avoid the nasty taste of murder and robbery to their people.)

 

Growth-model

 

The always increasing availability of energy did not only allow an explosive growth of the population, but also came with economic models that function according to the principal of endless economic growth. They assume an always increasing availability of raw materials, energy, working force and consumers.

 

These models dominate the thinking of politics and economy in most countries of the world. The motor in these models is the money-system, that, by a permanent inflation, forces to more and more activity to forestall impoverishment. [2]

 

Although the decrease in available energy has already started on the export markets, we still don't have solutions for our economy - except warfare. For the moment there is a lack of consciousness, knowledge and comprehension.

 

Slimming-model

 

During our lifetime we never knew anything else but the growth model. That is in use nearly everywhere in the world. That is why we do not realize sufficiently, it is just an economic model. It only applies in a situation of permanent increase of energy, raw materials, working force and consumers.

 

When the economy must function with a shrinking availability of energy, we need another economic model.

 

In the slimming model there is a shrinking production and a shrinking consumption, caused by the decrease of energy. When there is less energy available than needed for a big population, we should - logically - strive for a smaller population. If we start the decrease in population early enough, then, counted per inhabitant, prosperity can be maintained at a high level. (When the population is too big, it will be war and economic crisis.)

 

Bank-reform

 

In today's system new money is created by commercial banks each time loans are made. For all commercial banks together, there is not a single limit in the unbridled money-creation. It can, at best, be stimulated or slowed down a bit by the interest rate of the central bank. Central banks themselves profit from inflation and changing interest rates, which allow them income from monetary operations, that garantee their independence. [2]

 

This system of permanent inflation should be replaced. The money creation should be limited to the central bank. Today's banks would become middlemen, who hand the loans to their customers. For these customers nothing changes. Their bank accounts continue in the same way.

 

By removing the permission to create money from the commercial banks and put this right exclusively in the hands of the central bank, the latter can immediately stop the inflation.

 

 

Consequently the central bank doses carefully the amount of money in circulation, in order to prevent any devaluation of the money unit.

 

In accordance with the government, different interest rates can be used for different categories of loans. This way, for instance, long term investments for a sustainable society can be financed prioritarily, or, the other way around, unwanted investments can be discouraged. In this way a slimming model in a situation of decreasing population can provide maintenance of prosperity.

 

Note, that in countries where there is still an increasing availability of energy, the bank-reform lined out above offers a better structure for sustained prosperity too. By the differentiation of interest rates, long term investments for a sustainable future can be financed and, also, investments can be stimulated or discouraged by sector. Further more the excesses in money creation can be stopped immediately and prevented in the future.

 

There is no obligation to apply this reform in several or all countries at the same time. Probably, in many countries, the central bank has enough legal power to implement such a reform independently. In other countries some changes will have to be made in the laws.

 

Members of Parliament

 

During the last century some central banks have built a questionable reputation as regulator of the economy. And some central banks are still haunted by the neo-conservative ideas of Friedman. That is why it is not sure at all. that all central banks are inclined to such kind of reform.

 

In most countries their power is based on just a few articles of law. These articles qualify their authority. When governments want, they can withdraw these articles and put the creation of money in the hands of the state. (Opponents will say, the governments will make a mess of it. I think, that the financial crisis has sufficiently proven, that it is the commercial banks, who are making a mess of it.)

 

July, 2008

 

 

[1] Paul Chefurka, World Energy and Population

      http://www.courtfool.info/nl_Wereldbevolking_en_energie.htm

      http://www.paulchefurka.ca/WEAP/WEAP.html

 

[2] Secrets of money, interest and inflation

      http://www.courtfool.info/en_Secrets_of_Money_Interest_and_Inflation.htm 

 

[3] Cost, abuse and danger of the dollar         

      http://www.courtfool.info/en_Cost_abuse_and_danger_of_the_dollar.htm

 

[4] Pipelines to 9/11

      http://www.courtfool.info/en_Pipelines%20to%209_11.htm 

 

[5] Oil-products

      http://proto4.thinkquest.nl/~lld581/index.php?id=14

 

[6] Fact sheets US Food System

      http://css.snre.umich.edu/css_doc/CSS01-06.pdf

 

[7]  New threat to food system: pricey fertilizer

      http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSN20324889._CH_.2400

 

 

 

 

Energy
PROGRESSIVE  REFERENCE CONSERVATIVE*
Helium 3      top
PROGRESSIVE  REFERENCE CONSERVATIVE*
Nuclear Energy & Nuclear Waste      top
PROGRESSIVE  REFERENCE CONSERVATIVE
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill      top
PROGRESSIVE  REFERENCE CONSERVATIVE
Peak Oil      top
PROGRESSIVE  REFERENCE CONSERVATIVE

Passive Solar Heating, Cooling

Buildings designed for passive solar and daylighting incorporate design features such as large south-facing windows and building materials that absorb and slowly release the sun's heat. No mechanical means are employed in passive solar heating. Incorporating passive solar designs can reduce heating bills as much as 50 percent. Passive solar designs can also include natural ventilation for cooling. Windows are an important aspect of passive solar design—for information on window technologies, see the Building Envelope section of the EREN Buildings page.

Design Principles

Proper building orientation, so the longest walls run from east to west, allows solar heat to enter the home in winter, while allowing in as little sun as possible during summer. Shading and overhangs also reduce excessive summer heat, while still permitting winter sun. In passive solar designs, the optimal window-to-wall area ratio is 25-35 percent.

Passive Solar Heating

In cold climates, south-facing windows designed to let the sun's heat in while insulating against the cold are ideal. In hot and moderate climates, the strategy is to admit light while rejecting heat. Interior spaces requiring the most light, heat, and cooling are located along the south face of the building, with less used space to the north. Open floor plans allow more sun inside.

The simplest passive design is the direct gain system in which the sun shines directly into a building, heating it up. The sun's heat is stored by the building's inherent thermal mass in materials such as concrete, stone floor slabs, or masonry partitions that hold and slowly release heat. With indirect gain systems, thermal mass is located between the sun and the living space. An isolated gain system is one where the system is isolated from the primary living area, such as a sunroom or solar greenhouse with convective loops into the living space.

Passive Solar Cooling

Many passive solar designs include natural ventilation for cooling. By installing casement or other operable windows for passive solar gain and adding vertical panels, called wing walls, perpendicular to the wall on the windward side of the house, you can accelerate the natural breeze in the interior. Another passive solar cooling device is the thermal chimney, which can be designed like a smoke chimney to vent hot air from the house out through the roof.

Trombe Walls

A Trombe wall consists an 8- to 16-inch thick masonry wall coated with a dark, heat-absorbing material and covered by a single or double layer of glass, placed from about 3/4" to 6" away from the masonry wall. Heat from the sun is stored in the air space between the glass and dark material, and conducted slowly to the interior of the building through the masonry. Adding a Trombe wall and south-facing windows is an easy way for a home to take advantage of solar heat.

free hit counter javascript

NGVC  CO2, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Hydrofluorocarbons