Post Carbon Institute Newletter August 2005

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PCI Staff



Director

Julian Darley



Operations

David Room



Programs

Celine Rich



Communications

Milton Ariail

Post Carbon Newsletter #6, 1st August 2005

1. We're Still Here!
2. The Relocalization Network Grows – Outpost News in Brief
3. The ASPO Conference
4. Local Energy Farm Initiative
5. Profile: Tony Marmont & Beacon Energy Farm
6. Post Carbon News Updates
7. Post Carbon Institute Gives Peak Oil Presentation in England
8. Next Newsletter Preview

1. We're Still Here!

Post Carbon Institute has been a proverbial beehive of activity for the past six months. That fury of activity combined with Internet technical problems and communications personnel changes resulted in a dearth of Post Carbon newsletters during this period. To make up for the lack of news, we will be publishing a newsletter every couple of weeks during the summer, to bring everyone up to date.

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With no disrespect intended to gremlins, we have had more than our fair share of them in the last six months! We apologise for the technical difficulties, and thank you for your patience in bearing with us. We are putting in place a powerful suite of systems that will help us prepare for the much higher levels of activity and discussion that we already see happening as energy prices rise and some of our exciting new Initiatives, such as Local Energy Farms (see feature story "Local Energy Farm Initiative"). and Community Supported Manufacturing (which we shall feature in the next Newsletter), start to bear fruit. If you wish to help support this vital communications infrastructure work, please visit our donations page.

New Book: Relocalize Now!

One of the main projects we have been working on is a book outlining Post Carbon Institute's philosophies, goals, analysis, and, most importantly, suggested action plans for those concerned about peak oil, climate change and environmental degradation. The book is called Relocalize Now! Getting Ready for Climate Change and the End of Cheap Oil (see the News Update section). This book is the foundation and master plan for Post Carbon's future direction. It will be a must-read for all Outposts and Relocalization Network associates, and for anyone interested in making a big reduction in their energy use.

Other major Post Carbon Institute activities include attendance at the ASPO conference in Lisbon, Portugal this May (see feature story "The ASPO Conference"). While in Europe, two Post Carbon directors traveled to England to meet with British environmentalists and climate change experts there (see feature story "Post Carbon Institute Gives Peak Oil Presentation in England"). And Post Carbon Institute is working on a new prototype Local Energy Farm project (see feature story "Local Energy Farm Initiative").

2. The Relocalization Network Grows – Outpost News in Brief

In our next and future Post Carbon Newsletters, we shall be featuring the outstanding work of Outposts and affiliates in the Relocalization Network. For now, you can look at Relocalization Network to see the nearly twenty Outposts who already have web sites. There are several more who are about to be listed, and we are very pleased to be working with some larger existing organizations who have asked to be affiliated to the Relocalization Network - the Network is designed to include Outposts and other groups. Much of our technical communications effort is concentrated on developing a worldwide system to allow groups in the Relocalization Network to learn from each other, and to share and search for information about projects easily. We are developing new tools for Outposts so that they can communicate within their membership and with each other, so that we can build a network of shared expertise, experience and strengths. We shall have much more on the development of the Relocalization Network in the next few weeks, including some major new announcements about projects that you can participate in and develop!

3. The ASPO Conference

On May 19th and 20th in Lisbon, Portugal, Post Carbon Institute's Julian Darley, Dave Room, and Celine Rich attended the fourth annual Workshop of ASPO (The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas) .

The range of speakers was very wide and knowledgeable, and will undoubtedly contribute to a wider and deeper understanding of our Peak Oil situation. This year's presentations included Post Carbon Institute Board Member, Richard Heinberg, who spoke about 'The Likely Impact of Peak Oil on the United States'. The full text can be found here:http://www.postcarbon.org/files/ASPO2005_Heinberg-1.pdf

For Global Public Media we recorded the entire Workshop, in collaboration with Greg Greene (director of End of Suburbia) and Faith Morgan (of Community Solutions). We hope to raise enough money (donate to Post Carbon Institute) to be able edit this material into a new DVD, with excerpts available on GlobalPublicMedia.com. Our catalogue of DVDs can be found here: Post Carbon Store

Thank You to Colin Campbell

After the main ASPO Workshop was over, Post Carbon Institute held a celebration for Colin Campbell in Lisbon. Julian Darley and Richard Heinberg thanked Colin for all his hard work in bringing the issue of Peak Oil to the world and inspiring their own work. Celine Rich presented Colin with a gift of a photo album to aid him in his new career as portrait photographer, which he hopes to take up once ASPO Ireland is fully established. We also raised a glass for Colin's partner in peak, geophysicist and graph-maker extraordinaire, Jean Laherrere.

4. Local Energy Farm Initiative

Post Carbon Institute has plans underway to develop prototype experimental Local Energy Farms in order to demonstrate how reliable renewable energy can be produced without needing fossil fuel, nuclear, or 'big' hydro backup. We intend to use this reliable renewable energy to power Community Supported Manufacturing and be the central 'pump' for a Local Energy Bank capable of issuing energy-backed currency. The Local Energy Farm will produce electrical energy from solar, wind, water and also produce biofuels (including biogas, bioliquids and biomass). The Local Energy Farm Initiative is inspired by the example of Professor Tony Marmont, who has actually created a demonstration energy farm in England [see next item, Profile: Tony Marmont & Beacon Energy Farm]. We intend to build on his pioneering work by adding biofuels, developing a Local Energy Network System, and connecting power directly to relocalised manufacturing. We aim to develop a set of plans and templates which will be replicable in a very wide range of communities and places. Post Carbon Institute is currently looking for the land, initial finance, and community to begin the first pilot projects for this exciting new Initiative and we welcome suggestions. We are very willing to set up several experiments to start with, and we have already had strong expressions of interest from America and Europe. Please find more details here.

5. Profile: Tony Marmont, founder of West Beacon 'energy' Farm

Tony Marmont currently operates Beacon Energy, a not-for-profit organization near Loughborough, England, which is designed to promote renewable energy techniques. Tony's farm is a demonstration site for renewable energy production from wind turbines, photovoltaics, pump storage (into a two-acre lake), hydro heat pumps, and roof collection of rainwater. The farm now also has a static hydrogen storage system of four Megawatt hours capacity.

The sale of his business in 1992 enabled Tony to devote himself full-time to sustainable energy. He is now a visiting Professor at De Montfort University and founder of the renewable energy organization MRETT, Midlands Renewable Energy Technology Transfer. Tony Marmont has been responsible for the foundation of three M.Sc. courses in sustainable and renewable energies at De Montfort University, Loughborough University and The University of Nottingham. Julian Darley interviewed Tony Marmont after touring the Beacon Energy Farm - the video interview is available now at GlobalPublicMedia.com.

6. Post Carbon News Updates

Post Carbon Institute's Book due in November 2005

A major exploration of peak oil, climate change, the problematic roots of industrial society and how to begin dealing with the associated problems of these man-made world problems is the subject of a new book from Post Carbon Institute. Called "Relocalize Now! Getting Ready for Climate Change and the End of Cheap Oil", the book is scheduled to be published by New Society Publishers in November (2005). Stay tuned for excerpts and how to buy this trenchant and original analysis of industrial society's impact on the planet and how the "walking worried" can organise and actually prepare their region for a future with declining fossil fuel supplies.

Fundraising

Post Carbon Institute will shortly be launching a big fundraising campaign called "Plan for Peak". The first goal is to raise '$100k in 100 Days' (100k = 100,000!). We're off to a great start already with a $15,000 gift thanks to the Levinson Foundation. There will be a separate Newsletter about the campaign soon, and more details will be posted at www.postcarbon.org. If you want to jump the gun click here to donate now!

PEAK OIL: Imposed by Nature - New Documentary

The new documentary, 'PEAK OIL: Imposed by Nature' has fast become a hot-selling Post Carbon item. This documentary is great for screenings with discussions, because it is thought-provoking and only 30 minutes long. The director, Amund Prestegard, has authorized Post Carbon Institute and our representatives to screen it publicly and to ask for donations and/or charge admission. There is a screening program similar to the one that goes with "End of Suburbia". We invite people and organizations to host and organize screenings.
You can find more info - and buy the DVD! - here: http://www.troposdoc.com

New Communications Coordinator

Post Carbon Institute is pleased to announce that Milton Ariail will be taking over the lead communications role from David Room (who is now North American Director, see below). Milton studied Permaculture in the mid 1990s, receiving his base level Permaculture Design Consultant Certificate. He started a Music Video Production Company in 1998 and went on to direct music videos in Los Angeles. He has professional experience in many aspects of electronic media production including Editing, DVD Authoring, Motion Graphics and Graphic Design.

David Room is now Director of North American Operations. In his new role, Dave oversees and directs much of the activity in the United States and Canada (allowing founder Julian Darley to develop new links with Europe and create prototypes of Local Energy Farms, Local Energy Banks, and Community Supported Manufacturing). Dave is focusing on the development of the Relocalization Network, policy responses, and speaking about Post Carbon's relocalization work as well as the impacts of peak oil on people of color and on urban life.

7. Post Carbon Institute Gives Peak Oil Presentation in England

Following ASPO Lisbon, Julian Darley and Celine Rich spent a week in England, where Julian Darley gave a peak oil presentation to Sustrans - a charity that works on practical projects to encourage people to walk, cycle and use public transport. Sustrans created the UK National Cycle Network, which offers thousands of miles of cycle routes on quiet country lanes and traffic-free paths, using easy-to-follow route signs to connect towns and villages throughout the United Kingdom. Julian's presentation was well received and followed by discussions on how organizations can prepare for oil peak.

Julian Darley and Celine Rich also held meetings with other environmentalists, peak oil proponents and researchers in England. They interviewed Tony Marmont who has built an energy farm in England (see "The Local Energy Farm Initiative" above) as well as meeting with Teddy Goldsmith, founder of "The Ecologist" magazine. In part, the meeting was to thank Teddy for his foundation's recent gift to Post Carbon Institute [see Thanks for JG Foundation Gift.

Julian was interviewed by Permaculture magazine about our policy of Global Relocalization, and particularly about Local Energy Farms and Community Supported Manufacturing. The article is scheduled to be in the October 2005 issue of Permaculture. Julian was also interviewed for an Irish film. More details about this film will be published in future Post Carbon Newsletters as we hear about them.

Two Books about Peak Oil & Climate Change from British Environmentalists

While in England earlier this summer, Post Carbon's Julian Darley and Celine Rich met with two prominent British environmentalists to discuss future collaborations: Andrew Simms and Jeremy Leggett, both of whom have recently finished books.

Andrew Simms is Policy Director for the highly regarded and heavily quoted new economics foundation (nef for short), based in London. Simms' book, Ecological Debt, published by Pluto Press, makes important mention of peak oil. The new economics foundation is also interested in relocalization. Simms says that the ecological debts of rich countries are a bigger threat to global poverty eradication than the foreign debts of poor countries. He argues that global warming shows how millions of us are running up long term and life threatening ecological debts. While these debts go unpaid, millions more living in poverty in the South suffer the burden of paying dubious foreign financial debts.

The book introduces a great paradox of our age: how the global gap between rich and poor was built on ecological debts that the world's poorest now pay for. In addition to analysis, the book offers ways we can stop pushing the planet to the point of being environmentally bankrupt. For so many of us concerned about climate change and peak oil, Ecological Debt is doubly to be welcomed since it highlights both problems and comes from a respected policy voice. http://www.neweconomics.org

Jeremy Leggett is an ex-scientist and oil industry consultant turned environmentalist and entrepreneur, and a member of the UK government's Renewables Advisory Board. Leggett has become a figurehead in the environmental world in the UK and beyond. He founded Britain's most successful solar PV company, Solar Century, which sells and installs solar PV panels and promotes solar energy. The Guardian newspaper described Leggett's solar power company as "standing at the forefront of a renewable energy revolution".

Leggett knew about the concept of oil peak at least ten years ago but initially thought it was such a grim prospect that it couldn't be true. He changed his mind when Royal Dutch Shell revealed that it had vastly overstated its world oil reserves. His book is called 'Half Gone: Oil, Gas, Hot Air and the Global Energy Crisis' and discusses the issue of peak oil in detail. The book will be published by Portobello Books in November 2005.

8. Next Newsletter Preview

In the next Post Carbon Newsletter (#7), we will feature profiles of Outposts and of one our Board Members. We shall also outline Community Supported Manufacturing. Julian Darley will report on the FEASTA conference on food security and peak oil held in Dublin and describe his fascinating visit to the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales. And much more!

• Begin building Parallel Public Infrastructure (we are working on research
  and guidelines)
• Write letters to the editor of your newspapers and to your local politicians--
  (mention Peak Oil and Gas)
• Tell your friends and neighbors what's happening
• Start a Post
  Carbon Outpost
• Forward this newsletter to others
• Support our efforts by becoming a member

The Post Carbon Institute newsletter is designed
to inform you of the work of the Institute, which is to help educate
and prepare communities for a world of declining oil production. For
North Americans and those in the British Isles and New Zealand, peak
oil is compounded by heavy dependence on now declining natural gas production.




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