[Peakoil] Submission so far

Wed Apr 26 21:02:06 EST 2006

You have excellent and fresh points succinctly presented. Well done!

I have seen glowing reports of these compressed air cars. Personally, I  
can't imagine that (a) the energy cost of compressing the air would  
result in a net saving of energy and (b) that the mileage claims are  
grounded in reality and (c) the entropic losses in compressing the air  
and then in transforming the energy in the compressed air into powering  
a vehicle would be huge. I'm not a physicist, but I'd want to be sure  
of my data before I promoted this as a solution. It strikes me as just  
another attempt to continue the life we have now rather than facing up  
to the need for significant change.

Incidentally, compressed air cars will still need roads (this jars a  
bit with an aspect of the submission's advocacy of rail).

Finally, you might like to offer to the government the opportunity to  
question you on your submission.
--------------------------------------------
Keith Thomas
www.evfit.com
--------------------------------------------
On 26/04/2006, at 1:48 PM, Alex P wrote:

> This is the text of the ACT Peak Oil submission so far, to be see with  
> the
> Senate submission attached.
>
> Comments welcome.
>
> Probably needs explicit mention of limits to growth.
>
> Alex
> O4O4873828
>
> ACT Peak Oil
> http://act-peakoil.org
>
>
> ACT Peak Oil
> Submission on ACT Energy and Climate Change Policy
> edited by Alex Pollard (alex-po at trevbus.org)
>
>
> Office of Sustainability
> Chief Minister's Department
> GPO Box 158
> Canberra ACT 2601
>
> 	About ACT Peak Oil
> ACT Peak Oil was formed early in 2005 by Canberrans who are concerned  
> about
> the imminent peak and decline of world oil production.
> ACT Peak Oil is pleased that the ACT Government has launched a  
> consultative
> process for developing energy and climate change policies for the ACT.  
> The
> Government's discussion papers released shows that is aware of the
> importance of these issues and is also aware that energy and climate  
> change
> policy require community engagement with the process. Tackling these  
> issues
> requires the community accept that there need for self-imposed  
> constraints
> on our resource consumption. This is not an easy message for elected
> representatives to sell back to the voters if the voters are not  
> already
> receptive to it.
> ACT Peak Oil is primarily about raising awareness of the peaking of  
> world
> oil production and what the realistic alternatives to oil are (and are
> not). We recognise the importance of getting the unpalatable facts of  
> oil
> depletion across to people so that we can make realistic decisions. The
> alternative is to be distracted by and mislead into non-solutions,  
> such as
> war.
> We have been invited to appear before the Senate inquiry into  
> Australia's
> oil supplies on May 12. Our submission to the inquiry is attached . In
> addition to that, we make some suggestions specifically for the ACT.
> 	Peak Oil
> The Office of Sustainability would already be familiar with the  
> concept of
> oil peak. The Chief Minister alludes to it in his foreword to the  
> energy
> discussion paper, referring to oil supplies being unable to keep up  
> with
> demand. Peak Oil is specifically the peak of oil production in absolute
> terms. That is, not just can supply not keep up with demand, but supply
> shrinks year on year, forever. That is, there is no respite to be  
> found in
> merely stabilising oil consumption. The problem is to become, over  
> time, as
> independent of oil as possible.  The Peak may have even passed already  
> and
> we are badly under-prepared.
> 	Concrete action required
> Our most important message is that the ACT Government, along with all
> governments, needs to take urgent, concrete action to prepare  
> Canberrans
> for much higher oil prices and even actual oil scarcity. At the same  
> time,
> actions to ameliorate oil peak need to be carefully considered against
> certain constraints, not least of which is carbon emissions.
> For the sake of its residents the ACT Government should start to make  
> up
> for lost time and the failures of the Commonwealth. In doing so, the  
> ACT
> Government would also provide leadership in national forums.
> 	General Principles
> In our Senate submission we outlined a number of principles worth  
> bearing
> in mind whenever evaluating options for peak oil mitigation. We urge  
> the
> ACT Government to commit to these principles.
> 	Interstate Rail
> Post-peak, rail will be easier to maintain than bitumen road surfaces  
> and
> offers advantages in fuel efficiency. Electrified rail can also be  
> powered
> by non fossil-fuel energy.
> The Canberra-Sydney rail link will soon be improved by an upgrade from  
> the
> circa 1917 signaling system which mandates stops at all stations. This  
> will
> improve trip times by around 25 minutes. The major remaining  
> bottle-neck is
> the Sydney metropolitan network. If this were fixed, rail would be
> comparable with a car or bus trip. CountryLink currently also imposes a
> 120km/h speed limit.
> Ironically, the ACT's standard unleaded petrol supply actually arrives  
> via
> the Sydney-Canberra rail link. Specialist fuels arrive by road .
> The new bulky goods precinct in Fyshwick should accommodate a switch to
> freight by rail as it lies adjacent to the line.
> 	Urban Rail
> ACT Peak Oil believes that the option of electrified mass transit must  
> be
> evaluated in the likely scenario of extremely high oil prices.  
> Bus-based
> public transport is vulnerable to a liquid fuels crisis. Whereas
> electrified mass transit can be powered by electricity from any source.
> If provision is to be made for light rail within the ACT, it may be
> worthwhile at the outset to make provision for upgrade to heavy rail at
> little extra expense.
> 	Years of supply left
> In a number of places in the discussion papers reliance is placed upon
> fossil-fuel supplies lasting for a specified number of years. When  
> growth
> in demand for such fuels is growing year-on-year – exponentially - the
> number of years of oil, gas or coal available becomes questionable.  
> Even
> more so when in the event of an oil crunch, we will turn likely turn  
> to gas
> and coal, exhausting these resources even faster than expected.
> 	Nuclear energy
> In discussing nuclear energy, there should be a clear distinction made
> between nuclear power sources which involve dangerous and long-lasting
> radioactive fuels and waste, and potentially “clean” technologies such  
> as
> nuclear fusion. Uranium fission has many difficulties over its entire  
> life-
> cycle, even before we consider the how oil scarcity will impact on the
> mining of uranium. Fusion offers the potential for cheap energy with  
> little
> or no radioactive waste. For instance, the “focus fusion” concept is  
> for
> small-scale and economical fusion power generated in the neighbourhood  
> .
> The process relies on fusing a hydrogen and boron gas, and produces  
> only
> helium. Neither the inputs nor outputs are radioactive. The proponents  
> are
> seeking funding after successful experiments at a number of  
> universities
> and claim they can achieve what the massive ITER project aims for but  
> at
> much lower cost.
> 	Compressed Air Cars
> One technology which we think should be evaluated is the compressed air
> car. Reliant only on an electric-powered air compressor, drivers  
> “charge”
> their car at a service station with highly compressed air, on which the
> car's “motor” runs. The ACT Government could help establish a  
> compressed
> air station to evaluate the concept.
> 	Paradigm shift: Supply-centric to technology-centric
> An inevitable result of the shift away from fossil fuels to renewable
> sources is a paradigm shift – whereas previously those with the raw  
> fuel
> have been the chief beneficiaries, having ongoing income from dependent
> consumers, renewable power uses inputs which are essentially free.  
> Hence
> the main profit centre is developing and producing the most effective
> renewable power devices. This fits the ACT economy perfectly. As the
> discussion papers say, the ACT is a price taker with no fossil fuel
> resources. However the ACT has an exceptional body of expertise in
> sustainable energy systems. This is already being born out by the
> commercialisation of the ANU's sliver cell technology. The ACT can use  
> its
> predicament to spur development of technologies it needs to guarantee  
> its
> future. Technologies such as the ANU's solar concentrator are ready and
> waiting for these opportunities.
>
>
>
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