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David MacLeod's Blog Posts Tagged 'energy' (17)

A Holiday Smorgasbord Part 2: Permaculture, A Vision of a Post-Oil World

Today’s installment of our holiday smorgasbord features an approach to the environmental crisis and the energy crisis and the economic crisis that I’m very thankful for…Permaculture.

Permaculture, A vision of a post-oil world

Yves Cochet

Yves Cochet…

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Added by David MacLeod on November 27, 2014 at 2:10pm — No Comments

An Energy "Renaissance"?

Reposted from my Integral Permaculture blog.

David – I thought we were entering an energy “renaissance” with new and easy ways to extract gas via fracking.  Obviously, I understand the downsides of fracking.  Can you elaborate?

Ken Mann

Whatcom County Councilmember

Yes Ken, I…

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Added by David MacLeod on April 5, 2014 at 10:13am — No Comments

Oil Company Woes: This is What Energy Depletion Looks Like

The Bellingham Herald had a front page article Wednesday indicating the dismay being expressed by the County Council over the fact that the two largest corporate taxpayers are challenging their property tax assessments.  These would be BP Cherry Point refinery and the Phillips 66 refinery in Ferndale.

The…

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Added by David MacLeod on March 14, 2014 at 12:34pm — No Comments

Top 10 Hits - Resilience.org and Energy Bulletin

Reposted from …

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Added by David MacLeod on November 18, 2013 at 12:25pm — No Comments

The Many Uses of the Sun's Power

Reblogged from my Integral Permaculture site.

Permaculture Principle #5: Use and Value Renewable Resources

“Make the best use of nature’s abundance to reduce our consumptive behaviour and dependence on non-renewable…

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Added by David MacLeod on June 29, 2013 at 10:54pm — No Comments

Crank It Down

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I read two related posts today that I wanted to pass on.  The first is John Michael Greer’s latest, which he calls The Beginning of the World.  He begins by discussing the Mayan calendar, and all of the myriad failed predictions, from apocalypse to a…

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Added by David MacLeod on December 28, 2012 at 12:31pm — 1 Comment

World Energy Report 2012

The IEA is the international organization that many governmental bodies look to for authoritative data on energy, put in place during the energy crisis of the 1970s.  They put out a major report once per year, and I have been reading the executive summary of this report for about 7 or 8 years.  It is fascinating to see how the report evolves year after year.  I wrote a piece for Energy Bulletin a few years ago, looking at the trend of the reporting from 2005 through 2009 (…

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Added by David MacLeod on November 28, 2012 at 9:51pm — 1 Comment

“extreme energy = extreme methods = extreme disasters = extreme opposition”

Last night I had the privilege of introducing author Andrew Nikiforuk to the “Literature Live” audience assembled at Village Books in Bellingham, WA.  His latest book is The Energy of Slaves: Oil and the New Servitude.  It…

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Added by David MacLeod on October 5, 2012 at 5:26pm — 1 Comment

The Energy Characteristics of Cooperative Culture

Mary Logan, daughter of the late pioneer of systems ecology, Howard Odum, undertook a book review of “Together; the Rituals, Pleasures, and Politics of Cooperation“, by…

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Added by David MacLeod on April 15, 2012 at 12:30pm — 8 Comments

Energy, Ecology, and Economics, by Howard Odum (Part 5)

Part 5, and the Conclusion of this Series



Part 1 here
, and Part 2 here, and Part 3 here
, and Part 4…

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Added by David MacLeod on June 26, 2011 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Energy, Ecology, and Economics, by Howard Odum (Part 4)

Part 1 here, and Part 2 here, and Part 3 here

 

I just added an edit to yesterday's "Part 3" post, on point number 13 regarding the net…

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Added by David MacLeod on June 25, 2011 at 9:30pm — No Comments

Energy, Ecology, and Economics by Howard Odum (Part 3)

"Most people in the industrial world today seem to have lost the ability to imagine a future that doesn’t have electricity coming out of a socket in every wall, without going to the other extreme and leaning on Hollywood clichés of universal destruction. The idea that some of the most familiar technologies of today may simply become too expensive and inefficient to maintain tomorrow is alien to ways of thought dominated by the logic of abundance.

 

That blindness,…

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Added by David MacLeod on June 24, 2011 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Energy, Ecology, and Economics by Howard Odum (Part 2)

As we continue with Part 2 of this series (read Part 1 here), I should say another word about why I think this is an important article by Howard Odum. 

 

We are coming out of the age of abundant and cheap energy, and entering an age of scarce and expensive energy.  I am no energy expert by any means, but I think it is extremely important that we laypeople make an effort to…

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Added by David MacLeod on June 23, 2011 at 10:50pm — No Comments

Energy, Ecology, and Economics by Howard Odum (Part 1)

The reading for next week's Folk School class on Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability is a "classic" article by Howard T. Odum.   Although they had never met or corresponded, Odum has been Holmgren's primary intellectual inspiration.  Footnote number 1 and  Item #1 in the List of Main References for the 1978 "Permaculture One" co-authored by Holmgren and Mollison, was Odum's 1972 book "Environment, Power, and Society."  Holmgren's 1994 article "Energy and Permaculture" is structured…

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Added by David MacLeod on June 22, 2011 at 9:30pm — 1 Comment

China, Coal, World Energy Peak, and the Economy

Apologies in advance for the wonkish nature of this post.  I hope some will find it interesting...

 

Flashback to 5 years ago, the following comment on The Oil Drum was a bit of a revelation to me:

"The world economy was saved last year by the increasing World coal production. According to BP, World total energy production grew 2.4% in 2005, but oil only 1.0%. Coal production increased 5.0%, most of it in China (growth 10%, volume well over 30% of the…

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Added by David MacLeod on May 2, 2011 at 10:46pm — 2 Comments

The Community Energy Challenge

During these times of high energy costs, declining resources, and knowledge about how our energy consumption is affecting the climate, the Community Energy Challenge is a brilliant idea. While the Transition Network has a pilot program called the Energy Resilience Assessment going on in the UK, the Community Energy Challenge is a great pilot program happening right here in Whatcom…

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Added by David MacLeod on September 25, 2010 at 9:00pm — 1 Comment

A Response to “Small World” by Andrew Potter

A Response to “Small World” by Andrew Potter, published in the 8/12/09 issue of Cascadia Weekly

By David MacLeod (letter published in 8/19/09 issue of Cascadia Weekly



Andrew Potter’s book “The Rebel Sell,” which was an attempt to demonstrate that all counter-culture movements… Continue

Added by David MacLeod on August 20, 2009 at 9:48pm — 2 Comments

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