by theluckycountry » Sun 22 Sep 2024, 06:54:52
PeakOil is You
Yes nearly all of those early posters have gone from the forum, there was really no point in staying once the delusionists took over. To understand PeakOil, to accept the fact that the World as we know it was abruptly going the way of the Dodo is a very sobering thing. And like the Dodo or the Buffalo the loss was not to be an overnight matter (thankfully), that was clear from the Bell curve. All of the "Solutions" as were discussed here over the years were merely grasping at straws, obviously so since every single one relied on vast inputs of oil. But when the propaganda machine goes into full swing as it did with rebuildables it can be hard to push through the noise. Endless fake assumptions backed by charts and "studies". The constant assurances of new breakthroughs that never come, but are, "just over the horizon." And of course Endless new money created to assure all this could be accomplished.
Yes it would have been hard slog 14 years ago when all the delusions were being paraded out for us. The first one of the new millennia, renewable Ethanol fuel, very quickly exposed itself, to me at least. It was toxic to engines and required vast tracts of prime farmland backed by vast inputs of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to produce. Well we all know that now. And we have been "Allowed" to forget about that debacle, it's gone down the memory hole. But I refuse to forget it because it's the model for all the other renewable scams foisted on us. Great and marvelous promises of cheap renewable energy, all backed by massive government subsidies and endless reports and studies and charts, and of course the assurances of breakthrough combustion engines that will be able to run on alcohol.
After wading through that delusion why would any serious thinker be lulled into believing any of the subsequent ones at face value? Why? Because of an inability accepting the Truth. And that's where we are, a world full of children that can't understand why the candy jar is running out, "Just go buy some more money mommy." There is still candy in the jar, so the treats still come, but mommy has put it up on the top of the cupboard when the children can't see it and they are being told all is well. Denial, it's a stage of grief but the time a person spends there varies immensely.
I knew a woman who grieved for about two weeks after her husband died, then she was off on a cruise with her daughter, probably with a pack of condoms knowing her. Another I knew was still laboring through the acceptance phase after a year and more, keeping everything the way the husband had wanted it, saving up for a huge marble plinth to adorn his grave site. Peakoil is like that. Some people accept it, after going through the process, and then get on with their lives. Hopefully with a critical weather eye to the future. Others just refuse to accept it, wriggling like worms they look for a way out so that they can continue on as before. They will grasp at any straw (the delusions I mentioned) as long it promises business as usual.
I have no time for such fools, they adorn my ignore list, their parroting of government and media solutions hidden from sight. That is the only acceptable course of action when confronted with BS news. You simply switch it off!
You know this whole thread was kicked off in 2004 by a brainless schoolkid? Here is part of that post.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Hey guys! I am doing an energy debate in my physics class about energies and their viabilities/advantages and it is going to be EXTREMLEY competitive and I absolutley HAVE to win.
The four energies categories being debated are:
1. Fossil Fuel, Natural Gas, Coal
2. Nuclear
3. Wind/Solar/Hydroelectric
4. Fuel Cell, Hydrogen. Biodiesel, Ethanol, Methanol
... - Oil is on the way out. A new energy source is going to have to fill the gap left by it, and do we really want it to be nuclear energy? Solar Panels can pay for themselves over time, and consistently becoming more viable alternatives for energy. There are still many oppurtunities to increase our Hydroelectric productivity... rant rant rant
This is the basic assumption that traps people in their delusions, traps them from accepting the reality that when the oil goes, so does all the material things that we have achieved with it. Aside from Voyager one and two that is. They are in the vacuum of interstellar space now, far enough out that the Sun's particle flux won't degrade them in the eons to come. But our concrete cities and roads and mechanized farming, our nuclear subs, they are doomed to crumble and rust and go the way of the Dodo.
Long ago I read a quote by a scientist who said that every civilization in the universe had one, and only one shot at achieving interstellar colonization, and if they messed up their chance their home planet would be too depleted for a second attempt by a subsequent intelligent species. Yes it sounds far fetched but if you unpack it you can see that a lot of it is actually true. If we had been a truly intelligent species we no doubt would have managed our population, shepherded our resources, and said
No to things like fossil fuel farming, pointless Wars, and many other destructive practices. For thousands of years mankind has fed itself quite well by natural renewable means, and in a mere 50 years we have gone on to destroy the farmscape and turn our basic nutritious foods into toxic muck in plastic bags, all with immense volumes of non-renewable oil.
One shot! One chance to maintain a beautiful renewable planet and we blew it. All so that we could munch cheetos while watching drag-racing on TV.
PeakOil is You
He's farming, how nice! Now pick out the objects in the picture made from oil. And not
just oil, but vast complex chains of factories, refineries, mines and complex machines, and that's just to make the boots on his feet. That tinfoil hat that cost him 5 cents? There is a multi-Billion dollar industry back of that. Just the electricity alone to melt the alumina and separate the aluminum atoms from their strong bonds is staggering! They typically build the refinery near a big coal fired power station.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he industrial production process for alumina from bauxite was developed in 1887 by the chemist Karl-Josef Bayer
Part one-
The bauxite is crushed then mixed with soda at high temperature and under pressure. The solution obtained, sodium aluminate, is stripped of its impurities, then diluted and cooled, which causes the precipitation of hydrated aluminium oxide. The product of this process is then reduced to a powder to obtain the alumina intended for the production of aluminium.
Part two-
Refining Alumina into Aluminum
The conversion of alumina to aluminum is carried out via a smelting method known as the Hall-Heroult Process. This process entails dissolving the alumina in cryolite, a molten solvent. An electrical current is run through the mixture, causing the carbon from the carbon anode to attach to the oxygen component in the alumina, yielding aluminum and carbon dioxide: 2 Al2O3 + 3 C > 4 Al + 3 CO2
This process takes place at temperatures between 940-980º C and yields an aluminum of high purity
Thankfully there will be a lot of scrap around in the centuries to come. But of course it does oxidize with time, so you're back to Part two.
