Dear KrisCan

4 Responses to “Dear KrisCan”

1. Andrew on December 28th, 2008 8:21 am

   Another great episode.

   I like your comments on hybrids. It’s right on that there are two components - the vehicles (top of everyone’s mind) and the infrastructure (totally ignored by many).

   I would only add that when North America was on its recent real estate re-mortgage binge, and personal borrowing for things was at an all time high there was neither a sufficient uptake of (very expensive) hybrids, nor public funding of road maintenance. And now you in the US (and to a lesser extent us in Canada) are gifting billions to the big three auto makers, the true cost of a hybrid has just skyrocketed for the next few generations of car buyers.

   I think the best solution (and the most difficult for many) will be to adapt in place and reduce/eliminate private transport, except for your own two legs.

2. Andy J on January 2nd, 2009 12:05 am

   I think that Kris and whoever else is involved on this site are making a lot of sense. When we hear about the end of oil (as only the first of the declining fossil fuels) we immediately turn our attention to “how we’re gonna keep the cars running”. As if cars are necessary, valuable, or important.

   Cars are important only so much as we are willing to make them so. If we change the layout of our cities (by creating walkable neighborhoods and embracing public transportation big time) we can pretty much do away with cars. And since we ultimately _can’t_ keep our immense fleet of cars running no matter how hard we try, then the gracious move would be to begin figuring out how to live differently.

   I’d like to add that the infrastructure connected with cars includes a vast petroleum extraction, refining and distribution system, additional vast systems for extracting and using other nonrenewable resources such as aluminum, steel, pavement, and concrete, yet more vast systems devoted to keeping roads clear of snow, mud, & water, and keeping them in good condition, and additional vast commercial and residential networks that - in their current state - can’t function in the absence of cars. The end of oil implies that all of these systems are likely to fail or shrink dramatically, perhaps starting with the financial/ economic systems. Ultimately, the entire industrial economy is at risk.

   That’s why it’s crucial to think differently. Do we, in fact, need all this junk around us to be happy? In the future, this era will be regarded as a technological explosion but also as a time of great ignorance and intellectual and spiritual decline.

3. bob banner on January 2nd, 2009 2:02 pm

   Hello KrisCan,

   Im not sure if you are familiar with Transition Towns but its a way to delve into these challenges without the doom and gloom and make the necessary changes fun and celebratory as well as educational. Please visit a Transition PORTAL that we here at HopeDance created at http://www.hopedance.org/cms/content/view/535/1

   thanks for what you do.
   bob banner

4. Ross on January 11th, 2009 12:50 am

   There is enough energy embedded in the production of most hybrid vehicles that, no matter the fuel economy, over the normal lifespan of the vehicle (10-12 years) there will still be an energy deficit when compared to conventional engine vehicles in the same category.

   Hybrid vehicles are not a solution for climate change or peak oil. Hybrids only make sense if you are buying in order to save money. Even if your motives are financial you still need to drive a lot to see the reward. Hybrids are good cars for cab drivers.

   For any tree-hugger worth their salt, the answer to the personal transportation question (if it must be a car) is a small turbo-diesel-powered car. In Canada and the U.S. the only vehicle available for sale that fits this description would be the Volkswagen Jetta TDI. In Europe almost every small car has a diesel engine option.

   Diesel engines are up to 30% more efficient than gas engines in terms of mechanical operation. Combine this with the fact that diesel engines make a ton of torque at low RPM (so a diesel engine can do the same job as a much larger gas engine) and you get huge fuel savings over similar sized gas engines.

   Another benefit to using diesel is that diesel is easier to refine than gas, and diesel engines aren’t picky about what they burn. Diesel engines can run on just about any kind of oil as long as its viscosity is close to that of diesel. I’m sure that everyone on this site has heard of people who use used fryer oil to run their vehicles. New vegetable oil works just as well and there are any number of sources to get oil from.

   Maybe the best source of vegetable oil for use in vehicle applications is from algae. Some species of algae produce up to 40% of their body mass in vegetable oil. Also, since subsequent generations of algae will absorb the CO2 released by burning vegetable oil from algae there is a zero net release of CO2 to the atmosphere.

   Vegetable oil can also be used to synthesize plastics. Basically anything that can be accomplished with crude oil can also be done with vegetable oil. As oil becomes more and more expensive from conventional sources more focus will be put on alternative sources of hydrocarbons.

   Andy J, as far as changing the layout of cities and abandoning our current infrastructure goes; where’s the public goodwill for that? Reorganizing cities and changing our systems for transportation would be a cinch if we were living in a totalitarian fascist run country. Unfortunately, capitalist democracies are the flavor of the day, so any changes that eventually do take place will have to come as the result of the free-market.

   Aside from that we need road systems - in addition to rail and water systems (air travel is much too hard on resources to be continued indefinitely) – to transport essential goods like food and medicine. You might say that food can be grown locally and medicine can be stockpiled which is true but consider all of the manufactured goods that come into your area from other regions or countries.

   It’s easy when thinking about the end of oil to picture quaint little self-contained city-states where everyone barters their supplies and services for the common good and neighbors ask to borrow a cup of sugar. Sadly, post oil society will probably look a lot like the one we have now, except we’re burning something else, or it will look like Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

   Remember that a crisis is no time to try and re-invent the wheel. When brainstorming possible solutions to big ticket issues like peak oil the best place to look for inspiration is to what has already been done, apply knowledge and technology that is already available in new ways where possible.

What do you think?