The Oil Drum: Europe

I believe that the ads are auto generated by google adds. TOD doesn't have control over what is displayed unless it drops google adds, but then TOD would need another source of revenue to continue operating.

TOD faces ever present dangers of being co-opted by corporate interests. Those TOD editors who post high tech energy projects can be hired subsequently as consultants or speakers for the industry they have promoted. Without knowing it, they can be rewarded and thus corrupted. This is why governments attempt to regulate the activities of public officials during and after government service, at least for a short period of time.

The mission of TOD can be compromised. TOD posts many technofixs relative to the number of posts dealing with preparations for Peak Oil impacts. The message to the many readers among the public, industry, and government is that we can fix Peak Oil problems. This provides support for a Manhattan Energy Project, instead of what is needed -- a scientific study by the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council.

One of the main problems with the posting of the technofixes is that rarely if ever do the sponsors provide a real EROEI analysis. A real EROEI analysis must include all of the energy that is consumed in all of processes getting to the final product, from all of the ores, components, and parts from all over the world, and the transportation of parts, products, and employees, and the factories and energy that supplies them, and the salaries of all the employees in a thousand processes and transportation to get the technofix to market and then maintained, and all of the oil, natural gas, and coal that all of these thousands of employees use when they spend their salaries. Opportunity costs must be included too, for example, if biomass is taken out of production. And a real time frame for the life cycle must be established, given that Peak Oil means less oil to maintain everything, and that the power grid will go out.

TOD editors are making a big mistake if they attempt to play the role of the National Academy of Sciences. Rather, TOD can play a role in asking Congress to commission the NAS/NRC to study these issues. We could have a letter writing campaign to Members of Congress. Maybe they would favor this approach. I'm sure that most of them don't know what direction to go in concerning the energy crisis.