[Peakoil] Submission so far

[Alex P]

All suggestions have been taken on board!

Alex
O4O4873828

ACT Peak Oil
http://act-peakoil.org

On Fri, 28 Apr 2006 12:23:45 +1000, "Adrian Whitehead" 
<ccserac.project1 at ecoaction.net.au> wrote :

> I put to Alex about the compress air cars (they are rather groovy).
> 
> I have asked him to change car bit from a focus on just the air cars to 
look
> at the issue of cars and propose the ACT take a look at a number of
> potentially non fossil fuel powered options which include air cars, 
electric
> cars, and hydrogen technology etc.
> 
> Road maintenance may be a issue for non rail transport - I email a 
question
> about this to the peak oil science thing Keith mentioned in the previous
> email.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: peakoil-bounces+adrian=ecoaction.net.au at act-peakoil.org
> [mailto:peakoil-bounces+adrian=ecoaction.net.au at act-peakoil.org] On Behalf
> Of Leigh Kite
> Sent: Friday, 28 April 2006 7:33 AM
> To: Keith Thomas; 'Peakoil Discussion'
> Subject: Re: [Peakoil] Submission so far
> 
> How about compressed air light rail then?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Leigh
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Keith Thomas" <keith at evfit.com>
> To: "'Peakoil Discussion'" <peakoil at act-peakoil.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 9:02 PM
> Subject: Re: [Peakoil] Submission so far
> 
> 
> 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.
> >
> >
> >