Today’s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CXV
More Bargaining: ‘Electrify Everything’
April 3, 2023 (original posting date)
More Bargaining: ‘Electrify Everything’
This very brief Contemplation was prompted by a Guardian article posted in a Facebook Group that I help to administer. It is my reply to its narrative that the ‘electrification of everything’ is the best ‘solution’ for our energy and environmental crises.
The poster’s introduction:
This is an important and thoughtful article.
Only be re-imagining how we will inevitably be using energy in the future, can we see and organize the most efficient way to transition from fossil fuels to locally generated, near zero cost, zero carbon ‘Renewable Energy’.
Every household will go on a journey of electrification. We can make that easier, or harder
n 2021, the publisher of my book The Big Switcharranged a hectic book tour, in two chunks, on the east and south coasts…www.theguardian.com
My comment:
The idea that ‘electrification of everything’ solves anything pertaining to our overshoot predicament is one that must die. It ignores/denies/rationalises away so much I don’t know where to begin.
Perhaps one of the most significant denials encompassed in this narrative involves the ecologically destructive industrial processes required to facilitate such electrification, from the mining of materials to their processing for not just the non-renewable, renewable energy-harvesting technologies that will supposedly power most of the electric-based products but for the energy storage devices and the products themselves.
Perhaps it is the ignoring of the mineral limits/finiteness for all the electrification, ‘renewable’ energy production, and battery systems that are required to make this storyline come to reality.
Perhaps it’s the rationalising away of the fact that fossil fuels (another finite resource that’s encountered diminishing returns) are required at every step of the upstream and downstream industries used for this unattainable dream.
There is so much magical thinking involved in this tale that I am finding it amazing that so many people have accepted it hook, line, and sinker…but, then again, denial of reality to avoid anxiety-provoking thoughts is perhaps the prototypical human behaviour.
If you’ve made it to the end of this contemplation and have got something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my ‘fictional’ novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my website or the link below — the ‘profits’ of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers).
Attempting a new payment system as I am contemplating shutting down my site in the future (given the ever-increasing costs to keep it running).
If you are interested in purchasing any of the 3 books individually or the trilogy, please try the link below indicating which book(s) you are purchasing.
Costs (Canadian dollars):
Book 1: $2.99
Book 2: $3.89
Book 3: $3.89
Trilogy: $9.99
Feel free to throw in a ‘tip’ on top of the base cost if you wish; perhaps by paying in U.S. dollars instead of Canadian. Every few cents/dollars helps…
https://paypal.me/olduvaitrilogy?country.x=CA&locale.x=en_US
If you do not hear from me within 48 hours or you are having trouble with the system, please email me: olduvaitrilogy@gmail.com.
You can also find a variety of resources, particularly my summary notes for a handful of texts, especially Catton’s Overshoot and Tainter’s Collapse: see here.
It Bears Repeating: Best Of…Volume 1
A compilation of writers focused on the nexus of limits to growth, energy, and ecological overshoot.
With a Foreword and Afterword by Michael Dowd, authors include: Max Wilbert; Tim Watkins; Mike Stasse; Dr. Bill Rees; Dr. Tim Morgan; Rob Mielcarski; Dr. Simon Michaux; Erik Michaels; Just Collapse’s Tristan Sykes & Dr. Kate Booth; Kevin Hester; Alice Friedemann; David Casey; and, Steve Bull.
The document is not a guided narrative towards a singular or overarching message; except, perhaps, that we are in a predicament of our own making with a far more chaotic future ahead of us than most imagine–and most certainly than what mainstream media/politics would have us believe.
Click here to access the document as a PDF file, free to download.