Permaculture adventures in Sector39

trying to make sense of living in a crazy time

Archive for category energy

Autumn PDC

Aug 20

Posted by stevie in Green events, Wales, courses, energy, forest gardening, organic growing, peak oil, permaculture, renewable energy, sustainability | No Comments

The flier for the next Permaculture Design course is available for download here and we are already taking the first few bookings for it. I am especially excited about this up coming 2 week course as we are going to be at a new venue and working with some very interesting people. The plan is to be based at a local farm, which is very much in transtion and really an ideal place to be considering issues such as food security and the complexites of the challenges we are facing as a society trying to work towards sustainability.

Other new things we would like to try out include charcoal burning, as a way of exploring energy and value added produce, thanks to John Owen who will be leading that session. We will be visiting the garden project at Cwm Harry as well as old favourites like a trip to CAT and Sweet Loving Flowers, who have transformed an acre or so of sheep pasture into one of the most diverse and productive pieces of land I have seen. Lots more info about the course will be posted here over the next few weeks.

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The future of flight?

Jul 1

Posted by Steven Jones in climate change, energy, evolution, peak oil, permaculture, renewable energy, sustainability | 1 Comment

Airships are the future


Click image for link to a posting on air ship design

From Guardian article


Click lower image for link to recent Guardian article

The thing about petrol is energy density. it is an incredibly compact way of storing energy, very handy for things like airplanes, which consume a lot of energy and are very weight sensitive. If you try and run a jet plane on bio diesel then the whole payload of the plane ends being the fuel, as i understand it. So it make the whole exercise pretty pointless. Aside form the environmental damge they do, and the fact that global oil supply is peaking and climate change, planes needs loads of infrastructure, like airports and runways. airships dont need any of that… and as most of lift comes from the helium all they need is a little engine to push them forward, you can run them on chip fat, with lots of possibilities for solar powered, in part anyway. It changes everything.

The Graf Zeppelin in its hayday in the 1930′s flew from Paris to New York in 20 hours.. a much more sedate speed than concord and still workable, without the noise, expense and pollution. Think about this though, no more road freight, no more trucks, or even big ships potentially. The future is airships, get on board.

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Drill Baby Drill (not)

Jun 19

Posted by Steven Jones in climate change, energy, peak oil, renewable energy, sustainability | 1 Comment

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BP to pay $3 billion dividend to share holders this quarter

Jun 3

Posted by Steven Jones in energy, peak oil | No Comments

“It’s not going to look good paying about $3bn in [quarterly] dividends to shareholders if at the same time local fishermen are having their livelihoods destroyed in the Gulf.”

However, BP’s dividend is of crucial importance to the City and to the pensions of millions who depend on payouts from profitable companies to boost their retirement funds. Together with rival Shell, BP accounted for 25% of the total dividends of £50bn paid in the UK market last year. Any cut in the dividend could result in investors selling BP shares, further weakening the company, which has lost nearly 30% of its value since the disaster began. [guardian]

Read those figures and weep! 25% of all dividends paid on the UK share market came from 2 oil companies. It really says it all.. just how addicted are we ? and just how vulnerable are we to shocks in the oil market. Hey our present supply, transport and survival lines depend on it and our capital makrets and pensions – or those of you who have pensions are tied up in oil futures. Aint that a paradox! Oil is not the future people.. get with the programme!!

Not only are BP pumping millions of barrels into the gulf of Mexico, they are pumping billions of pounds into our economy ..  What price the envionment? We are actually investing in our own destruction.. whilst leading ourselves ever further up a blind alley of dependence on fossil fuels.

No prizes for guessing what my opinion is on the subject then?

We have to wean ourselves off all fossil fuels as fast as possible.. it will be to everyone’s advantage to do this as quickly as we can and to prioritise that over pretty much all other things. No need to go crazy, just start using less energy every day and start building strategies to work together with your local community to solve more complex challenges, like transport and energy… Its called the great transistion.. get on board folks!

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The view from the peak?

May 6

Posted by Steven Jones in energy, peak oil, permaculture | No Comments

air spill

BREAKING: Large Air Spill from Wind farm - No Threats Reported. Some Claim To Enjoy The Breeze

Large Air Spill from Wind farm – No Threats Reported. Some Claim To Enjoy The Breeze
This From the Huffington Post seemed very apt with the world’s largest oil spill going on right now. A major ecological disaster, a tragedy of huge proportions but also a stark reminder of the escalating costs and complexities of exploiting the remaining oil reserve.

I spent a bit of time trawling around the Oil Drum – one the best sources for information on the energy situation, Peak oil etc . Well worth looking at if you have not..

Here is a snippet..

John Hofmeister, recently retired president of Shell Oil Company, gave a luncheon speech at the Offshore Technology Conference on our energy predicament, and the challenges the oil and gas industry faces, viewed from inside the industry. I am not certain we will agree with everything he says, but thought we might think about the issues raised. I quote from an article that begins on page 3 of OTC2010.

More recently, despite the high oil price “wake up” call delivered to the US during the period 2005-2008, policymakers have been unable or unwilling to address the nation’s energy security, economic competitiveness that comes from affordable energy, and the potential jobs creation initiatives that a sound energy policy would and should deliver.

Given the current trajectory of an aging infrastructure, decades of restrictions on drilling, failure to tackle the obstacles that prevent both more nuclear plant and clean coal plant projects, frittering at the edges of renewable energy, and avoidance of other energy “hard choices,” within the decade the nation faces an unprecedented energy abyss.

By 2020, there will be inadequate supplies of liquid fuels and electricity taking the nation toward inevitable gas lines, brown-outs, black-outs and extraordinary high prices. The energy abyss will stick around for up to a full decade with all of the national insecurity, economic decline, joblessness and social malaise that accompanies energy shortages in third world countries.

John Hofmeister, recently retired president of Shell Oil

The other and perhaps most startling thing.. and I keep an eye on these things – is the graph for month by month global oil production. Is July 08 the Peak month? at 74.74 million barrels per day.. is it possible that production has slipped under 72 mbd for the last time? if that were the case it would certainly mean we have entered a new era. The first time ever that the amount of energy available to us was decreasing.

Oil Peak

Oil Peak?

Of course there could be a few more twists and turns in this story yet... “the whole point about the production peak is that dont know you have passed it until you see it a way back in the rear view mirror” to paraphrase energy investor Matthew Simmons.

BUT We could be looking at that moment right now.. with global markets wavering, a giant oil slick on its way to US coast… well lets not get carried away, but this could be the point that marks the end of the era of cheap fossil energy. A change that will affect every aspect of our lives, or what had become our everyday lives.. our resource intensive, energy hungry, buy now -  pay later, mortgage the environment  lifestyles.  hmmmm.  Watch this figures closely… energy is none negotiable, it is not an ideological issue, it is the laws of phisics… something that shapes our reality and possibilities in a very tangible and real way. Energy supply is the issue that has the potential to be the bottom line issue.. the one that has tthe power to force our hand, to en masse accept that business as usual is no longer an option, and the time to put all our energis into the sustainability transition is upon us.

Here is that same data, from a different source.

Oil Watch, April 2010

Oil Watch, April 2010

Need some more? The future of farming, from the Post Carbon Institute. Audio of talks by Philosopher-farmers Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson and Gene Logsdon discuss the future of agriculture, the environment and changing our ideas about growth and progress. Recorded live at Xavier University on April 11.

‘We’ve screwed up a whole continent, A 22 year old alive today,  has lived through 54% of all the oil ever being burned’

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End of Suburbia at the Workhouse

Apr 29

Posted by Steven Jones in courses, energy, good teaching resources, peak oil, permaculture, sustainability | No Comments

end of suburbia

End of Sub-urbia banner

“If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst.”

“How bad will it get? Put it this way. We are looking at the mother of all downsizings.”

To kick off our Permaculture fortnight at the Workhouse we are screening this thought provoking and challenging film, made in 2004 – the End of Sub Urbia. It is the elephant in the room, the looming energy crisis that will force us all to Rethink, Re evaluate and Re localise. The screeing is open to the public and there will also be a bar and cafe. 7-11. The screening will be followed by some discussion on the realities of Peak Oil. Check the Peak Oil category on this blog to read more on the subject.

Workhouse Gallery, Saturday May 15th from 7pm, Free entry (donations accepted)

[Film critic quote]You’d think from that opening we’re in for a very depressing flick. Not so. Despite the serious subject matter, the documentary is actually quite engaging and entertaining. Not only is it informative for those already familiar with the issues but it’s also quite accessible and enlightening for the uninitiated. It serves as great introduction and a real eye-opener for people who are largely unfamiliar with the topic of energy depletion and the impact it will have on their lives and communities.

“The End of Suburbia” marshals an impressive array of evidence that the growing energy demands of the “American dream” in suburbia will eclipse our planet’s ability to provide it. The suburban way of life will soon become economically and ecologically impossible to maintain. We will see the inevitable collapse of the suburban lifestyle and the end of the American Dream. And it will happen within our lifetimes.

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New Advert

Mar 18

Posted by Steven Jones in Green events, courses, energy, forest gardening, organic growing | 1 Comment

SKills for sustainability advert

Skills for sustainability advert

I was thinking of running an advert in the local paper here… and thought I would keep it simple.. interested to know what anythinks of that.. is just a web address ok?  I was going  for as few words as possible and self explanatory.. or maybe I should go high tech and do graphics and stuff… but i thought in the local paper, keep it simple with a  catchycouple of phrases and a link was about right.. hmmmm.. answers on a postcard please.

The idea behind the courses is to develop the key skills we need to be able to develop strong local economies. Building low impact sustainable housing, growing food organically, micro scale energy generation appliances, developing edible food forests, bee keeping, tool making and the like. We have a great chance to develop this programme at the Workhouse hopefully, and the extremely positive experiences of the last few courses we have run have encouraged us to develop the idea further.

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From Credit crunch to energy crunch

Feb 18

Posted by Steven Jones in courses, energy, peak oil | No Comments

The next five years will see us face another crunch – the oil crunch. This time, we do have the chance to prepare.  The challenge is to use that time well. As we reach maximum oil extraction rates, the era of cheap oil is behind us. We must plan for a world in which oil prices are likely to be both higher and more volatile and where oil price shocks have the potential to destabilise economic, political and social activity.

Quote from the Itpoes report Feb 2010 (Industry Task force on Peak Oil and Energy Security)
Read the whole report
Oil supply past and projected

Oil supply past and projected

I have already posted quite a lot of stuff on Peak oil but this is a very good contemporary report that brings it all into sharp focus. Supported by folk such as Branson, on the sharp end of the business world and looking ahead, Jeremy Leggett, oil geologist turncoat – who defected to the solar industry and the CEO of Scottish and Southern Energy.

Basically it is saying when the global economy starts to pick up again (if ) then there won’t be the spare capacity in the oil infrastructure to satisfy demand. Or not for long, it examines three different scenarios, none good if you are a ‘business as usual’ kind thinking person. In fact as prices for energy have been relatively low until last year, then there has been massive under-investment in new drilling, wells and other infrastructure, as well as training the next generation of oil engineers. So the time lag on developing the new fields that have been found is going to be a significant factor too.

It also reminds us that 5% of global production come from one field, Ghawar in Saudi, and it is over 50 years old now and they are having to pumping 100,000 tonnes of sea water underneath it to keep the pressure up, it could fail at any moment. For all the high technology, satelite imaging and computer processing power we now have at our disposal the world has not found a new super giant field anything like this since 1961. Rather even than worrying where the peak is, perhaps the more pertinant question to ask  is ‘how much longer can we hope to sustain current levels of 86m b/d production?’. It is all starting to look a bit precarious.

We need to be scaling down our fossil fuel demands now, just on the scarcity issue, let alone the climate change issue.

One the climate change subject, if we aren’t all bored of having to repeatedly have those conversations over again on the subject -do check the Skeptical Science website.. sceptical of climate sceptics that is.. very well laid out arguments and data on the old Climate change chestnut. I  increasingly think that actually there is no point to trying to imagine we can find a cure the problem, everyone agrees to treaty on climate change any. its absurd. it matters not really, more is just going all out to invest in renewables and stop kidding ourselves. Peak Oil. Climate change.. whatever.. we just have to concentrate on fostering self reliance, re-localisation, stronger communities etc..low input, productive farming systems.. the rest will sort its self out then . eventually everyone will be forced to realise that low energy sustainable systems are not a political choice, or some kind of opinion, it is a simple imperative, based on physics and biology.

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$12 Million an hour!

Feb 10

Posted by Steven Jones in energy, global warming, peak oil, renewable energy, sustainability | No Comments

Sunset and Moonrise at the North Pole last week

With the moon at its closest to earth, sunset at the north Pole last week

Not really relevant , but I couldn’t resist posting this stunning image that has been rattling its way around the Internet all week. It is of sunset at the North Pole, with the Moon at its nearest point to earth – somehow it serves as a metaphor for the times we are in. Serious change is upon us.. the moon is at its nearest and the oil age is ending! One cycle leads to another.

$12 million dollars an hour!… That’s what the Chinese are spending on renwable energy generation and clean technologies at the moment, a recent conference heard

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has reported that China “doubled its entire installed capacity each year since 2005.” Last year, they became the largest wind market in the world, passing the U.S. and Europe.

The USA installed 9.9 gigawatts; they installed 13.

China is now also producing nearly 50% of the world’s solar cells annually, but that’s likely to grow to 70%. And they’re doing it more cheaply than their established German counterparts. (In fact, German companies have been finding it’s cheaper to buy from the Chinese than it is to make their own.)

For all the negative China stories ( they are building a new coal power station every 8 weeks or whatever) the reality is they are clear focussed on investment in sustainable energy; yes they have just signed a huge coal deal with (climate change denying) Australia (I wonder why) but a large part of that coal generated energy is going to be used to build renewables. (See Energy and Capital for source) and rest largely to make cheap throw away shit for the US/ EU market – because we are still suckers for that shit.

Not only that, but China is also planning to invest heavily in renewables factories and plant in the US, while the rest of the world is bickering about the details of climate change accords, it seems to me that China is going ahead full steam in converting its huge economy to be the first to really corner the renewables market. Maybe the whole AGW debate is a red herring, we dont even have to come with an agreement, or maybe we do but basically we just need to get on with it… but whilst the children in parliament bicker and fight we just need to get on with the inevitable.. oil is running out, the carbon age is over all bar the shouting and anyone who is not seeing the emerging picture really needs to go the opticians and get their eyes checked. (or their economists fired)

Invest in renewable energy generation and energy efficency, relocalise your food supply, and start researching into organics and teaching the nation permaculture design, anything else is simply a waste of time. We have been travelling in the wrong direction for a long time, and just because we as a nation and economy have so much invested in consumerism and oil use, still doesn’t change the fact that we have been wasting our energies going in the wrong direction and we have to change. As James Howard Kuntsler has said – the sub-urban consumerist economy has been the biggest mis-allocation of resources in our planet’s history.

$12 Million an hour.. that is serious investment and that is what it takes to turn this juggernaut around.. meanwhile we are pumping our savings and putting ourselvs in hock for a generation or more trying to prop up a collapsing economic paradigm. Oh yes lets us bail out the poor car industry….  no lets not!

Oil is not the future.. Greenpeace image

Oil is not the future.. Greenpeace image from a recent campaign

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Permaculture Design Course

Jan 10

Posted by Steven Jones in Uncategorized, courses, energy, forest gardens, permaculture, sustainability | No Comments

permaculture design course advert

permaculture at the workhouse

We are proud to announce our forthcoming PDC at the Workhouse in May 15 – 29th.
There is a maximum of 24 places available, secured by a deposit of £150.
More details at Sector39/pdc.htm

Pictured right is the May group from the 2009 course at the Workhouse with Chris Evans, Looby MacNamarra and Steven Jones.

The course for 2010 will be led by Steve Jones, supported by Amanda Dean, Mark Burnett and Chris Dixon, with sessions from Chris Evans, Looby MacNamarra and other guest facilitators.
The course itself is a mixture of field visits to several groud breaking projects, practicals, demonstrations as well as presentation sessions and workshops.

As a taster, here is part one of co-originator of permaculture Bill Mollison talking about in the documentary “In Grave Danger of Falling Food”. The other parts are posted on my clips page

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