Philip wrote:
>
>>In another post, someone mentioned the idea that it takes ten calories of
>>
>>
>energy to produce one calorie of food energy. I have to say I don't
>understand the comparison.
>
>Lynnet may be able to answer that one. It is a new concept for me.
>
If the supply of petroleum energy was truly infinite, maybe we wouldn't
care (except for the pollution and climate change). But it really isn't
infinite. Not even nuclear energy (on earth, that is) is infinite; in
addition to the totally-unsolved problem of nuclear waste, uranium is a
rare element and will run out. Fusion is still a pipe dream, after 30
or more years of research.
This is going slightly off-topic here, except that the paleo foods
pretty much grow themselves, provided the population using them is small
enough. The industrial foods require the entire industrial
infrastructure and cheap energy to grow them and bring them to the
supermarket. When (NOT IF) energy becomes expensive, industrial foods
will become too expensive. "Conventional" (herbicides, pesticides,
petroleum-based fertilisers, lots of tractor passes) will become more
expensive than organic. Eventually, if we (our descendants, that is)
eat, we'll be eating "paleo".
>>When the cities get cold, the eco-fantics who live there will be the
>>
>>
>first
>to proclaim the wonderous benefits if nuclear power, I have no doubt at
>all!
>
>I'm not concerned about cities getting cold. I think humans will find ways
>to produce energy, there's too much incentive behind it for them not to.
>
>
>
When it comes to fossil fuel resources (and uranium), by golly you can't
just throw more money at it and make more. If computer chips have a
very high profit margin, more factories will open up to make more
computer chips. If strawberries bring a great price, people will plant
more. When natural gas and oil become scarce, more money won't make more
oil magically appear. Humans are resourceful, and like to eat and keep
warm, so I don't think we'll be starving in the cold in
10 or 15 years, but I think we will see some changes by then.
Lynnet
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