355 comments on "Saudi Arabia has Peaked..."
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GAIA Host Collective
Here is another idea... Implement change to work schedules - possibly four 10 hr days instead of five 8 hr days to cut down on commute. Encourage where possible work from home/telecommute, etc. (Depends on if more net energy is consumed by folks staying at home vs shutting down homes and congregating in offices)
just a thought
He already has that one.
I was thinking of a return to Sunday as a day of rest, but people want to drive to church, the mall, the ball game, the golf course, etc. Even if businesses were closed, it would require massive rescheduling of community activities.
So how about Monday instead? Close businesses on Mondays, require special plates to drive Mondays and limit the work week to Tuesday thru Friday.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
I want to shoot
The whole day down.
In the '70 there were carless sundays. With exceptions for emergency services, but the highways were pretty much deserted. It's annoying, but justifiable if the alternatives are rationing, by price or otherwise.
I remember. I also remember the '60s when most every store was closed on Sundays. I was thinking that there's no point to a four day work week if everyone goes driving on their extra day off.
Also, less driving forces one to think locally.
When I lived in Massachusetts, they still had the Blue Laws, which required that the stores be closed on Sundays. There were lots of loopholes though - a 7-11 could be open, but a grocery store could not. Restaurants were unaffected by this. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas the law was suspended so people could go out and buy useless crap for gifts.
When I lived on Long Island, only businesses with a few employees were allowed to be open. My Dad could buy his Sunday morning paper and pastries, but Mom couldn't go grocery shopping. So they'd send us outside, so we didn't trash the house, and go for a nice, relaxing drive. Back then the neighbors were afraid of us, not the other way around.
As I recall, the larger stores began to argue that they sold newspapers and pastries too, that they were losing business to small stores and that they were being treated unfairly. In response, the supermarkets were allowed to open on Sundays with only as many employees as were allowed for the small stores. But people liked shopping on Sundays and bought more and more than just newspapers and pastries. And it went from there.
Donal; I already mentioned that. You are on the same wave as me, The world is spinning on time, 24/7 and everything has to do with pay back. We need the "day of rest" back but much different. Its hard to stop everyone or telling people they cannot do this or that but it would provide the cheapest form of conservation, just don't travel on this particular day. If you do (other than essential services or emergencies etc) then you pay a small fine going towards Climate change funding or subsidies, for without oil, Al Gores dream will not bear fruit!
For one day a week or a month, it would be nice just to "tinker" about the home.
Wishfull thinking! & it probably will never happen
The world wasn't designed for 24/7,.. day and night, yet our craving for speed increases, and the faster we go, the harder time bites back.
OCB
I know this is an American site, but to give you an idea what other countries would do (my guess).
1)
Most thinkers in Finland, including key politicians, would be clueless. It would not register on their radar.
When other countries would start to act swiftly, Finland would play the catch up game (we are good at the catch up game).
Once they understood the significance, they'd try an improve emergency stock of oil (double, triple).
This approach would be seriously hampered by other countries doing the same (a bit earlier).
2)
Finnish politicians would procrastinate and bicker about the need to build the sixth, seventh and eight nuclear power plants (EPR type, 1600MW minimum / plant).
By the time Finnish politicians got around to it, nuclear power plant makers would be back ordered in their delivery capacity for a decade or so.
3)
They would then start changing the legislation to allow easier ramp up of windmill farms on the coast line. This would take a few years. They'd also consider subsidies for wind mills or a guaranteed minimum price for electricity produced this way.
Windmill manufacturers might also be constrained in their delivery capacity for some time, due to a surge of orders from most European coastal countries.
4)
Then they'd try to accelerate current bio-fuels program in order to try and ramp up the production swiftly. They'd consider switch grass type perennial grass, rapeseed (to some extent) and cellulose waste feed from forestry/paper industries.
Forest industry would complain that it messes up their value chain and would try to prevent this development to some extent. Regardless, things would go forward without a single serious net energy calculation done for any of the biofuels that would be ramped up.
5) They'd tighten the taxes on certain type of fuels in order to curtail growing consumption (esp. heating oil) and try to encourage swift (10 years) transition from oil heating in residential buildings to geo-thermal exchange heat pumps. In addition, they'd probably improve minimum insulation standard for new buildings and give incentives to retrofit existing ones with more insulation.
Initially people would complain, boycott and not go along with the program. However, a sharp and steady price in oil (with increased taxes) might change people's opinions quickly.
This would cause a big boom in heat exchange and geothermal exchange pumps. Construction industry would have to adjust and would be capacity constrained for a while.
6)Economists would start calculating losses and risks for various sectors:
Obvious losers: Asian air traffic by the domestic airline. Already tightly squeezed trucking companies delivery goods on the roads. People doing very long commutes daily. People living outside big cities, away from rail and coast. All this according to the economists.
Risk analysis would not take into account: falling future export levels from oil export countries, falling eroei of oil production, relative inelasticity of oil demand, agriculture, food import dependence & systemic influence on world economy and the growth paradigm.
Of course, all of the above is just a wild guess based on how this matter is dealt publicly and in research papers here in Finland.
At least you have several agencies in USA that have researched (are researching) and acknowledge the potential risk of the situation.
Hello SamuM,
TOD welcomes all members because you may post an idea or link that is applicable to someone else that may help their particular situation, and vice versa. I regularly check the other TODs, and I think many others do too. Energy is global: our cooperation must be global too. Post away my friend!
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Finland and Sweden are quite simmilar but Finland seems to be better managed from my Swedish point of view. But we have more often gone ahead and done both dumb and smart things ahead of Finland.
I dont think a Saudi proclamation of a peak in their oil production initially would change much. They would not be the first country to peak, peak oil isent realy news since our former prime minister had it as his last main issue but the priority for oil replacement etc would go up.
I would guess all kinds of budgets for oil efficient infrastructure, energy investments and research would get a 5% increase and then a 10% increase and then more if other countries start to panic. Municipialities and lots of private companies will probably do the same when the writing is on the wall.
There would probably be massive investments in electricity infrastructure and biofules. Our nuclear power debate would probably complete its 180 degree turn but it is likely that we would be in the 10-15 year queue alongside Finland 7 and 8. That would probably trigger a reestablishment of the Swedish industry for making major nuclear reactor components and perhaps even complete powerplants.
We would probably rewind a lot of our red tape to avoid cost driving delays for misc investments. There could be a change in general consumption patterns from private consumption to both public and private investments. It might even be quite good times for a country with a lot of the know-how and resources needed post peak.
Dear estamos...is it possible to say somos jodidos or does that not make sense?
Hi,
This is way off-topic, but here goes an answer to
your question:
As you probably know, there are two verbs in Spanish
that can be translated as "to be": "ser" and "estar".
"somos jodidos" uses the "ser" verb, which implies
an intrinsic quality. This is not what you mean
to say, I think. Use the verb "estar" instead:
"estamos jodidos".