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Sustainability
Geothermal is a
versatile and highly flexible energy resource. It
has many uses including heat pumps for space heating and
cooling. Go to the Projects page for more
info.
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Sustainability has become
the buzzword at the local and state level
in many parts of the country, and even more so in some places like
Portland, OR. Sustainability has come to the
mainstream with
radio stations even promoting the concept. I've always found
it
an ambiguous term, but then for those who don't feel connected to the
environment it must be an alienating concept.
Those are the people who will be the most difficult to reach and
educate, and hence, they are one of the primary reasons for this web
site.
To me sustainability means having the least amount of impact on the
environment, and while I'm certainly not a purist I believe
sustainability is a balancing act between living well without causing
environmental degradation. Quality versus
quantity. Sustainability
means recognizing we are not separate from the earth but actually an
intricate part of the earth, neither dominant nor subservient.
It
means recognizing that we cannot survive without the earth no matter
how much technology we develop.
Natural Gas depletion - Natural
gas is a finite, non-renewable resource that we have become extremely
dependent on for space and water heating purposes. Natural
gas
companies do not dispute the finite nature of the resource, however,
they do contend there are several decades of supply
available.
That probably depends on how much wilderness we're willing to spoil in
order to develop it. The following graphs illustrate our extremely
precarious dependence on this so-called 'green' energy. One
can
readily discern from the following graphs that we are approaching a
cliff in natural gas production and isn't decades away. Could
that have anything to do with the push for LNG terminals? 7-16-08 - Northwest Natural Gas
announced today that Oregon customers can expect a 35 to
40% increase in their gas bill this
winter. Of course they imply that LNG is the solution, but is
it really? Is increased fossil fuel dependence
really the best course?
None of the proposed LNG distribution pipelines are planned
to
terminate in Oregon; they all terminate in California. How
will
that help Oregon consumers?
Graph 1
Graph 2
Graph 3
Graph
4
Graph
5
Click
to enlarge
Graph
1 illustrates the concept of Energy Return on Energy Invested
(EROEI). The amount of natural gas recovered from drilling
operations in Canada has steadily declined over the past 8
years.
By 2015 the amount of energy recovered from drilling for natural gas in
North America will be 1 to 1, or a 'breakeven' point. EROEI
is
very important concept to consider when evaluating different energy
development projects. The three remaining graphs illustrate
global reserves, US consumption, Canadian exploratory drilling efforts
and global natural gas production.
The push to develop LNG ports in Oregon has
multiple implcations. LNG is very environmentally destructive
and very problematic because it presents tremendous ecological
and
security risks. Even if LNG ports are approved and developed,
their impact is at least ten years away. Meanwhile, the price
of
natural gas is not likely to stabilize or go back to their historic
levels any time soon. Natural gas is also a fossil fuel that
contributes to global warming. Geo-exchange heat pumps with
no
direct greenhouse gas emissions are a viable alternative for space
heating and cooling purposes. For more information on LNG
visit LNG
Pollutes or Columbia
River Keeper.
Global Oil production
The imminent or possibly even recent peak of global oil production
presents a whole different set of issues which I will not even begin to
try and address, except to say that we're going to have to do a lot
more things locally in the future. Oil prices have surged to record
levels in recent weeks and how much speculation has to do with it is
pretty much irrelevant because demand in China is the primary driving
force behind global prices. This obviously has a huge impact
on
the average American in terms of mobility, but heating oil prices this
winter will likely experience substantial increases.
The US comprises barely 5% of global
population,
yet consumes 25% of global oil production. Is that a
situation
with long-term prospects? Only through military
means. We
cannot drill our way to energy independence, regardless of how much we
try. So the Arctic Reserve or off-shore oil fields are not
going
to provide us with the difference between our demand and the available
supply. Please refer to the Links page for more
info on the issue of peak oil.
Capitalism -
simple graphic illustrating our dependence on petroleum. The
only
thing missing from this picture is the fact that we don't really
manufacture anything in the US anymore, except military
armaments. It's mostly imported from Asia.
Reduce your  and
your  ,
with a geothermal heat pump.
National Geographic's comprehensive
online guide to sustainable living - The
Green Guide - check it out.
Peak
Oil Speeches & Presentations (requires
RealPlayer or Quick TIme)
James
Howard Kunstler - Washington Post 5/25/08 Op-Ed
Kunstler Monologue
Kunstler
vs. Lynch - debate between James Kunstler and
Michael Lynch
Matt
Savinar on Jeff Tarbell
Rep.
Roscoe Bartlett from floor of US House of Rep
Michael
Klare -
Lecture from Baker Peace
Conference
JD
ElsCooperrider interviews Richard Heinberg on Peak Oil
Peak
Oil videos on YouTube
Portland
Peak Oil Task Force - Final Report
Portland
Peak Oil Task Force - Executive Summary
Personal project
This is the house that
my partner and I purchased in November 2006. It's a typical
house that you might find any where
in the Northwest or any other part of the country for that
matter. It's
a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath with approximately 1,800 square feet of living
area that was built in 1999 so it's reasonably well
insulated.
'Sealing the envelope' is one of the most important things a homeowner
can do to ensure energy efficiency. Of course this doesn't
mean
comprimising indoor air quality.
We like it but the
80% efficiency gas furnace with gas-fired water heater are
not exactly
'sustainable' for reasons elaborated on in the Sustainability page.
In the future we plan to install a geo-exchange heat pump
system.
Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and moving towards becoming a
net-zero energy house are the long-terms goals for us. We
also hope to
install a vertical axis wind turbine and/or some solar panels in the
future.
Things that we have done around the house to live
more sustainably:
- Signed up for 'green power' program through
local utility.
- Started using 'solar' clothes dryer.
- Installed rain barrels for storm water
retention, as well as a rain garden
- Gradually Increasing attic insulation from 7 (R-30)
inches to 15 inches (R-49)
- Replaced incandescents with CFL's
- We have four raised beds in the back yard
for vegetable gardens
- Creating edible landscape with lots of fruit
trees
- Insulated crawl
space with R-19 batts
- Installed
ceiling fans to improve circulation
- Purchased
recumbent bike to convert to an electric bike
Until
we can get motion detectors installed I'll have to drive my partner
crazy by turning off the lights all the time; even when she's
'coming
right back'.
I like the idea of installing a 'green switch' in the future, in order
to reduce our phantom load but I'm not sure what the payback would be
like. It's very difficult to balance green 'objectives' with green
'realitie$'. We
compost all our fruit/vegetable scraps and recycle everything
we can.
At
some point in the near future we plan to install our own geothermal
heat pump system. Due to the size of the property
and the
configuration of the site, it will likely require a vertical ground
loop system. A horizontal system requires more land area than
vertical, and we only have about 7500 sf.
Ultimately,
the goal is to become a 'zero net-energy' house.
This is the state
where we are producing as much, and preferably more energy than we are
actually using. Achieving a positive energy
production/consumption
balance will be very difficult because some people have an aversion to
turning things off when they're not using them.
I hope to incorporate many other energy efficiency
items in the future. Please contact me if you would like more info.
Other articles
I've published:
"The spatial
economics of geothermal district energy:
A case study of Mammoth Lakes, CA (as published
in Geothermics
Vol.
32:1:2003). PDF
Geothermal
Heat Gets New Life - online geothermal heat pump
publication on the MatteR Network.
How
Geothermal Heat Pumps work - online artlcle with MatteR
Network.
Peak
Oil Primer -
basic introduction in to peak oil
Transition from Car to Bike - as
published in Grass Roots Ideas to Survive, Dale Allen Pfeiffer,
editor. Published by Lulu Press.
7
Steps to Sustainability - by Curt Sommer. A
primer on living more sustainably in fast times.
"Fossil
fuels currently supply over 90% of transportation energy needs in the
US because we've built an entire culture around cheap and easily
accessible fossil fuels. In the future, gasoline shortages and rising
prices will be unavoidable because of rising global demand and stagnant
supply. Carpool and downsize to one fuel efficient vehicle
and
drive only when necessary."
Green Energy Solutions, LLC - green energy for a green planet.
503.804.7014
Do
 a day, to become
more sustainable.
Take the
Footprint Quiz!
Disclaimer:
This website does not make any claims of expertise on the subject or
theory of peak oil. We are not petroleum geologists and we do not have
a peak oil 'theory', and make no claim to know with any degree of
certainty any peak oil facts. We are not experts on peak oil survival
or the ramifications or consequences thereof; therefore we do not have
any advice about how to survive any prospective oil crash. We are aware
that there is a peak oil myth, but we are simply concerned about the
earth's ability to sustain current and future rates of oil production
in the face of increasing demand. We did not have any thing to do with
any peak oil report you may find on or through this site. We do not
know the date of the actual peak of global oil production. There are
links on this site where you can find out more about peak oil but we
are not affiliated with them. This site is simply one of many
places to find the latest news on peak oil theory. Many links lead to a
peak oil blog. For more about peak oil theory go to Hubbert Peak. There
is also an organization called the Association for the Study of Peak
Oil and Gas. We are not directly affiliated with either of these
organizations - and we may or may not support their ideas. We do
believe, in our heart of hearts, that there is going to be some kind of
peak oil crisis at some point in the future. But we don't
know
when it will be.
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