A Solar Solution

The good news is, our planet earth is not a closed system. Upper atmosphere of planet earth  receives 174 Peta (10 to the power of 15) Watts of  energy from the sun relentlessly. Petroleum itself is nothing but stored sun heat and light.

The energy that the earth receives from the sun can be harnessed and converted into many other forms. In 1830s, British astronomer John Herschel used a solar collector box to cook food. Native Americans and the chinese have used solar energy to warm their buildings by orienting towards the sun.

Solar energy is already used in many minor applications - heating water, green houses, swimming pool etc. More over, solar energy is used for is used for space heating of buildings.

Solar Energy can be converted to electricity in two basic ways.

Solar Cells a.k.a photovoltaic cells: PV cells have been used in many applications including watches, caluclators etc. Some remote homes off the electricity grid are known to use PV cells.

Solar Power Plants:  Thermal collectors are used to collect solar energy to heat a fluid and generate steam, and this steam is then used to power generator. There are a few such solar generators in Arizona and California. Vast areas in states like Nevada, New Mexico, West Texas, Arizona & California have  a immense potential in this regard.

Solar energysupplies are unlimited. Solar energy has very little direct impact on the environment.

Solar power plants come in 3 different technologies.

Solar Dish:


Solar Parabolic Trough:


Solar Power Tower:

Above three images are courtesy of Wikipedia

Here are some resources on these technologies...

MIT prototype solar dis passes first tests

Solar trough systems

Return of the Solar Power Tower

Conclusion:

Peak Oil is not end of the world, and Peak oil is not the path to Olduvai Gorge. If homosapiens ever go back to living life as  a hunter gatherer, it will not be due to  Peak Oil.  There is no reason to worry about matters that are out of our control. Let's just imagine that homosapiens do indeed go back to living like Hunter Gatherer 50 genertations from now, or 200 generations from now, is there anything you and me can do about it? No. In any crisis, there is a seed of an opportunity. The only practical action any one can take is to grab that opportunity, and there is nothing to be ashamed about, because you could be the one satiating the need for an alternative source of energy.

Human beings have reached the current level of evolved civilized life through trial and error, and spontaneous order.  It wasn't achieved through the planning by a centralized authority. Spontaneous Order isn't perfect, but it is the closest thing to nature. Planners aren't perfect either, they make mistakes more often than that would happen under spontaneous order. When the planner fails, the call is always to find a better planner or a better executor of the plan. When Spontaneous order hits an imperfect moment, people generally tend to blame the lack of planning.