ClothBot

Since finishing my first read through Jim Kunstler's The Long Emergency, I've stopped planning for what I would do if the fossil fuel reserves effectively ran dry tomorrow. Realistically, tomorrow would be too late; planning for such a catastrophic failure happening tomorrow would probably be a waste of time.

Instead, I'm planning for the gradual decay of infrastructure over the next decade.

Next Actions:

1. Reduce electricity consumption
1. Buy Watt meter from OSP or Arbour to measure power drain @ plug.
2. Replace or reconfigure power-draining equipment (phantom loads, etc)
   
2. Investigate solar heating options
1. Wait for CSA approval of systems
3. Investigate photovoltaic options
1. batteries back-up
   
2. grid intertie
   
4. Investigate wind micropower options
1. batteries back-up
   
2. grid intertie
   
5. Investigate closed-loop geothermal systems
6. Backyard greenhouse
1. cold-frame design to work through winter
2. solar power/charged red LED night lights
7. Insect control
1. bird boxes
2. bat boxes

On one hand, it's tempting to move to a larger, more self-sustainable patch of property and build to sustainable specifications from scratch. On the other, the area we live in is not that bad as far as suburbs go. We're walking distance from the Fallowfield VIA Rail stop, which is also a major OC Transpo stop.

To be honest, I don't know how to prepare for this. We have reasonably accurate global climate cycle measurements derived from polar ice cores dating back tens of thousands of years. However, the depletion of fossil fuel reserves over the past century has been releasing quantities of carbon back into the environment that haven't been seen in millions of years, so all we have to go on are fossil records documenting long-extinct ecosystems.

More to ponder...

# posted by AP @ 21:33