| Are Americans Facing Reality About Water? Interview with Sandra Postel • March 10, 2010 Celebrating Water Week 2010, Post Carbon Institute Fellow Sandra Postel discusses what the American population needs to know, sooner rather than later, about looming water scarcities... View video | ||
| Fear and Loathing in Ohio Post by Asher Miller • March 26, 2010 The passage of health care reform legislation in the House of Representatives last weekend was met with such a crescendo of hyperbole and vitriol... Read more | ||
| Government 'Peak Oil Summit' Starts the Process of Government Acknowledging Peak Oil? Post by Rob Hopkins • March 24, 2010 On Monday Peter Lipman and I represented Transition Network at an event which could potentially be the day people look back to as the day when the UK government finally started to 'get' peak oil... Read more | ||
| It's time to deal with Peak Oil Post by Richard Heinberg • March 19, 2010 The "Peak Oil" concept — that the world's petroleum-production rate will soon reach its maximum... Read more | ||
| An Interview with David Orr, author of 'Down to the Wire' Post by Rob Hopkins • March 18, 2010 David Orr was in the UK recently, and the two of us were part of a panel at an event organised by the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment... Read more | ||
| The Emergence of an Unlikely Eco-Hero: Frank Luntz' "Manifesto for a Sturdy, Stable and Robust New America" Post by Tod Brilliant • March 17, 2010 In January of this year, American political consultant Dr. Frank Luntz released a 17-page talking points memo... Read more | ||
| Changing the Conversation by Making it Safe to Have the Conversation Post by Ken White • March 12, 2010 One of foundational challenges of any social movement is "changing the conversation." That is, transforming an existing paradigm... Read more | ||
| Getting to work in 2010: Our new plans... Post by Bill McKibben • March 12, 2010 Dear Friends, Well, no one said it was going to be easy. Last year, thanks to many of you, we built up enormous momentum... Read more | ||
| Getting the Story Right Post by Chris Martenson • March 11, 2010 Now that I have returned from my UK trip, where I had the opportunity to present the main story of the Crash Course at the Parliament... Read more | ||
| The Softer Side of Sustainability Post by Zenobia Barlow • March 8, 2010 One reason I like to host seminars at the Center for Ecoliteracy is that you never know who is going to show up... Read more | ||
| Life After Growth Article by Richard Heinberg • March 3, 2010 In 2008 the U.S. economy tripped down a steep, rocky slope. Employment levels plummeted; so did purchases of autos and other consumer goods... Read more | ||
Showing posts with label Post Carbon Institute. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Post Carbon Institute. Show all posts
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Post Carbon Institute Links
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Conclusion? - Consume MUCH Less
ARRESTING NEW THINK TANK STUDY CONCLUDES: NO COMBINATION OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SYSTEMS CAN REPLACE FOSSIL FUELS
Santa Rosa, CA (13. November 2009)
An alarming new study jointly released by two prominent California-based environmental/economic think tanks, concludes that unrelenting energy limits, even among alternative energy systems, will make it impossible for the industrial system to continue operating at its present scale, beyond the next few decades. The report finds that the current race by industries and governments to develop new sustainable energy technologies that can replace ecologically harmful and rapidly depleting fossil fuel and nuclear technologies, will not prove sufficient, and that this will require substantial adjustments in many operating assumptions of modern society.
The new study (“Searching for a Miracle: Net Energy Limits & the Fate of Industrial Society”) is the first major analysis to utilize the new research tools of “full life cycle assessment” and “net energy ratios” (Energy Returned on Energy Invested, EROEI), to compare all currently proposed future scenarios for how industrial society can face its long term future.
The report analyzes 18 of the most viable power production alternatives, from traditional fossil fuels and nuclear, through wind, solar, wave, geothermal, biomass, et. al. to identify their “net energy” ratios—the amount of energy that must be invested in them vs. the amount of energy they will be able to produce---as well as their environmental, social and geopolitical impacts. It also considers such important factors as resource and materials supply, resource location, transportation, waste disposal issues, and others to create a full life cycle picture of each technology’s impacts.
“Searching for a Miracle” was published by the International Forum on Globalization (IFG). The content was largely provided by the Post Carbon Institute, a think tank that works toward a transition to a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable world.
The principal author of the report is Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow of Post Carbon Institute, and the best-selling author of such books as “The Party’s Over”, ““Peak Everything”, and “Blackout”. The editor of the project--part of the IFG’s False Solutions program--is San Francisco author Jerry Mander, who is Founder and Distinguished Fellow of IFG. His previous popular books on economics and technology include: “Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television”, “The Case Against the Global Economy”, and “Alternatives to Globalization”.
Following are a few of the main conclusions of this report:
✦ As the world’s higher-quality fossil fuel reserves rapidly deplete, no combination of alternative energy sources is likely to be sufficient to sustain industrial society at its present scale. Energy supply problems, perhaps severe, are likely during the coming decade, worsening as primary fuels become scarce and costly. Major adjustments will be required in industrial production and personal consumption; attention will need to be paid to stabilizing and reducing population levels over the long term.
✦ Fossil fuels and high-quality uranium ores are depleting rapidly; world oil production may already have peaked. Present expectations for new technological replacements are probably overly optimistic with regard to ecological sustainability, potential scale of development, and levels of “net energy” gain—i.e., the amount of energy actually yielded once energy inputs for the production process have been subtracted. Technologies such as “carbon capture and sequestration” and “4th generation” nuclear power remain largely hypothetical and may never be deployed on a large scale, while the prospects for oil shale, tar sands, and shale gas have been overstated to varying degrees.
✦ Certain energy production systems suffer from low or negative net energy gain; these include most biofuels, hydrogen systems, oil shale, tar sands, and biomass, some of which also present unacceptable environmental problems (as is also true of conventional fossil fuels and nuclear power). So far, the best prospects for large-scale production and net-energy performance remain wind energy and certain forms of solar, but these still face important limitations due to intermittency of supply, remoteness of the best resources, materials needed for large-scale deployment, and scale potential. Tidal and geothermal power—which can have high net-energy yield but suffer from a low potential energy production capacity—will prove marginally useful in a diverse future energy supply mix.
✦ Limits to future energy supply are more dramatic if environmental impacts are considered— including accelerating climate change, fresh water scarcity, destruction of food-growing lands, shortages of minerals, and threats to wildlife habitat.
✦ Given the above, it is necessary to prepare societies for dramatic shifts in consumption and lifestyle expectations. It will also be necessary to promote a new ethic of conservation throughout the industrial world. A sharp reversal of today’s globalization of commercial activity—inherently wasteful for its transport energy needs—must be anticipated and facilitated, and government leaders must encourage a rapid evolution toward economies based on localism especially for essential needs such as food and
energy. The study remarks that this is not necessarily a negative prospect, as some research shows that, once basic human needs are met, high material consumption levels do not correlate with high quality of life.
✦ The emphasis by policy makers on growth as the central goal and measure of modern economies is no longer practical or viable, as growth will be limited by both energy shortages and by society’s inability to continue venting energy production and consumption wastes (principally, carbon dioxide) into the environment without catastrophic consequences. Standards for economic success must shift from
gross metrics of economic activity, to more direct assessments of human well-being, equity, and the health of the natural world.
✦ With energy supplies diminishing, raw material resources similarly depleting, and crises such as climate change rapidly advancing, the long-term goal of satisfying the needs of the world’s poorest peoples—in their attempts to recover from centuries of colonialism, resource exploitation, and removal from traditional lands and economies—becomes ever more daunting. Efforts at relieving poverty, both domestically and internationally, will require more equitable reallocation of existing real wealth.
✦ These factors must all be taken very seriously by policy makers in all countries, and by global institutions that have thus far failed to be realistic about what will be required to avoid future social and economic breakdowns and geopolitical crises, as countries and peoples compete for dwindling energy resources, raw materials, and agricultural space. While it is not yet too late to change course, the opportunities to avoid catastrophic economic, environmental, social, and political impacts are few and quickly dwindling.
For further information, or additional copies of the report, please contact the organizations below:
POST CARBON INSTITUTE
500 N. Main St., Suite 100
Sebastopol, CA 95472 USA
Tel: +1.707.823.8700 • Fax: +1.866.797.5820
http://www.postcarbon.org • media@postcarbon.org
THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON GLOBALIZATION
1009 General Kennedy Avenue, Suite 2
San Francisco, California 94129 USA
T: +1.415.561.7650 • F: +1.415.561.7651
http://www.ifg.org • ifg@ifg.org
Santa Rosa, CA (13. November 2009)
An alarming new study jointly released by two prominent California-based environmental/economic think tanks, concludes that unrelenting energy limits, even among alternative energy systems, will make it impossible for the industrial system to continue operating at its present scale, beyond the next few decades. The report finds that the current race by industries and governments to develop new sustainable energy technologies that can replace ecologically harmful and rapidly depleting fossil fuel and nuclear technologies, will not prove sufficient, and that this will require substantial adjustments in many operating assumptions of modern society.
The new study (“Searching for a Miracle: Net Energy Limits & the Fate of Industrial Society”) is the first major analysis to utilize the new research tools of “full life cycle assessment” and “net energy ratios” (Energy Returned on Energy Invested, EROEI), to compare all currently proposed future scenarios for how industrial society can face its long term future.
The report analyzes 18 of the most viable power production alternatives, from traditional fossil fuels and nuclear, through wind, solar, wave, geothermal, biomass, et. al. to identify their “net energy” ratios—the amount of energy that must be invested in them vs. the amount of energy they will be able to produce---as well as their environmental, social and geopolitical impacts. It also considers such important factors as resource and materials supply, resource location, transportation, waste disposal issues, and others to create a full life cycle picture of each technology’s impacts.
“Searching for a Miracle” was published by the International Forum on Globalization (IFG). The content was largely provided by the Post Carbon Institute, a think tank that works toward a transition to a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable world.
The principal author of the report is Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow of Post Carbon Institute, and the best-selling author of such books as “The Party’s Over”, ““Peak Everything”, and “Blackout”. The editor of the project--part of the IFG’s False Solutions program--is San Francisco author Jerry Mander, who is Founder and Distinguished Fellow of IFG. His previous popular books on economics and technology include: “Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television”, “The Case Against the Global Economy”, and “Alternatives to Globalization”.
Following are a few of the main conclusions of this report:
✦ As the world’s higher-quality fossil fuel reserves rapidly deplete, no combination of alternative energy sources is likely to be sufficient to sustain industrial society at its present scale. Energy supply problems, perhaps severe, are likely during the coming decade, worsening as primary fuels become scarce and costly. Major adjustments will be required in industrial production and personal consumption; attention will need to be paid to stabilizing and reducing population levels over the long term.
✦ Fossil fuels and high-quality uranium ores are depleting rapidly; world oil production may already have peaked. Present expectations for new technological replacements are probably overly optimistic with regard to ecological sustainability, potential scale of development, and levels of “net energy” gain—i.e., the amount of energy actually yielded once energy inputs for the production process have been subtracted. Technologies such as “carbon capture and sequestration” and “4th generation” nuclear power remain largely hypothetical and may never be deployed on a large scale, while the prospects for oil shale, tar sands, and shale gas have been overstated to varying degrees.
✦ Certain energy production systems suffer from low or negative net energy gain; these include most biofuels, hydrogen systems, oil shale, tar sands, and biomass, some of which also present unacceptable environmental problems (as is also true of conventional fossil fuels and nuclear power). So far, the best prospects for large-scale production and net-energy performance remain wind energy and certain forms of solar, but these still face important limitations due to intermittency of supply, remoteness of the best resources, materials needed for large-scale deployment, and scale potential. Tidal and geothermal power—which can have high net-energy yield but suffer from a low potential energy production capacity—will prove marginally useful in a diverse future energy supply mix.
✦ Limits to future energy supply are more dramatic if environmental impacts are considered— including accelerating climate change, fresh water scarcity, destruction of food-growing lands, shortages of minerals, and threats to wildlife habitat.
✦ Given the above, it is necessary to prepare societies for dramatic shifts in consumption and lifestyle expectations. It will also be necessary to promote a new ethic of conservation throughout the industrial world. A sharp reversal of today’s globalization of commercial activity—inherently wasteful for its transport energy needs—must be anticipated and facilitated, and government leaders must encourage a rapid evolution toward economies based on localism especially for essential needs such as food and
energy. The study remarks that this is not necessarily a negative prospect, as some research shows that, once basic human needs are met, high material consumption levels do not correlate with high quality of life.
✦ The emphasis by policy makers on growth as the central goal and measure of modern economies is no longer practical or viable, as growth will be limited by both energy shortages and by society’s inability to continue venting energy production and consumption wastes (principally, carbon dioxide) into the environment without catastrophic consequences. Standards for economic success must shift from
gross metrics of economic activity, to more direct assessments of human well-being, equity, and the health of the natural world.
✦ With energy supplies diminishing, raw material resources similarly depleting, and crises such as climate change rapidly advancing, the long-term goal of satisfying the needs of the world’s poorest peoples—in their attempts to recover from centuries of colonialism, resource exploitation, and removal from traditional lands and economies—becomes ever more daunting. Efforts at relieving poverty, both domestically and internationally, will require more equitable reallocation of existing real wealth.
✦ These factors must all be taken very seriously by policy makers in all countries, and by global institutions that have thus far failed to be realistic about what will be required to avoid future social and economic breakdowns and geopolitical crises, as countries and peoples compete for dwindling energy resources, raw materials, and agricultural space. While it is not yet too late to change course, the opportunities to avoid catastrophic economic, environmental, social, and political impacts are few and quickly dwindling.
For further information, or additional copies of the report, please contact the organizations below:
POST CARBON INSTITUTE
500 N. Main St., Suite 100
Sebastopol, CA 95472 USA
Tel: +1.707.823.8700 • Fax: +1.866.797.5820
http://www.postcarbon.org • media@postcarbon.org
THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON GLOBALIZATION
1009 General Kennedy Avenue, Suite 2
San Francisco, California 94129 USA
T: +1.415.561.7650 • F: +1.415.561.7651
http://www.ifg.org • ifg@ifg.org
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Transition Partnership with Relocalization!
To all members of the Transition US community:
It is with great pleasure that I write to tell you that we have secured seed funding to support the growth of the Transition movement in the US. This funding, which comes as a combination of cash and in-kind services, is being provided by Post Carbon Institute, with whom we expect to develop a strong strategic alliance. The agreement not only provides us with funding sufficient to support an Executive Director but also gives us immediate non-profit status.
Post Carbon Institute will no longer be providing active support to the Relocalization Network (RN). Instead we will be working with members of the RN to inspire them to join Transition US, where they will be able to share their experiences and know-how with other Transition Initiatives. Please help in the process of welcoming RN members into Transition US and supporting them in whatever ways you can.
We are in the process of forming a Board of Directors for the non-profit Transition US. For purposes of moving forward quickly, the initial members of the Board are to be Pamela Gray and Jennifer Gray, founders of Transition US, together with Asher Miller, Executive Director of Post Carbon Institute and Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. Peter Lipman, Chair of the Transition Network Board of Trustees has been asked and has agreed to join the Transition US Board. Together with Pamela's participation as a Transition Network Trustee, this will enable us to stay in close touch with decisions taken in the UK.
The negotiations for this agreement took place very quickly in the last few weeks of 2008. It was a surprise to all involved that we could find a way to work together to the benefit of both organizations without coming across barriers that would cause delays. Please accept my apologies for not involving more of you in the decision-making but it was not possible to do so in the time allowed. In the future we will be posting news of developments on the Transition US web site. Our web site will be redesigned and developed over the next few months as a result of the investment.
Following the tremendous success of the trainings that took place in the latter part of 2008, and the steady stream of new Transition Initiatives that are appearing in the US, 2009 will be a year of rapid growth for the US Transition Movement. We must act collectively to prepare our communities to build resilience in the face of change. By continuing to work together, sharing ideas, resources and experiences wherever possible, we will be able to show communities the way to a future that holds the promise of being happy, healthy and strong.
Best wishes and Happy New Year,
Pamela
Transition US
==================================================
Transition Network - tackling peak oil and climate change together
==================================================
Pamela A Gray, PhD
Trustee, Transition Network
77 Del Casa Drive
Mill Valley, CA 94941
It is with great pleasure that I write to tell you that we have secured seed funding to support the growth of the Transition movement in the US. This funding, which comes as a combination of cash and in-kind services, is being provided by Post Carbon Institute, with whom we expect to develop a strong strategic alliance. The agreement not only provides us with funding sufficient to support an Executive Director but also gives us immediate non-profit status.
Post Carbon Institute will no longer be providing active support to the Relocalization Network (RN). Instead we will be working with members of the RN to inspire them to join Transition US, where they will be able to share their experiences and know-how with other Transition Initiatives. Please help in the process of welcoming RN members into Transition US and supporting them in whatever ways you can.
We are in the process of forming a Board of Directors for the non-profit Transition US. For purposes of moving forward quickly, the initial members of the Board are to be Pamela Gray and Jennifer Gray, founders of Transition US, together with Asher Miller, Executive Director of Post Carbon Institute and Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. Peter Lipman, Chair of the Transition Network Board of Trustees has been asked and has agreed to join the Transition US Board. Together with Pamela's participation as a Transition Network Trustee, this will enable us to stay in close touch with decisions taken in the UK.
The negotiations for this agreement took place very quickly in the last few weeks of 2008. It was a surprise to all involved that we could find a way to work together to the benefit of both organizations without coming across barriers that would cause delays. Please accept my apologies for not involving more of you in the decision-making but it was not possible to do so in the time allowed. In the future we will be posting news of developments on the Transition US web site. Our web site will be redesigned and developed over the next few months as a result of the investment.
Following the tremendous success of the trainings that took place in the latter part of 2008, and the steady stream of new Transition Initiatives that are appearing in the US, 2009 will be a year of rapid growth for the US Transition Movement. We must act collectively to prepare our communities to build resilience in the face of change. By continuing to work together, sharing ideas, resources and experiences wherever possible, we will be able to show communities the way to a future that holds the promise of being happy, healthy and strong.
Best wishes and Happy New Year,
Pamela
Transition US
==================================================
Transition Network - tackling peak oil and climate change together
==================================================
Pamela A Gray, PhD
Trustee, Transition Network
77 Del Casa Drive
Mill Valley, CA 94941
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