PeakEngineer's blog

It was just over one year ago that I stumbled upon the theory of imminent Peak Oil. At the time, I was performing research for a novel exploring the idea of a second American Civil War driven by the issue of global warming. I was reading an article on sustainability which contained a passing reference to the term Peak Oil. Sensing a convenient plot expansion for my book, I typed it into a search engine, clicked on Matt Savinar’s Life After the Oil Crash, and proceeded to watch my concept of the structure of world society unravel thread by thread.

Jade posted some words on working to simplify your lifestyle on her blog here at PeakOilDesign. It's good stuff!

Also be sure to check out her blog at jadedvegetarian.blogspot.com.

A few weeks ago I spoke at a screening of “The End of Suburbia” (see previous post). I felt it was, in general, a positive first experience at speaking on Peak Oil, but I did learn a few things about how to introduce the topic to people.

Learning to live sustainably is about making small changes, gradually adjusting to a different lifestyle. As I consider what might not be available after Peak Oil, I start to worry about the dizzying array of items we frequently use for which I have no ready alternative.

One possible solution for many of these is to re-examine whether we actually need them at all. Along those lines, Emme at Simple Living posted an interesting article about alternatives to using shampoo. From the article:

Here are some basic instructions on living without shampoo.

* Rinse your hair daily with hot water and brush with a natural bristle brush. However, if you have curly hair, do not brush. Use your fingernails to clean your scalp in the shower.
* As often as needed (for some people, this is every few days, for some once a week is enough), scrub scalp with a baking soda paste and rinse well.
* Rinse hair with diluted vinegar. Apple cider vinegar or essential oils added to white vinegar smells great.

If the baking-soda-and-vinegar routine doesn’t seem to work for you, here are some variations:

* Add a honey scalp massage to help with dry hair or itchy scalp
* Use lime or lemon juice instead of vinegar.
* Use some oil on the very ends of hair to cut down on frizz and dry ends. I use olive oil.

I'm going to give this a try and see if it works for dudes as well as women :) I will let you know the results and if I have indeed found one more item to cut from my shopping cart.

I'm an engineer and physicist, not an economist, but in my casual studies of economics I've learned that there are many parallels. Most important among them: exponential growth is not sustainable. CNN reported with some jubilation on Friday that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen for 23 of the past 26 weeks, nearly matching the 24/27 record from 80 years ago. This should have given the CNN writers pause: what shortly followed this record rise 80 years ago? Ah yes, the Great Depression.

Recently I attended a screening of “The End of Suburbia” here in Florida and was invited to say a few words after the film played. The experience was very positive for me and, hopefully, helpful for those in attendance. I learned where I need to focus my message (upcoming in Part II of this post) and how to treat the “End of Suburbia” film.

Philip of Green Options posted two articles with good advice on how to find the right person to help you build a "green" home. The important things to consider are not whether someone has green credentials, but their willingness to work with you in intelligently designing an efficient home. Here is Part 1 and Part 2.

Since we are less than two months away from welcoming a new addition to our family, my focus on sustainability research has expanded to include how to make raising youngins’ a sustainable practice.

Most parents of newborns can point to a single type of item that causes them the most grief -- diapers. A baby typically goes through 8 – 12 diapers per day in the earliest stages of its life, which really starts to add up in time and money. If using disposable diapers or a cloth diaper service, it can cost over $2500 from birth to potty training. Laundering your own cloth diapers costs roughly half that amount when factoring in costs for water, soap, and the diapers themselves.

Aside from being a bane on the environment, disposables can be dangerous to children. Disposable diapers have been shown to cause severe rashes, headaches, choking, and (in extreme cases) fever and vomiting. In addition, disposables are the sole cause for most diaper rash; a Procter & Gamble study showed an increase in incidences of diaper rash from 7.1% with cloth diapers to 61% with disposables.

Of course, Peak Oil changes the perspective of this argument even a bit further. Unless you stockpile enough disposable diapers to last for all current and future children, at some point you will be forced to find another option (also remember you’ll have to throw them away somewhere). So what are the best methods for covering our babies’ bums after Peak Oil?

Investing in self-sufficiency is expensive, both in time and money. At first glance it seems that by the time we’re done building our house, we’ll have no money left over for purchasing so much as a chicken, let alone a barnful of critters. What about including solar panels, a cistern, or a composting toilet?

That’s why I am all about approaching Peak Oil preparations in an organized manner using tools such as Systems Engineering. We must have a structured plan on we risk making mistakes in allocating our scarce resources.

At the end of this post is a rough list I compiled for the cost of many of the major components of a home. This list is by no means inclusive, but serves to give an idea of the cost of typical items you might choose to include in a house. I based the estimates off of the 1700 sq. ft. home size used in the Peak Oil Homestead Project.

Albeit far too late, Peak Oil is starting to infiltrate wider audiences, starting with the most rational and science-focused. LiveScience posted an article today entitled Oil Production Could Peak Next Year which gives the specifics of Peak Oil in clear, if understated, language. From the article:

Global oil production will peak sometime between next year and 2018 and then decline, according to a controversial new model developed by a Swedish physicist.

Since 1956, when American geophysicist M. King Hubbert correctly predicted that U.S. oil reserves would hit a peak within 20 years, experts have debated when the same might occur globally. Some oil companies and consultancy firms such as Cambridge Energy Research Associates speculate that oil will peak sometime after 2020, but a number of oil geologists and executives predict it will happen much sooner.

And once production starts declining, there could be major supply problems, analysts say, especially when it comes to transportation—cars, aircraft, trains and boats are today without a ready alternative to petroleum-based liquid fuels.

Reaction to the latest prediction is as polarized as the debate has been on this issue for decades.