"Ryan then dashed on to the platform from the battleship U.S.S. Wisconsin docked at Norfolk."

Such a great symbol. A thoroughly obsolete oil-burner best known for running aground, a collision, and an electrical fire while docked.

Maybe it's more appropriate than i thought...

Ryan's Family dynasty: Ryan, Inc. Roads, power plants, landfills, sludge ponds, golf courses. They're dirt movers.

Ryan, on energy:

It rejects calls from the President and his party’s leaders in Congress to raise taxes on energy producers. According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, the President’s tax policies would “raise the cost of exploration and production, with the possible result of higher consumer prices and more slowly increasing domestic production.” Independent energy producers and families would bear the brunt of these punitive tax hikes.
The Obama administration has blocked and delayed domestic energy production both onshore and offshore, costing jobs and sidelining American energy sources at a time of rising gasoline prices and unstable conflict in the Middle East and North Africa.
The House-passed budget calls for a more sensible approach, allowing for more resources from bonus bids, rents, royalties, and fees as a result of unlocking domestic energy supplies in a safe, environmentally responsible manner.

A Long Term Solution for Energy Independence

I believe a national energy proposal must take a multi-pronged approach focused on increasing American-made energy, reforming outdated fuel regulations, and investing in alternative energy sources. I was happy to help author H.R. 909, A Roadmap for America’s Energy Future. This legislation, introduced by Representative Devin Nunes, promotes an all-of-the-above energy policy that embodies the pillars explained above: it facilitates American-made energy, recognizes the importance of alternative energy, streamlines the outdated regulatory process for clean technologies like nuclear power, and avoids hitting our economy with new taxes and mandates.

More Refineries

I also support reforms to our regulatory regime to allow for new refineries to be built in the U.S. We have not built any new refineries since 1976. At that time, our country was only using a handful of blends of gasoline. Now, we are attempting to refine four dozen blends of gasoline in a system designed to only produce a few. This has imposed substantial constraints on our ability to refine the gasoline that we use on a daily basis and has forced us to import more and more of the gasoline that we use. Furthermore, adding new refineries to the market will lead to greater competition and help place downward pressure on prices.

...see more at link.

Ryan supports H.R. 910 – the Energy Tax Prevention Act

112th Congress, 2011–2012

To amend the Clean Air Act to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from promulgating any regulation concerning, taking action relating to, or taking into consideration the emission of a greenhouse gas to address climate change, and for other purposes.

...and supports James Inhofe's Senate version: S. 482: Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011

Paul Krugman has a post on his blog about the Romney economic plan, "Culture Of Fraud", in which he points to a new white paper from a group of Romney's economic advisers. If one reads the white paper and Krugman's comments, as well as the line by line commentary from Brad DeLong, one can see why Krugman chose his title. The authors of the paper apparently wish to ignore the fact that the tax cuts under the Bush 43 presidency, coupled with the unnecessary war with Iraq, led to a sharp rise in the US deficit. The authors suggest that cutting taxes further would result in "sustainable" economic growth, which many of us on DrumBeat think will be impossible after Peak Oil.

The differences between the Republicans and Democrats on economic and energy policy extend back to the events of the Great Depression. There is still a great debate on what was the best policy to solve that economic calamity, in spite of the passage of many decades. The Republicans have accepted the prescription of Hayek and Milton Friedman of the so-called "Chicago School" of economic thinking, which contrasts with that of Keynes, which appears to be the path of the Democrats. Both approaches claim to be aimed at restoring economic vitality and a growing economic system, that is, a system based on increasing consumption of material goods. As we now know, energy, especially oil, is at the base of all production/consumption activities and thus a growing economy will most likely result in increasing energy use. Such a result is highly unlikely, given our finite world, so it's reasonable to conclude that both parties are wrong and whichever party wins this electoral round will not be able to deliver on the promises made before the election. However, one party appears most willing to ignore the implications of their policies on the Earth's ecosystems, lying by omission, which would appear to be justifiable cause to use the word "fraud" to describe their public assertions...

E. Swanson

Regarding our upcoming election, I have frequently characterized the GOP and the Democrats as follows:

The GOP wants to increase our consumption of a near infinite fossil fuel supply, as we drive toward the net energy cliff in a H2 Hummer.

The Democrats want to transition from near infinite fossil fuels to cool new green sources of energy as we drive toward the net energy cliff in a plug-in hybrid.

In neither case (at least in public), do they question whether our "Wants" based economy and our suburban infrastructure are sustainable. Their argument is over how we will drive to our suburban houses and how we will heat and cool them.

My view of course is that we will be lucky to sustain a "Needs" based economy.

In my opinion, the ongoing efforts in OECD countries to keep the "Wants" based economy going are damaging the prospect of keeping the "Needs" based economy going. The 2002 to 2011 ratio of Global Net Exports of oil (GNE) to Chindia's Net Imports (CNI) versus total global public debt:

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i475/westexas/GNEvsDebt.jpg

Black_Dog,

It has bee said that one cannot understand Ryan unless they understand Ayn Rand, evidently because:

In a 2005 speech to a group of Rand devotees called the Atlas Society, Ryan said that Rand was required reading for his office staff and interns. “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand,” he told the group.

(Ayn Rand: Patron Saint of The Plutocracy). That is very scary if you know the Randian philosophy.

Wikipedia says that the world's population grew by 1.1% in 2011. As in every person that died was replaced by a new baby plus around ~75,000,000 other babies popped up extra. It seems that despite Fukushima and plastic packaging there was still enough sperm to go around.

*** Note: I agree that nuclear power, uranium weapons and plastic packaging are all things that need to be viewed with suspicion, if they must be used at all. I just don't think that it's a good idea to make it sound like the population growth problem has an easy solution.

The movie, "Children of Men", was sort of based on this idea, that fallout will cause sterility - though it is women unable to become pregnant. Great show if you haven't seen it.

Will the last out turn off the lights?

Paul Ryan is going to force the Democrats to really discuss fiscal issues instead of the usual Romney dog in the car carrier type attacks.

A welcome change to BAU.

They are. IRRI, the International Rice Research Institute, is based in Los Baños and making a big push to develop rice that can deal with climate change.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/angelafritz/comment.html?entrynum=25

Manila as Waterworld.

I am very rusty at this, but well read with regards to sea ice dynamics, etc. I am going to post an admittedly lousy post here, but just in case it is worth something...

I find the description of a flat piece of ice intriguing as it suggests sea ice. It is difficult to tell from the article but this was either part of an ice flow broken off from the Canadian Archipelago, or maybe even the New Siberian Islands? It could have even been land fast sea ice. Anyway, due to the chaos (loss of ice, churning) going on in the arctic of late this ice could be from anywhere.

I remember back in the early 80s reading Zubov (Russian Ice Physicist?). He referred to situations in which sea ice could develop below the surface - on the sea floor. He was not referring to methane hydrates or anything of that nature, but actual sea ice. Another possible source?

Sea ice ordinarily does not carry big rocks imbedded into it. Maybe a bit of dust or airborne volcanic ash settles on top, but not large rocks. Also, keep in mind that that Richard Glenn is a N Slope Native. The Native people spend much of their lives out on and around the sea ice (seal hunting, whaling, fishing). Also Richard Glenn has a degree in geology. The other guy is wildlife biologist with 30 years experience in the area. These guys know what sea ice looks like.

Glacier on the other hand does carry a lot of rock. Glaciers on land carve up the rocks and erode valleys. (Yosemite Valley in California is a spectacular example.) Hence glaciers typically have a great deal of rock imbedded in them. Some rocks are plucked from bedrock along the base and sides. Other's end up on top from falling off of cliffs along the glacier. When two glaciers merge, the "lateral moraines" (along the sides) merge where the two glaciers come together. This forms "medial moraines", which are the prominent strips you no doubt have seen on photos of valley glaciers. Bottom line is that glaciers often carry a tremdous load of rock. Sea ice typically does not. Note that they "observed thousands of rocks, with the largest rock some 4 foot (1.5 meters) cubed. The rocks were mostly granite."

The other issue is what geologists would call the "provinance" of the embedded rocks. This refers to matching rock fragments with their probable sorce in the bedrock. While there is some granitic rock within the Brooks Range, none of it is at all near the coast. Also, while there are currently some smallish glaciers in the Brooks Range, none of them currently reach anywhere near the coast.

So, we have something that is unlike normal sea ice, looking in fact like glacier ice. It has large (1.5 meter) bolders embedded in it, of a rock type unlike any found anywhere near the N Coast of Alaska. The nearest place with glaciers eroding into granitic rocks and flowing inot the sea is far to the East in Arctic Canada. The general circulation is clockwise when viewed from above, which would consistent with it coming from Canada.

Glacial iceberges rafting large exotic rocks long distances are not unheard of in the geologic record. In the Willamette Valley in Oregon there are some large granitic boulders which were rafted in from Montana during the "Bretz Floods" (aka the "Missoula Floods"). In other places one sometimes finds exotic pebbles in marine shales, which are termed "dropstones", and are believed to have been carried by icebergs, which eventually melted and dropped the rocks to the sea floor.

EDIT: FYI, the following give a bit of background on Richard Glenn, one of the guys quoted in the article.

Richard Glenn - Alaska Native Science Commission

Richard Glenn - Barrow Arctic Science Consortium

The STOE numbers for the latest month production numbers are often revised by as much as 500 kb/d from month to month and their further out predictive numbers are often revised more than that.

Here are their non-OPEC crude oil and liquids numbers from the July issue of the STOE and the August STOE and the difference. The top line is from the July Issue of the STOE and the bottom numbers are from the August issue in mb/d:

        Jun-12	Jul-12	Aug-12	Sep-12	Oct-12	Nov-12	Dec-12	Jan-13	Feb-13	Mar-13	Apr-13
July    52.01	52.47	52.51	52.67	53.07	53.35	53.45	53.33	53.48	53.52	53.48
Aug.    52.4	52.58	52.26	52.58	52.95	53.13	53	52.77	52.93	52.92	53
         0.39	0.11	-0.25	-0.09	-0.12	-0.22	-0.45	-0.56	-0.55	-0.6	-0.48

As you can see the June numbers, which was already history when the July issue was published, was still revised by upward 390,000 barrels per day. And the January 13 numbers were revised downward by 560,000 barrels per day. And they will likely change just as much next month. They are basically worthless.

Please note, I am complaining about the EIA's STOE, or Short Term Energy Outlook, not their International Energy Statistics. The numbers there are delayed by three months and are much more reliable. They are also revised from month to month but by a much smaller percentage than the STOE.

Ron P.

S - Still can’t find many tech details. But I'll make a guess based on the latest release.

“The purpose of the well is to determine the structural status of the cavern as well as the pressure of any gas that might be inside of it, he said, adding that the last mechanical integrity test performed on the cavern was done in late 2010.”

There are a number of separate caverns in the dome. Some are active holding NG for Chevron (which has started removing some). It appears the cavern that Texas Brine used to dispose 20 million bbls of salt water (and maybe some other nasties) no longer has any well penetrating that particular cavern. Thus the need to drill a new well into that cavern to determine if the top has collapsed (the “structural status”) and if somehow the cavern has been pressured up from natural or manmade activity (“the pressure of any gas…”). Just my WAG but I would be very shocked if it were natural. Even a bigger WAG: communications may have been established between the Texas Brine cavern and another cavern holding pressured NG/butane/whatever).

“In working to expand mining of the cavern, the company made a cut in the well casing several hundred feet above its top, said Chustz. Texas Brine reported a potential breach at that time and that information was reported in 2011, he said”.

More WAGS. The must mean the casing several hundred feet above the top of the cavern. Perhaps done to drill a sidetrack back into the cavern. Which would imply that well must have had some mechanical problem otherwise why sidetrack it? I won’t go into details but drilling into a salt cavern can be very tricky. Remember the basic drilling method: drilling mud is pumped down the inside of the drill pipe and then circulated back up the outside. Buy drill into a cavern and all the mud (which provide the backpressure to prevent a blow out) falls into the cavern and circulation is completely lost. Pumping down cement to isolate the well annulus can also be difficult/impossible.

Apparent there have been indications of a problem of some sort for a year or two. Whatever happens my guess is that the problem won’t disappear naturally. If I were working on the drill floor of the relief well I’d be sure to have my fireproof jumper/head gear on. Might not save my life but the family could at least have an open casket service. Sorry…oil patch dark humor. How we tend to deal with stress/fear.

More details from the BR Advocate http://theadvocate.com/home/3599778-125/officials-seeking-well-at-sinkhole

Texas Brine met with DNR on July 30, before sinkhole developed, as USGS seismic monitors found tremors originating from the vicinity of the cavern. The sinkhole developed on August 3.

At the conclusion of the meeting Texas Brine says they thought that "the probability of a cavern collapse and sinkhole was exceptionally low.

The Advocate reports:

Chustz, who took over as interim secretary on Wednesday following the resignation of Scott Angelle, said the salt cavern passed its last mechanical integrity test — a kind of pressure test called an MIT — in October 2010.

He said a Jan. 21, 2011, letter to DNR from Cartwright, which discusses a failed MIT, referred to “a breach in the top portion of the well, not in the actual cavern itself.”

The Cartwright letter makes mention of a possible “hydraulic communication” between the cavern and the formation outside of the salt dome.

“At this time, a breach out of the salt dome appears possible. If the cavern is in hydraulic communication with the formation outside of the salt dome, such communication could have occurred during mining or during brine injection before the MIT,” Cartwright wrote.

His letter adds there had been no obvious signs of the loss of integrity during the productive life of the “cavern,” but those possibilities were under review.

Sonny Cranch, spokesman for Texas Brine, said in a later interview Friday that the company did one mechanical integrity test of the entire salt cavern and its well bore during the work on the well.

He said that operation was the failed test referred to Cartwright’s letter. DNR records show it occurred between early October and mid-December.

Gee, it sounds like the DNR is saying the failed test only indicated loss of integrity of the sidetrack, but the Cartwright letter (partially quoted) seems to indicate that they thought the cavern's integrity might have been lost by communication with the exterior of the dome.

Man, what an incredibly depressing line up of news. I'm glad I don't own a gas oven as my head would be firmly in it by now :-{

Yeah it is kind of depressing. In this case because India is too late.

You see this type of thing from third world countries. They copy others but by the time they copy, what they're copying has become obsolete or useless. But now we are pretty much all in the same boat. Everything's been done to death.

My beef with these computerized surveillance operations is that they suck resources and they are a poor substitute for intelligence operations. Particularly, the computer scoop approach overwhelms the very limited number of trained analysts, leaving no people power for other tasks. The first real application of data mining, after the World Trade Center bombing, dumped 40,000 leads on the FBI in one year. The FBI had fewer than 50 foreign terror suspects under surveillance at the time.

We keep building larger data centers to try and monitor everything. The last one that I heard about was in Colorado and takes as much electricity as the city of Boulder. There may be more since.

A trained analyst can integrate information from many sources and produce a very good idea of what's going on. That person takes time and resources to train, and has to be supported with field operations to produce the raw information, all expensive. My opinion is that spending megabucks on computer operations distracts us from focusing on the important stuff.

From Trapwire's web site, it appears that they are collecting video and other sensor and alarm data from the security systems installed at private and public locations. This would logically include the systems at refineries, pumping stations, chemical plants and other critical infrastructure locations. They can probably do better video analysis and incident analysis than the individual companies and organizations, as well as do patterning of suspicious activity across multiple organizations.

The Feds have been working with owners of critical infrastructure since the early '90s and the first World Trade Center bombing.

Seems the TV show "Person of Interest" is not too far from reality.

Sulphur content a little high- maybe- just a little.

"The pipe that failed Monday dated back to the 1970s, but it is still unclear whether the thickness testing conducted by Chevron in its last major inspections noted corrosion in that specific, 8-inch pipe."

Snow job. The thickness tests are in purpose built databases. (google 'ultrapipe' for an example) Tippy-tippy-type-type and you have the full history on that piece of pipe as fast as the display refreshes, including the calculated average corrosion rate, and the estimated replacement date.

Now if they missed a spot, that's different. Pitting corrosion is hard to pick up with ultrasonic thickness testing, especially if you have a small area of deep pitting. Your probe has to be right over the top of it.

In 2005, I counted 33 major net exporters (countries with 100,000 bpd or more of net exports).

In 2011, only six years later, six of the 33 were no longer in the major net exporter category.

Vietnam, Argentina and Malaysia (based on most recent BP data) had slipped into net importer status, and Denmark, Syria and Yemen each fell below 100,000 bpd in net exports. (We seem to be losing one major net exporter per year*.)

Denmark is a case history of a net oil exporter, showing a production decline, that heavily taxes fuel consumption and that has successfully cut their consumption. Their 2004 to 2011 rate of change numbers (BP):

(P = Production, C = Consumption, NE = Net Exports.)

P: -7.9%/year

C: -1.0%/year

NE: -19.9%/year

P/C: -7.0%/year

Given an ongoing production decline in an oil exporting country, unless they cut their consumption at the same rate as the rate of decline in production, or at a faster rate, the net export decline will exceed the production decline rate, and the net export decline rate will accelerate with time.

For example, in Denmark’s case, their 2004 to 2005 net export decline rate was 12.5%/year, while their 2004 to 2011 net export decline rate accelerated to 19.9%/year.

In simple percentage terms, a 43% decline in production from 2004 to 2011 resulted in a 75% decline in net exports, even as consumption fell by 6.5%.

*Interestingly enough, if we extrapolate the 2005 to 2011 rate of decline in the Saudi P/C ratio, what I am now calling the Export Capacity Index (ECI), Saudi Arabia would hit an ECI ratio of 1.0, and thus zero net oil exports, around 2034.

And, in the last line it nicely puts purported "huge" finds into perspective for the lay reader:

"For example, he said that if Norwegian oil company Statoil’s new discovery in the largely tapped North Sea amounts to a billion barrels, “that’s what the world consumes in 12 days.”

There are a few conversational tools that seem to work well with folks who are intelligent but currently clueless. In particular, the GNE and ANE notions from westexas's posts, and EROEI.

I think we need a shorthand for the "what the world consumes in X days" conversion. EWC (equivalent world consumption)?

I wonder when US media will cease referencing WTI as the price of oil. It's a lie that misleads on a daily basis.

What is the efficiency - Amp-hours in vs. Amp-hours out of LifePo4 vs. Lead Acid ?

And the life expectancy, LifePo4 vs. Lead Acid.

Alan

Guessing 8-10 kW of PV would net zero you out. 6.5 kW here in Cloudy NW Florida. Check out PVWatts.

COP raises when 1000 °C are exceeded on the outer wall. [Fuel] consumption is that of a [nuclear] fusion reaction, that is, almost nonexistent. A proper estimate would require to turn the thing on and then taking a very long vacation before verifying the actual consumption.

REAL MAGIC!

Power consumption 3.56 kW. Heat power irradiated by both inner and outer walls, assumed equal for a total of 13.39 kW

One bar of an electrical heater consumes about 1 kW. So effectively you've put a 3 1/2 bar heater in an insulated chamber. That would account for the toasty glow.

But the heat power irradiated from the inner walls just internally heats the device. It is only the heat power escaping the device at the outer walls and radiating out from the observation hole that can do any useful work.

And that is far less than 11.39 kW. My guess is it's about 3.5 kW, i.e. the device is simply an electric heater, there is no nuclear effect whatsoever.

The comment suggesting the temperature measurement using the "laser thermometer" was not accurate sounds rather bogus. A simple baffle made of a mirror with a hole in it would allow the hand held device to be located much closer to the hot spot while shielding the operator's hand from the radiant heat. Also, if the device were mounted in a vertical position, and placed within an insulated duct, the rising air could be directed thru a heat exchanger with water flowing thru it. This would allow measurement of the total energy emitted over time, which could be compared with the energy supplied to the electric resistance heaters. The water could be run thru the heat exchanger for the entire period of operation and continued after the power to device was cut off and the temperature returned to ambient.

If the device can be shown to work as claimed, we may have a new way to heat houses and hot water, using only the setup described and the testing shroud. Lets see the data...

E. Swanson

Just from the photo, these temperatures are suspicious. The colour in the 'black body cavity' appears to be about 850C, but the outside can't be more than 500C, which appears cherry red in a dimly lit room. Remember, emitted power rises with temp to the FOURTH power, so even the claimed 5:1 heat excess requires a better test than this.

It would have been so easy to put the described apparatus in a muffle furnace used as a calorimeter - just integrate the power draw of the furnace with the gadget present and compare with a control.

Just another cold fusion hoax, IMO.

Also, new ecat car, automatically recharges overnight!
http://ecatcar.org/

A statement From Rossi about the leak of secret info as follows:

Andrea Rossi

August 12th, 2012 at 5:35 AM

Dear Antonella:

About the tests: the precise dates will be decided in an agreement that we should reach at the beginning of September: obviously we have to accept their needs.

About Cures: He has been identified as Domenico Fioravanti, it appears that the data from the test made on July 16th comes from him. If it is true, it is due to an excess of enthusiasm for the results, that have been obtained in a test directed by him and by 6 Professors from two Universities. The data had to remain confidential, but he could not help to talk about this event and the remarkable results.

He is making these tests as a Consultant of a military Customer of us and now probably he will have problems for the leakages, even if I do not think it has been so important: sooner or later the same data will be published. I knew Ing Fioravanti when he was a Student of the Politecnico di Torino ( the Engineering University of Turin, Italy) because he was making a research for Prof. Cesare Boffa (one of the best Engineering Prof. of the time) regarding the new technologies of Electrostatic Precipitators. It was the year 1976 and even if I was 26 years old, I was at the times considered an expert of the sector, so I gave to Domenico Fioravanti much papers I had wrote and he also visited the electrostatic precipitators I manufactured in my factory of Caponago (Milan, Italy). Then we never met again. After 35 years (!!!) I received an email from him in the blog of the Journal, in which he congratulated for the E-Cat, and for me has been a delighting surprise to hear from him again. I contacted him privately and he explained to me that he was a Colonel Engineer, expert of missiles tests. One year later, when with our Military Customer we had to choose a neutral Consultant for the test of the well known plant of 1 MW, I proposed Fioravanti, whom they knew very well, because he worked with NATO, with the Pentagon at the highest levels and always for engineering connected with thermodynamic tests ( mainly nuclear carriers’ heads tests). So we all have been glad to choose him.

His intellectual integrity and his knowledge of the matter has allowed a job that has been considered highly professional from all the parties involved.

This is it.

Warm Regards,

A.R.

Domenico Fioravanti is in trouble now: maybe 10 years in jail. He may have wanted to get the E-Cat into the public domain and out from under military secrecy. He may be the first martyr to the LENR cause.

[Fuel] consumption is that of a [nuclear] fusion reaction

Whatever this is, it is *not* nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion on hydrogen isotopes produces neutrons, period. At the incandescent power levels shown in the photograph enough of them would be produced per unit time to kill everyone in that room.

The device looks to be operating like a cavity radiator. What if the cavity is only open on one end? Using a larger version of the photo converted to grey scale, it appears that the diameter of the hole is about 2.56 times the size of the bolts on the frame in the foreground. If the bolt heads are 15mm across the flats, that would imply that the diameter of the hole is about 38mm. Lets assume that about 2 kw of the 3.56 kw electric supply leaves the cavity as IR radiation.

From the Stefan-Boltzman Law:

Power = area * emissivity * SB * T^4

SB = Stefan-Boltzman constant = 5.6704e-8
The emissivity of a cavity radiator is 1.0, thus:

T = (Power / (area * SB) ) ^1/4

T = (2,000w / (1.1341e-3 * 5.6704e-8) )^1/4

T = (3.1102e13 ) ^1/4  =  2,361K = 2,089C

With both ends open, double the area and the result is:

T = 1,985K = 1,713C

If my assumptions (and calculations) are close to the mark, it's not unreasonable to expect that the electricity input alone would heat the cavity to 1200C (or what ever). So, is there really any extra energy produced by this device? I seriously doubt it...

E. Swanson

These come from a quite reliable inside source who was allowed to "leak" some data and information about Rossi's 1200 °C test E-Cat core currently under testing.

http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.se/2012/03/sinking-of-e-cat.html

Let's start with what Rossi himself had declared about his E-Cat. He said that it is based on the fusion of hydrogen and nickel nuclei (see Rossi's patent) and that gamma rays are produced during operation (see here) so that lead shields had to be placed inside the device. Rossi also said that he was building a factory in the United States where he would produce E-Cats by the millions; to be sold as water heaters for people's homes. According to some recent statements by Rossi, the device had been undergoing safety testing for months at Underwriters Laboratory.

It couldn't go unnoticed in Florida that someone was claiming to be producing nuclear reactors in large numbers. On February 24, an officer of the State of Florida Bureau of Radiation Control went to investigate what was going on in the pretended "E-Cat factory" in Miami. There, he found no factory, but an apartment and Andrea Rossi in person. Questioned on the E-Cat, Rossi declared that "no nuclear reactions occur inside the device." Rossi also stated that all the facilities for testing and production are "overseas," and that safety certification with Underwriters Laboratory will be arranged in the future. The officer then left, writing in his report that his bureau has no jurisdiction over a device which has nothing nuclear inside. (The complete documentation is here, comments can be found here and here. Rossi himself confirmed the story here.)

[...]

In the end, lacking experimental proof, the idea that the E-Cat produces energy rests only on Rossi's statements that say, basically, just "trust me". But after the Florida story, it is clear that this is, also, a no-win strategy. How can you trust Rossi after so many contradictions? Where is the E-Cat factory that he said was in the US and then, no, it is overseas? And where is the safety testing (not) being done? Incidentally, if, hypothetically, the E-Cat were really producing nuclear reactions, we should think of Rossi as a dangerous criminal who lied to the Florida officer about his plans to produce and sell without the necessary safety certifications a device that generates gamma rays. That Rossi can't be trusted has been clearly perceived also by Rossi's supporters, who have been abandoning the sinking ship: for instance Sterling Allan. The University of Bologna had wisely disengaged from Rossi already in January.

What do I do to prepare ?
One thing that is essential,IMHO,is to strive to maintain a positive mental attitude. (PMA)

Wish I had gotten into farming instead of ******* IT.

So what's stopping you? I'm 59 and have had the rug pulled out from under my feet many times and have had to start over from scratch. You get up, dust yourself off, and get on with life.

Maybe you could find a way to apply your IT skills in control systems for integrating and automating aquaponics or something like that. Industrial civilization may be doomed but there are still lot's of things that need doing right now.

http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/aquaponic-production-607.aspx

Live your life while paying attention to the things that seem to be related to the problems of energy.

It worked for me.

I'm an English major, an academic. I started checking images of fossil fuels, bulldozers, cars, highways, the sun, etc. in literature. I think I found something interesting. And I got it published.

Juliet is the sun?? (i.e. opposed to coal)

An idea I got through this method!

And so just keep going with ideas that seem relevant and interesting, that tie into your skills and knowledge and interests.

Soon, others will be wondering "how did you think of that?"

Because energy is so important, it really should claim our professional attention, no matter what our profession. That it doesn't is just a sign of the complacency we've developed over the years of plentiful abundance.

There's plenty you can do with your IT degree. Computers are used everywhere these days, including renewable energy, farming, etc. Stuart Staniford, who was one of the founding members of this site, is working in computer security now. He thinks that will be the place to be in a peak oil world.

Or you could do something else. You're still young. You could easily switch fields. It doesn't have to cost a lot of money. If you think you'd be interested in farming, try WWOOF.

If I were in your situation, I would choose something that would be useful even if BAU continues. For example, veterinary science. If BAU continues, your patients will be beloved pets. If not, you'll be treating farm animals, maybe even people.

Don't worry too much about money or real estate. If you can't afford it now, you can't afford it. Skills and relationships will likely be more important, anyway. Anything else can be stolen or confiscated.

And don't put your life on hold. Whatever you pick, make sure you enjoy it. Some peak oilers have been preparing for the collapse for 30 or 40 years. It still hasn't happened. If you end up in that situation, you don't want to look back and think you wasted your life.

One thought is to find others who are doing things.. this lets you share/inherit in some of the knowledge and progress they have already gleaned while you offer your efforts, and probably most important, you get to not be alone with these concerns. You don't have to do it alone.. and this really won't work in an 'Every man/woman for themself' mode. (That said, there ARE things you can look at personally about how to start learning to grow foods, or minimizing your dependences on external supplies of energy, learning other useful skills like carpentry, repair or teaching.. etc..)

If you don't know of people like nearby Permaculture groups who are accessible and active in positive ways.. you might find out where they gather online for your country or region, and at least join into the conversation, and find out how to extend the ideas (gently) into discussions with people closer by who might also be into this, and just haven't discovered it yet.

'Now' is often a less ideal time to start then years ago.. but just start, and don't try to do everything, just do something.. and when that's sort of in place, you can do something more. etc.. Your youth is an advantage to be appreciated, even if it doesn't look like it from where you stand.

Lot, I'm glad to read that you have begun preparing a 5 year plan. I'm sorry to hear that you are still focused on peak oil as a TEOTWAWKI scenario.

I think you have personality problems that have made you obsess on this issue in ways that are not healthy for you - and not conducive to your long term survival even if peak oil plays out in the apocalyptic fashion you imagine. I strongly urge you to seek medical help.

Meanwhile, I propose a modest experiment. Imagine a 6 meter snowfall just isolated you in your apartment or house for three weeks in the dead of winter. There is no electricity. There is no water. There is no natural gas. What would you need to survive indoors for 3 weeks?

1. You would need to stay warm and dry. Could you do that without whatever you use for modern heating? Do you have a wood stove? Wood? Do you have blankets? A winter sleeping bag? Enough winter clothing?

2. You would need water. How much water would you need to store to survive 3 weeks? How much to drink? To cook? To bathe? To take care of sewage? Could you use the water in your toilet? Your water heater? Do you have a water purifier? Chlorine?

3. You could probably survive 3 weeks without any food, but how could you do better? What foods could you store? Does it need to be cooked? How would you cook it?

4. What are you going to do for your toilet? Plastic garbage bags? Buckets? Porcelain chamber pots? The kitchen sink?

5. What kind of tools or equipment would you want if the electricity is off for 3 weeks? A flash light with extra batteries? A self-charging flash light? Extra batteries for your cell phone? A hand crank radio? A bicycle generator? A gasoline powered generator? A knife? Duct tape? A harmonica? A guitar?

Now do it. Just do it. It doesn't have to be expensive. Make a list. Remove anything too expensive and find a cheaper substitute. Get rid of the stuff you don't really need. And do it. I don't know your budget but there is no reason you cannot do this in 2-12 weeks.

55 here, and I STILL don't know what I want to do when I grow up. Biology degree ... worked as a cabinetmaker, furniture maker, pathology lab tech, musician, managed a tropical fish store. There were other things, too. I am currently working for a bicycle maker, who does very cutting edge work. Since we don't know what the future holds (heck, the "experts" can't agree!), I just work on what I can do, and look to find ways to help others with what I can do. I feel very fortunate to have been able to follow my interests, as diverse as they are.

"Wish I had gotten into farming ...". It is not too late. Many cities have some kind of community garden site where you can get a plot for $25 per year. Grow lots of veggies and share with friends or can them for the winter. You will learn a lot & become a sought-after guru for your expertise. Use your day job to support this subversive activity. There is much to do and no time to waste.

Mod Fred up, dust yourself off. I've had to do it several times.

Use these times to build yourself up both in skills and mind. You have mde a good start by coming here, follow the links people give and LEARN, LEARN, LEARN. You might not be able to become self sufficient in 5-10 years but you can practice. Grow small amounts of food crops, even if it is only a barrel of tomatoes. You will start to get a feel for plants that will set you ahead of city dwellers who don't even know if you plant with the roots up or down. I switched from th UK to Mexico and am having to learn a whole new load about plants and the things to watch for, TOD has made me want to learn more. As for women, in a few years they will be more interested in a man, you, who can show that he can look after them than someone who has fancy stuff and no future. Become strong. Both in mind and ody, you will need it. For your 5 year plan use your IT to make as much as you can and set that against your future, the next 5 year plan which will be to become more independent using the skills and resources you built up in this one.

I don't recall where in the world you are but there are others, other TODsters maybe, that are near you that can help you build your self up. As the old saying goes "seek and ye shall find". Take courses where you learn the basic handicraft skills, you will likely meet others there as well. I did a greenwood course, many years ago, and I learnt a lot, could likely make what I need just from that short course. It is out there if you look for it. I will say it again, use this 5 year plan to build yourself up on all levels.

Good luck

NAOM

EDIT: Let me add that I was in IT and I can assure you that you are disposable and the first out of the door when cost cutting comes, been there.

I payed off my student loans, and moved back home to the area where I grew up and have my biggest social network. I guess that covers 90% of the stuff I can ever do. I am 35 in october.

Of course you probably know that Tom is a regular poster here as well.

Way to go, Tom! 'Do the Roof!'