Do you think we face an energy crisis & if so how are you preparing?

Question

Oil is above $80 per barrel. The price of natural gas, an energy source and important industrial feedstock, is also rising.

Americans seem to be struggling with the high cost of fuel for their cars and homes. The cost of food and energy are rising which elevates the cost of living. The dollar is falling around the world and our trade deficits grow.

In light of these, do you think that we face an energy crisis, and if so, how are you preparing?

Answer 1

I invested a little bit of money not much into nanodetonators an alternative energy they are promising to be out soon so I'm not a bit worried . I just wonder what the big oil sheiks are going to do when there crappy oil is all most worthless . Maybe ill give them a job or not. I think every one is going to see America become number one again we just have to weather the storm before the calm .

The only thing the oil kings did to us is teach us not to trust them soon we will put the screws back on them

Answer 2

A crisis, no. Not in the US. Japan, China, and Europe are in much worse shape, though. They have had very high energy costs for many years. That's one of the main reasons they have small cars and houses. We are just now beginning to take actions they took many years ago due to fuel / energy costs.

High energy prices could actually be a blessing for us if it finally makes people wake up and realize they don't "need" big gas guzzlers and Hugh homes. Maybe people will finally realize the PC crowd and environmentalists killed the Nuclear Power industry which could have been the biggest fossil energy conservation option possible. All this will reduce pollution and our dependence on foreign oil, which is a national security concern.

Answer 3

Yes, we (in the U.S.A.) are facing an energy crisis. How do I know? Because my husband works in the energy field. Specifically he works on the commercial wind turbines.

A lot of the price of fuel has to do with investors, and speculations in oil commodities on Wall Street. The PRICE of fuel is a rather seperate issue. The PRICE of fuel causes hardship for families, but it is not an energy crisis.

So why do I know (not think, but know) we are having an energy crisis? Becuase the infrastructure of our power lines, substations, ect is all rapidly aging.

They are building more wind and solar plants. People ask all the time why don't we build more of this green energy?

Because it does not matter if we do. The power lines, and substations cannot ACCEPT more power. They are already at peak capacity.

I know of numerous wind farms that have been built, and cannot run at full capacity. One of them near us, my husband condicered working at can only run at 60% capacity at peak wind times. That means when the wind is blowing and the turbines would be able to produce the most clean energy, 40% of those turbines MUST be shut off, so they are not generating electricity. If they are allowed to generate, it would overload the grid, and cause a massive blackout, and serrious damage to substations, power lines, transformers, ect.

The power grind in the U.S.A. MUST be updated. This of course is going to cost billions (with a "B") if not trillions of dollars. The current electric grid is already streatched to capacity. Build all the power plants you want (of any type of electric generation)...it doesn't matter...the grid cannot take the electric. More lines, and more substations must be put in to accept more electricty.

Now our fuel price problems. A large part of it is the stuff that goes on at Wall Street. There is another huge problem truthfully. We need more oil refineries. We can get the oil and gas we need. There's a bottleneck though. There are not enough REFINERIES to turn the oil into gas.

There has not been a new refinery built since 1976!!!! So we have not had a new refinery built in MORE than a generation.

Nobody wants a refinery...they all scream, "NIMBY!" (Not In My Back Yard.)

Well, ok fine, not in your back yard....so keep paying the high fuel prices, because of the serrious bottleneck.

The other problem of course is the oil companies. They have learned they can command these record high prices and make record proffits. They are not a chairty, they are in it to make money. So what is in it for them to lower fuel prices? It's not like we are going to drive more, and buy more fuel if they lower the prices....the outrageous fuel prices have bairly curbed the driving habits of Americans.


Another problem of course is that the oil companies respond like three year olds having temper tantrums. President Bush signed a lot of bills for alternative energy, including biofuels. The oil companies had been planning to build their first new refinery in more than 28 years. However they reacted to the alternative energy bills with a major temper tantrum, and basically said, "Well if your going to do that (biofuels), and not give us HUGE tax breaks, we will NOT build any new refineries." So they scrapped their plans.

Do I see things getting better? Nope, not for a really long time. What do we do? We live on a permaculture farm. We grow rapeseed (canola) and make our own biofuel.

We continue to look for more land to purchase, so we can build our own straw bale home. The home of course will be totally off grid.

We choose to make ourselves totally independant of the fuel pump and the aging power grid.

~Garnet
Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 4

No, we don't have an energy crisis. There are lots of energy sources, such as oil, gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, etc. As fossil fuels get used up, the cost of this type of energy will naturally go up, and the other sources will become more attractive. For the last 60 years I have practiced energy conservation and I don't anticipate any major lifestyle change.
The trade deficit and value of the dollar are completely separate questions.

Answer 5

A related crisis has already existed for a long time for most of us. Whether or not there are unlimited supplies of oil (another question) the use of it is overpriced and inefficient and is causing such terrible strife for so many peoples on the planet, that it is becoming clear that this is an inhumane process and must be stopped. This is the real crisis of using oil - the cost of inhumanity to our fellow humans.

What am I doing? Attempting to find ways to both communicate and to find ways to counter the difficulties arising for all of us because of our dependence on oil and on the multinationals to supply our needs. Trying to find a way to encourage and show the absolute necessity of letting go of the bad idea of planned obsolescence by focusing instead on valuing good workmanship which produces goods which can be simply altered and transformed by new inventions and improvements. Fostering the desire to encourage and reward designs that do this so we can stop the ongoing constantly increasing production of goods which are considered obsolete almost as soon as they have been sold.

How am I preparing? Joining in local efforts to work towards pooling resources, to develop a wind & solar based community - with local year round gardens & green houses (as we thought in the sixties and seventies that we would be able to do) to make it possible to provide for ourselves locally and to transition towards less damaging forms of heat and power.

Managing personal health care through using herbs, supplements and healthy food instead of pharmaceutical products.

Crisis - I think so.

Solution - this forum is helping. I'm starting to find local forums and small groups starting to work together.

=====================================

To Bohemian Garnet... thanks for that information and for speaking out about your efforts. It is encouraging to see that some are finding their way and setting a good example for others by doing so!

Since the power infrastructure is so old and in such a state of disrepair, all the more reason to follow your example and set up independant supply centers in small groups. A solution that makes sense.

A few years ago I read a glossy, sophisticated, magazine put out by big energy interests. It contained impressive articles with high quality photos about all the work being done to harness solar power. When I saw what the content of the magazine was I was relieved to see that this was being done until I read the article. They were working on collecting solar power at points far above the earth's surface to be directed into huge solar collectors on the surface which then would direct it into the energy infrastructure. Millions (or billions) were being poured into this effort to find a way to charge everyone for the sunshine.

This seems to be unreasonably wasteful, considering that the sun shines on all of us for free already. For a fraction of the money to complete that type of process we can develop at the grassroots level smaller alternative energy centers - serving each community, along with roof gardens and the permaculture solutions being developed in many places.

The interaction available through this online community is giving me great hope for real possibilities.

Answer 6

I'm just going to wait for government to become rational enough to build some nuclear power plants (rather then wasting money on stupid windmills that just can't provide power more than a quarter of the time we need it).