[nth]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Novus', 'N')ew computers cost about 15 barrels of oil to make.

[oilfreeandhappy]

Overall, I think computers actually save us energy. Examples:
- Use of Internet instead of running to the library.
- Use of disk space instead of paper.
- In-home entertainment instead of going out.
- Shopping on-line instead of the malls (assuming the route-oriented shipping is more efficient than the independent use of the automobile).

There's probably others I didn't think of...
Jim
http://home.comcast.net/~oil_free_and_happy/

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oilfreeandhappy', 'O')verall, I think computers actually save us energy. Examples:
- Use of Internet instead of running to the library.
- Use of disk space instead of paper.
- In-home entertainment instead of going out.
- Shopping on-line instead of the malls (assuming the route-oriented shipping is more efficient than the independent use of the automobile).

There's probably others I didn't think of...
Jim
http://home.comcast.net/~oil_free_and_happy/

[JustinFrankl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oilfreeandhappy', 'O')verall, I think computers actually save us energy. Examples:
- Use of Internet instead of running to the library.
- Use of disk space instead of paper.
- In-home entertainment instead of going out.
- Shopping on-line instead of the malls (assuming the route-oriented shipping is more efficient than the independent use of the automobile).

There's probably others I didn't think of...
Jim
http://home.comcast.net/~oil_free_and_happy/

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'O')ver at the Oil Drum, someone reports that they saw Bill Gates on TV last night. The interviewer asked him what he was reading, and he named some peak oil books, including "Twilight In the Desert." He said energy will be the great issue of our time.

[Leanan]

Electricity use surged during the dot-com boom days. Not just that everyone was buying a computer and using it, but the growth of the Internet. The huge server farms that power sites like Amazon and eBay use enough electricity to power a small city. Some have their own power plants. One reason we're facing natural gas supply issues is the Internet.

[BlisteredWhippet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oilfreeandhappy', 'O')verall, I think computers actually save us energy.

[sameu]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', 'C')onsidering how long it usually takes Bill Gates to become aware of a hot issue in his own chosen speciality, you can say that by the time Bill Gates becomes aware of an issue, the writing is on the wall.

[green_achers]

Several years ago I happened to be involved in emergency rehab assessment for a hazmat spill in the Mojave Desert near the Nevada state line. They were mining Lanthanides and other rare earths in the mountains and pumping them several miles through a slurry pipe to a processing facility out in the middle of a big dry playa in the desert. Big operation for materials that are present in extremely small concentrations in the ore. It was a costly mess, and the Fed agencies were really sticking it to the company, which didn't seem to be sweating it too much.

Those minerals are used in computer monitors for color. Taught me some of the hidden costs of our use of computers.

[drew]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Novus', 'I')f Bill Gates cares about oil he should make his next Windows OS more efficient on older hardware. Everytime a new Windows comes out you have to buy a whole new computer. New computers cost about 15 barrels of oil to make. Bill Gates has the power to make a lot of change in the world and I am not talking about his charity foundation. He could make a lot of money if Microsoft went in the direction of reusing old PCs.

[Leanan]

I do that, when I can. I re-use the same monitor, until it dies. I would use the same keyboard and mouse, but they usually come with the tower these days. I usually pull the old hard drive out and put it in the new computer as a slave. I've got five hard drives in my current computer. The oldest of which dates from my Windows 98 days. It's divided into eight partitions, because of the Win98 memory allocation thing.

I did have to get a new printer and scanner. The old ones, which worked fine with Win98, didn't work with XP. I Freecycled them.

[drew]

Yeah ditto that, Leanan. My sister in law got the win 95 model....My son got my old tower, and got a new HD, and graphics card. I got a newer graphics card, gave the old one to one of my daughters who took my son's old motherboard when he bought a new tower.....
They have several hard drives between them. Only one of these has blown up. Monitors from a used place...
It is all about saving money when you have 3 kids.
My son's comp would be great for me...his machine is far nicer than mine
Too bad he's not into FS9

Drew

[RealJoe]

As sort of an experiment, I submitted an unsolicited proposal to research and create a renewable energy directory for the Pacific Northwest to Bill Gates' investment group and also to the innovation-funding company of his former head of Microsoft Research, Nathan Myhrhold. Guess I was not qualified or approached them too directly as an unknown with a mailed proposal and/or they just are not interested in funding local researchers into renewable energy, but I got no response. Not even a formletter rejection, which did disappoint me as I was requesting only a pittiance for a large body of research work, much which I have already done (thanks to this site and other peak oil - RE web sites)

Peak oil awareness is making real inroads into the investment community, but I doubt that our local billionaire tech entrepreneurs are going to be the leaders. The Microsoft group in particular are sort of conservative, marketplaces have to be proved, before they move. Despite their tons of rhetoric on the need to and their supposed commitment toward fostering innovation.

Proof that these people don't understand the energy situation is the investment into an ethanol plant. Like that is helpful? But karmic retribution is coming, the stock prices for these software/Internet companies are vastly over-valued (even now after the dot-com collapse). The soon to arrive peak oil and petrodollar economic shocks will teach some lessons.

[Pfish]

A person's opnion that I would value more than Bill Gates would be his bridge partner, Warren Buffet. Has Buffet said anything about PO? He has about as good of grasp on the future as anybody.

[Anjorni]

kinda OT, but wouldnt THAT be a bridge game you'd want to be part of!

[WisJim]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oilfreeandhappy', 'O')verall, I think computers actually save us energy. Examples:
- Use of disk space instead of paper.
- In-home entertainment instead of going out.

[JoeCoal]

But, when you compare driving to telecommuting, the comp is a clear winner. That's why my post-peak strategy is to move within biking distance of my job (broadband/telecomunications) and for a while at least, be in a good place while demand for high-speed internet skyrockets.

If you're looking for an OS that runs great on old hardware, forget BillyBoy's junk.

Try This

[Mesuge]

I'd be highly interested in knowing wheather Gates' mind was ever crossed by the contradiction of his earlier aid programs and the overpopulation in relation to his current PO studies. His foundation was basically through providing health care and other stuff making the situation worse.

His fortune could be spent much wisely. For instance by sending a few ships to ram and sink the ilegal Japanese/Norweigan/Ecuadorian whalers or setting up a private security company to protect wildlife parks all around the globe etc (it's legal under the UN Charter). Although, it's quite unlikely that any whales will survive the runaway global warming and the end of ocean plankton by the 2100 anyway..

But some people are doing quite a good job with limited resources already:
http://www.seashepherd.org/

[Leanan]

Oddly, providing healthcare helps slow population growth. It took awhile for international aid organizations to realize this.

Parents have a lot of kids when there's a high mortality rate. Your children are your social security in Third World countries. They will take care of you when you're old. If there's a high death rate, and you can't be sure your kids will live, you have more of them.

When people are confident that their kids will survive, they have fewer of them. Health care is seen as an essential part of population programs now. You can't just offer birth control; they won't use it, unless there's other health care provided, too, that ensures those smaller families will survive.

[Mesuge]

Yes, I'm aware of this argument as well. But I don't know how Gate's charity is structured, I think the majority goes to AIDS/HIV etc..

The health care in the 3rd world basically functions on two pillars. First is aid from the west both in food and medicine and second are imports of cheap drugs from India and China. At some point this will have to crash with ongoing soil depletion, energy depletion etc..