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159 comments on Off the Grid in a Liquid Fuel Crisis?

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AlanfromBigEasy on November 17, 2007 - 9:44pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Having to drive longer to work over all is more energy efficient, especially if people buy hybrids

I do *NOT* think so !

I use about 5 gallons/month. 28% of the households (pre-K) did not have cars. Oil for transportation and not electricity is wher ethe crunch is coming from.

Live out in the country with some land you can do things to lower your energy requirements such as solar panels, ground source heat pumps and grow some of your own foods or buy from local farmers

The quickest path to energy efficiency for homes is common walls and reduced sq ft. I just walked past a single family home that is being converted into 4 condos on an extremely walkable street (Magazine in New Orleans, 5 miles of small shops).

Today for lunch I ate a ripe Creole tomato picked yesterday, with home made cottage cheese. Zara's makes it "in-store" but they get their milk from Brown's Dairy, 7 blocks away (and they get their milk from local farmers).

Our entire cuisine was built around local food and what was barged down the Mississippi River or came in by sailing ships.

I live in the "low energy transfer point" for half of the USA. 6 of 7 Class I RRs (Not Canadian Pacific), close port to Panama Canal, barges north, east & west.

See my "24 hours in a Walkable City" at the bottom of today's Drumbeat (Nov 17).

Best Hopes for City Living,

Alan

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jrwakefield on November 18, 2007 - 11:15am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Having to drive longer to work over all is more energy efficient, especially if people buy hybrids

I do *NOT* think so !

It entirely depends on the city and geographic location. We live in a small town outside London, Ont. My wife drives 20 mins into London for work. I work from home. We have a small home 1000sqrft, on a large lot 203x165. I have a hugh garden I put in, plus a 33' diameter dome greenhouse that we can grow food in all year round. None of that is possible in a city.

For us to move closer to her work would require living within 15 mins of walking distance. Forget bikes, as in winter it's near impossible to get around in a bike (especially at the age of 50). 15 mins walk time is max as in winter nights at -30C you can't be outside much more than that. So I looked around. Nothing for sale. Few homes in the area, all of them Pre 1900's, hence heating pigs. Or condos, which is definitely out at $350K each (and all sold out).

Then there is the issue of stores. All around her work is either restaurants or businesses, no food stores within miles. So that means a car to drive to stores for food.

But the biggest hurdle is economics. We have a home with 4 times the land than what we can get in the city at 1/3 the price, and 1/2 the taxes (London taxes at $3600/y, in Toronto it's now over $4500/y). In fact, it is cheeper for me to drive her to work each day and go pick her up than to pay the $10 per day in parking. That $250+ per month savings just in that will help pay for the ground source heat pump.

Plus we have new factories popping up in once farm land, where people drive up to an hour from their homes to get to every day. It's just no possible for any of them to move closer as there are no homes closer.

Thus it is simply not practicle for everyone to simply pack up, sell their homes and move closer to work. Economics alone will kill the attempt.

Besides, I maintain that cities are the last place you want to live in, and any jobs there may soon evaporate once the crash starts.

Richard Wakefield
London, Ont.
No one is ahead of their time, just the rest of humanity is slow to catch on.

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