I assume Joe has read:
http://www.juliansimon.org/writings/Ultimate_Resource/
Which basically explains why peak oil is wrong headed. The author has challenged doom mongers to bets that prices of raw materials will fall, and in each case he was right.
If we go back to Victorian England, imagine how inefficient industry was (in terms of unit of energy) to something compared with today. Factories spewed out noxious fumes and wasted huge amounts of heat that today would never happen.
Those industries that have survived in Western countries continue to improve, and will do so into the future. Those that moved to China/India will ultimately have to improve with the sort of innovations that we've been making for centuries in order to remain competitve (low wages aren't always the answer).
Energy:
We have an abundance of resources if we put our minds to it.
There is still room for expansion for wind energy throughout the world (although it must remain a minority resource). It's no coincidence that some gas companies are investing in wind turbines, as the two resources are perfectly matched. Try to remember that when you see a wind farm.
We must expand our nuclear industry, and the UK's nuclear capacity must expand to over 50% of all our national grid. We are not in danger of running out of uranium, as exploration has yet to restart properly after decades of inactivity, there are ash heaps that have sufficient concentrations, and we can extract from sea water if all else fails. Oh yes, and fast breeders could be developed.
There are no technical obsticals from expanding the UKs nuclear industry with Gen III and GenIV reactors, just politcials based upon fear.
Renewables will have their place, but wind and solar will have their limts.
Solar technology based upon CSP set up in hotter climates will eventually be built, but cannot be developed without nuclear plants being rolled out before hand, as the energy cost of development and implementation will be too high. Also, CSP requires large amounts of water in water scarce areas such as N.Africa (for cleaning, and steam generation), and many of these areas are environmentally vulnerable, and politically sensitive.
Whether we use them for fuel production or electricity production will remain to be seen, but there are only so many places where its not too dusty, has sufficient water, is sunny enough, and is near enough to demand to make it worthwhile.
Hydro:
Large scale hydro plants emit CO2, and all will evetually silt up, and are controversial.
Smaller scale projects have potential, but like most renewables are limited to where areas are the conditions are best. Bare in mind that we had about 6000 water mills in England at the time of the Doomsday book, and we can see some modest potential in the big scheme of things.
Tidal:
France has one of the best tidal plants, owing to having one of the best conditions for installing one.
We have some areas where we can, but most are on the west coast of Scotland. The Seven barrage is hugely controversial, and many claim that individual turbines in the seven estuary would be more environmentally friendly.
Wave:
In its infancy, but must cope with a huge range of conditions, much more hostile than wind.
There are other resources, but you get the point.
Oil:
We will continue to find oil, and adapt to more challenging locations to find it. In addition, we will find resources in waste, plants, and organic residues, as alternatives and mixing in the energy to stream to ease demands on fossil fuels. This will help keep prices down and global demand grows, and we look for places to use resources more efficiently.
These are all things that are solveable, and are opportunities for countries who seize upon them. We have landfills full of metals and plastics that could be used for recycling, organic streams of material that could be used as fuels currently going to waste, and the expertise with which to do it.
Of course a hydrogen economy may happen one day, but we need the low carbon energy policy first that works first.
http://www.juliansimon.org/writings/Ultimate_Resource/
Which basically explains why peak oil is wrong headed. The author has challenged doom mongers to bets that prices of raw materials will fall, and in each case he was right.
If we go back to Victorian England, imagine how inefficient industry was (in terms of unit of energy) to something compared with today. Factories spewed out noxious fumes and wasted huge amounts of heat that today would never happen.
Those industries that have survived in Western countries continue to improve, and will do so into the future. Those that moved to China/India will ultimately have to improve with the sort of innovations that we've been making for centuries in order to remain competitve (low wages aren't always the answer).
Energy:
We have an abundance of resources if we put our minds to it.
There is still room for expansion for wind energy throughout the world (although it must remain a minority resource). It's no coincidence that some gas companies are investing in wind turbines, as the two resources are perfectly matched. Try to remember that when you see a wind farm.
We must expand our nuclear industry, and the UK's nuclear capacity must expand to over 50% of all our national grid. We are not in danger of running out of uranium, as exploration has yet to restart properly after decades of inactivity, there are ash heaps that have sufficient concentrations, and we can extract from sea water if all else fails. Oh yes, and fast breeders could be developed.
There are no technical obsticals from expanding the UKs nuclear industry with Gen III and GenIV reactors, just politcials based upon fear.
Renewables will have their place, but wind and solar will have their limts.
Solar technology based upon CSP set up in hotter climates will eventually be built, but cannot be developed without nuclear plants being rolled out before hand, as the energy cost of development and implementation will be too high. Also, CSP requires large amounts of water in water scarce areas such as N.Africa (for cleaning, and steam generation), and many of these areas are environmentally vulnerable, and politically sensitive.
Whether we use them for fuel production or electricity production will remain to be seen, but there are only so many places where its not too dusty, has sufficient water, is sunny enough, and is near enough to demand to make it worthwhile.
Hydro:
Large scale hydro plants emit CO2, and all will evetually silt up, and are controversial.
Smaller scale projects have potential, but like most renewables are limited to where areas are the conditions are best. Bare in mind that we had about 6000 water mills in England at the time of the Doomsday book, and we can see some modest potential in the big scheme of things.
Tidal:
France has one of the best tidal plants, owing to having one of the best conditions for installing one.
We have some areas where we can, but most are on the west coast of Scotland. The Seven barrage is hugely controversial, and many claim that individual turbines in the seven estuary would be more environmentally friendly.
Wave:
In its infancy, but must cope with a huge range of conditions, much more hostile than wind.
There are other resources, but you get the point.
Oil:
We will continue to find oil, and adapt to more challenging locations to find it. In addition, we will find resources in waste, plants, and organic residues, as alternatives and mixing in the energy to stream to ease demands on fossil fuels. This will help keep prices down and global demand grows, and we look for places to use resources more efficiently.
These are all things that are solveable, and are opportunities for countries who seize upon them. We have landfills full of metals and plastics that could be used for recycling, organic streams of material that could be used as fuels currently going to waste, and the expertise with which to do it.
Of course a hydrogen economy may happen one day, but we need the low carbon energy policy first that works first.
