Showing posts with label Wind Power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wind Power. Show all posts

Saturday, March 10, 2012

The following is an amazing video of a group of people in Seattle experimenting with reviving sailboats for commerce within Puget Sound. Prior to powered boats, there was zillions of sail powered ships ferrying stuff back and forth across Puget Sound, but today there are highways and trucks and large ferry boats and bridges and other paraphernalia of the modern transportation infrastructure.

However, those of us who know about Peak Oil etc know that it's likely in the not-too-distant-future that those highways and trucks will be useless. Hence, sailing ships could well become important again.

Sail Power Reborn - Transporting Local Goods by Boat - Peak Moment 208: "We are revitalizing an ancient form of transportation using just the power of the wind and the tides to move goods and people," says skipper Fulvio Casali.  In their CSA (community supported agriculture), the Salish Sea Trading Cooperative uses nearly no petroleum to transport organic produce and other goods from the north Olympic Peninsula to northwest Seattle.  By sea they use community volunteer sailboats, and by land an electric delivery truck. Come on board with cofounders Casali, Kathy Pelish, and Alex Tokar, who are patiently redeveloping the skills and infrastructure for the return of "a whole fleet of sailboats blanketing Puget Sound" in the post-petroleum era. [www.salishseatrading.com]

Audio and transcript of this show at http://www.peakmoment.tv/conversations/?p=477


Sunday, December 6, 2009

Africa's largest wind farm set to emerge from Kenyan desert - washingtonpost.com

Kenya's Chalbi Desert is a bleak, forbidding stretch of coarse sand and ash-gray ridges broken by clusters of tiny huts. It is also one of the windiest places on Earth, experts say, and it soon will be the site of Africa's largest wind farm. Construction on the $760 million project began in Jan 2009, which envisions more than 350 wind turbines towering over desert expanses near Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. When completed in 2012, the wind farm is expected to boost the power supply in this nation by almost 30 percent. Kenya is one of the continent's greenest countries, with nearly three-quarters of its power coming from hydroelectric and geothermal sources.

Article Reference: 

Monday, November 30, 2009

The knock-on effects of peak oil | Business | The Observer

High oil prices generally cause economic recessions. The trouble in Dubai is due to decrease in oil consumption due to the current economic recession likely triggered by the high oil prices in 2007-8. What's keeping oil prices in check currently is the recession causing lowered demand. If/as the recession lifts and economic activity returns to "normal" oil demand should rise again. Since it seems oil production cannot return to meeting rising demand, then high oil prices should result, again. Which would cause another recession.

Article Reference: 

Monday, August 28, 2006

Vela Creations

Description: 

A husband and wife team living off the grid in the deserts of West Texas. On their web site they publish an extensive collection of information on alternative energy and other forms of sustainable living necessary to live off the grid.