tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post3784459549254644993..comments2024-02-20T09:54:37.105-06:00Comments on Talking About Ritual Magick: A Canticle for St. Frater BarrabbasFrater.Barrabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689013897789072360noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post-71705380244598120272011-10-11T15:19:22.785-05:002011-10-11T15:19:22.785-05:00@Ananael Qaa - of course, those solar panels and t...@Ananael Qaa - of course, those solar panels and the LED lights you are talking about purchasing are manufactured using a lot of petrol-chemicals, so they won't be part of any sustainable future energy solution. (That means future parts or replacements for someone who owns your house in around 50 years from today.)<br /><br />Also, considering that fossil fuels will become expensive and probably available only at considerably less quantities in just a hundred years, this will effect the entire transportation and shipping industry, agriculture (which relies very heavily on petrol-chemical fuels and fertilizers), and even the electronics industry will be greatly effected, because plastics, composite materials and rare earth minerals will not be as available. <br /><br />Sounds like a recipe for a lot of very tough changes. It will even likely cause the collapse of western economies and their associated governments. I see a long period of anarchy and war in the future, and I am considered by some, an optimist. <br /><br />My dear friend, I think that you are engaging in a lot of self denial in regards to this issue. Keep in mind that what is happening (or failing to happen) today will most likely affect your children's future, and especially their children's future. Maybe I am talking doom and gloom, but it's better to be prepared for the worst possible scenario and experience a better outcome than be surprised by a world level catastrophe. Just my two cents - thanks for your comments. <br /><br />FBFrater.Barrabbashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11689013897789072360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post-57469406941352223802011-10-10T13:16:27.436-05:002011-10-10T13:16:27.436-05:00Here's my biggest problem with the idea that o...Here's my biggest problem with the idea that our civilization will collapse because alternative energy can't fully replace our current level of energy use - it gets a lot closer than most people realize when you start looking into it. <br /><br />Some background - I'm currently working on getting my house fully weatherized and hope to move on to installing a full solar system over the next few years as finances permit. In the process of working this out I've done a lot of the math in terms of how much energy I can expect such a system to generate, and the fact is that I get to about 3/4 of what I need at my current level of electricity usage.<br /><br />My situation is not that unusual, and there are lots of places where I could still decrease my electricity use without any real loss of function. I like dimmers so I'm waiting on the LED light bulbs that I expect will work better than the dimmable compact fluorescents. My plasma TV burns a lot more power than a comparable LCD. And so forth. As you know my house is quite large, but that works both for and against me - running the place takes more power, but it also means there's more exterior wall and roof space to put up solar collectors.<br /><br />But I'm still 3/4 of the way there, even if we assume no further increase in solar panel efficiency for the foreseeable future. To my way of thinking, that assumption is just as silly as the assumption that our supply of oil will never run out. I don't buy the idea that the end of fossil fuels means the end of progress. Progress can work in the direction of increasing efficiency as easily as it can work in the direction of pulling crap out of the ground, which is good because efficiency what we're going to be needing in the probable future.<br /><br />I will grant that out existing car culture will probably be reduced, but as the price of oil keeps going up I see that one of the inevitable outcomes will be the rise of widespread telecommuting in many industries. By itself, that will eliminate a whole lot of fossil fuel energy that's currently being needlessly expended.Scott Stenwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12389664381513219613noreply@blogger.com