The end of suburbia? I think not

Gaak! Books like "The End of Oil"
are predicting vast suburban slums because nobody can afford to drive to work--

Mister Roberts, don't you think that people can adapt? Don't you know that there are creative, intelligent people in the world who are developing technologies to save energy, more and more of which will become feasible as the price of oil goes up.

Case in point; We are considering the economics of getting one of these Spin-X Centrifuge Dryers - A few minutes in this machine will save a half hour or more in the dryer. Yes, they are expensive, and the savings shown are obviously for someone who does a lot more laundry than we do, but at some point rising electricity costs (and hopefully knock-off cheaper Spinner machines) will cause dryer manufacturers to incorporate this feature into thier best machines, saving America megawatts.

Or maybe people will start using clotheslines again!

.

Comments

Tuco said…
Hey cheese. I've been doing LOTS of reading about "peak oil" over the last few months. There are tons of books on this topic, and there's hardly anybody who doubts that once the "peak" is really hit we're going to be screwed.
Sure people can adapt.. and "around the house" stuff like dryers (which use so much energy they should be illegal actually - clotheslines are the way to go) can possibly be adapted. But it's OIL / GAS / CARS
for which there is no answer.
Let's say there's a general phase out of traditional cars, and hybrids become common. They still need gas, and the gas is running out.
7/01/2006
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