Energy literacy

The net energy of pre-industrial agriculture, taken as a whole energy-gathering system, must have been low, with EROEI probably on the order of 1.1-1.6 depending on place and time.

The difference between diffuse and concentrated energy sources, the theme of last week's Archdruid Report post, means that some of today's highly touted alternative energy schemes may be worth much less than currently claimed, while other technologies that receive much less attention may be the wave of the future. A closer consideration of energy concentration and its effects helps clarify which is which.

EROI theory is rooted in the biological principle that in order to survive each species on earth must procure more energy from its food than it expends attaining that food. From this basic principle the importance of energy surplus became evident, as food sources needed to “pay” not only for metabolism but also for reproduction and storage for leaner times. Part 1 of this three part series presents a brief history of the concept of surplus energy and how it has influenced both biological and human evolution.

While in the hills of western India last week I saw something I haven't seen since my schooldays. The something is old-fashioned fuel balls. You can hold one of these lightweight balls in your hand, for they are around 8-9 cm in diameter, their colour a slatey grey flecked with brown. You only rarely see them being sold in the small provision shops in these villages, for the fuel balls are made at home. They require two ingredients: cow dung and coal dust.

-EU to exceed 2020 green energy target: forecasts
-Quantum Physics Breakthrough: Scientists Find an Equation for Materials Innovation
-Solar PV has failed in Germany and it will fail in the UK

-World’s Pall of Black Carbon Can Be Eased With New Stoves
-Treasure Trove in World's E-Waste
-City sets out healthy ambitions for local food
-Galleria mall is giant greenhouse, raising organic crops in Cleveland

-Is East Africa the Next Frontier for Oil?
-'Market can absorb spare Saudi capacity' - Al Falih
-Royal Dutch Shell halts gasoline sales to Iran
-Traders bet on higher gasoline prices
-How a 22-year-old student uncovered peak oil fraud

-Are we really going to let ourselves be duped into this solar panel rip-off?
-Solar panels are not fashion accessories
-There is no 'green treachery' in questioning this solar panel rip-off
I accept George Monbiot's £100 solar PV bet

Peak Shrink has an interesting post on The Tyranny of Positive Thinking, a review of Barbara Ehrenreich's book Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America. In it, she expresses the same frustration I've felt when dealing with our cult of positivity.

It's almost too easy to vilify corporations. What, with all the evil stuff they do. Take the coal industry for example, who blow up our mountains, poison our air and water, contribute massively to global climate change, and spend untold millions of dollars on disinformation campaigns, lobbying Congress, buying Senators, and lying to block efforts to tackle the climate crisis. I mean, they are practically begging for our hatred, right? Right.

One of the least understood dimensions of the crisis of industrial society is the role of energy concentration, rather than the simple quantity of energy, in making the modern world possible. Renewable energy sources have much lower concentrations than fossil fuels, and that distinction can have critical impacts on what can and can't be done with them -- a lesson easily learnt from one of the few really mature renewable energy technologies we have at present.

-Environmentalists question coal's place in Obama policy
-The Dirty Truth Behind Clean Coal
-Parsing fact from fiction with the Bloom Energy box

After having seen the Roma (gypsies) listen attentively to two hours of lessons on the biological carbon cycle and ask intelligent questions afterwards, I was impressed. So, I told myself; why not peak oil? And here I am in front of the whole class. Romani men and women; about 20 people; all coming from the same camp, nearby.

The predicament of industrial society unfolds to a large extent from its mishandling of energy issues. Because of that, the laws of thermodynamics -- and no, to borrow a phrase, they're not merely suggestions -- have to be taken into account in any attempt to make sense of the economics of the approaching deindustrial age.