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162 comments on DrumBeat: April 29, 2007

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BMWintheshop on April 29, 2007 - 8:33am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top

"Ban the transport of Bulk/Bottled water"

In Iraq this was necessary in order to reduce the loss of fuel, money, and people.

What if America were to ban transporting bulk/bottled water and rely on tap water? How much saving in fuel would that give us?

JAS

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sf on April 29, 2007 - 9:41am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Unfortunately, the town 10 miles away from me is on the verge of getting a bottled water plant. There has been nothing there since the sawmill shut down and people are desperate for jobs. I fear that in 20 years, bottled water will no longer be economically viable, but Nestle will still own the water rights, putting a damper on efforts to grow food intensively in the valley below town.

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CEOJr1963 on April 29, 2007 - 4:20pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Some places in the grand ole US of A the city tap water is horrible. Old pipes is mainly the problem. I live in North Little Rock Arkansas. My parent's house has decent tap water, but a house I lived in about 8 years ago in the same city about 3 miles away had horrible tap water and I used bottled water to drink.

Putting a ban on bottled water shipments while on the one hand it looks okay as a fuel saver, looks bad as a people saver.

If you are talking about most third world countries the bottled water is safer than what you can get out of the tap if there is a tap to get it out of. If you want to save fuel ban soda pop shiments as well. Or candy, Or fast food. In the end tap water might not be the best drink for you anyway, it depends on your cities water pipe system. I have read reports where the pipes in the eastern seaboard cities are so bad that drinking tap water is considered a health risk.

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c185pilot2000 on April 29, 2007 - 6:04pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Oh my god--are you going to ban beer shipments. We need something to console ourselves with in the cold and dark!

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Engineer-Poet on April 29, 2007 - 6:24pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Relax.  Don't worry!  Have a homebrew.

-- With apologies to Charlie P.

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Spaceman on April 29, 2007 - 9:59pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

HAHAHAHAHA! I've had some suprisingly good brews made with some really lousy water.

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geewiz on April 29, 2007 - 11:57pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

homebrewing is so easy...... a caveman can do it!
This is just one site , but there are plenty of sites dedicated to homebrewing. And its tasty!
Happy homebrewing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAJKWCdaPq4

http://www.beer-wine.com/homebrew-beer.html

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Rethin on April 30, 2007 - 12:49am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

You're right, homebrewing is easy. If you can make spagetti (and wash the dishes) you can brew beer.

That said, in a post peak world where beer is not readily available, so too are the ingredients that make hombrewing so easy hard to get.

So if you can't buy beer, you can't buy liquid malt extract and pellet hops. What to do?

Okay, growing hops is easy, they're a weed.

Then you have to grow barley. Tough enough. Next you have to malt. Not so easy. Kiln it if you want something other than a light ale. Mash it etc.

Also where are you going to get your yeast? if beer isn't available so isn't yeast. You have to learn to wash and propagate your yeast.

You can make beer, but its not easy (some would say the complexity of making beer led to civilization).
Cider, wine and mead are all much easier.

Case in point, colonial america. Beer was much to difficult and resourse intensive to make. Early American's drank cider and rum (from imported molases). Both are much easier than beer.

I've got 18 liters of wheat beer (wort) sitting on my stove with the immersion chiller. In about another 10 minutes it'll be cool enough to pitch the yeast.
I've also go 1.2 liters of cherry ale in me. It's a holiday here in Japan, the wife is at work, the sun is shining, and I'm living a sweet sweet moment in life.
Sometimes its almost enough to make you forget about peak oil :-)

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pondlife on April 30, 2007 - 3:32am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

You make whatever is ideal for your climate. In the UK that is beer from barley [malt]. Most of life on earth would have to go before there was a shortage of yeast. Of course natural or bread yeast will not make a high alcohol brew.

Homebrew is way more efficient than transporting finished beer [in winter anyway - the processing heat is not waste]since you are not transporting 95% water by road. Canned malt being concentrated. I could see homebrew being a practical luxury for ever. Obviously better if you can 'sparge your wort' from barley mash, but I can live with canned.

Incidentally, beer thrives much better in sulphur polluted air, which is one reason for all the historic good UK beer [and the hard water].

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