I attended last Friday's (21 April 2006) forum at SUNY-Albany's D'Ambra Auditorium along with about 24 other attendees. The event was sponsored by SUNY-Albany's Department of Biological Sciences, Biodiversity, Conservation, & Policy Program. Most of the attendees appeared to be over 35, with only a small smattering (about 6) of traditional student-aged adults.

There were four distinguished speakers:

• Dr. Charles Hall, Systems Ecologist, SUNY-Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY
• Dr. Richard Perez, Atmospheric Science Research Center, SUNY-Albany
• Dr. Gary Kleppel, Department of Biology, SUNY-Albany
• Dr. Steve Breyman, Department of Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Dr. Hall started the forum with a sobering look at the phenomenon of Peak Oil and discussed its gross ramifications. He discussed the lack of substitutable energy sources for fossil fuels to support our current voracious apetite for cheap energy. He indicated that we don't know the extent of the problem due to the lack of information about global supply of oil. He dismissed the notions that technology can "rescue" us from the finite and dwindling supply of oil. His opening presentation set the tone of desperation for those who still cling to perpetuation of the status quo, and opened the door for the next three speakers.

Dr. Perez gave an overview of the potential of solar energy in the state of New York. He illustrated his presentation with images of innovative photovoltaic installations such as parking lots covered with PV panels and hinted that someday we might be able to plug electric vehicles into these facilities and recharge them while they're parked. He also had slides of industrial-scale rooftop PV projects. He had a great graphic that showed the proportion of the state that would need to be covered by PV cells operating at today's efficiencies (5-10%) to produce enough electricity to meet peak demand (0.7% of the state's area), and then compared that to the percentage of the state that is paved over (I believe it was about 3%). He also described passive systems and active solar hot water heating, but to a much lesser extent.

Dr. Kleppel's presentation was titled How to Eat Better with Peak Oil. He described the impacts of Peak Oil on food production and distribution and urged a return to more locally-produced food sources. He mentioned CSA's and a closer relationship between consumer and producer. I was a bit taken aback that he didn't promote a less meat-intensive diet, due to the increased land/resources needed to support it, but overall, his "buy local (food)" message was right on target.

Dr. Breyman concluded the forum presentations with a very upbeat, pragmatic discussion about the opportunities and challenges that Peak Oil presents to us all. The concept of a richer life (in terms of spirituality, community, and connectedness to the Earth) dismisses the notion that Peak Oil means huddling together in the dark to stay warm. Dr. Breyman's ecological economic slant was evident, and welcomed by me since the neo-classical economists of this nation are promoting the unbridled growth of the economy as more important than environmental and human-scale sustainability efforts.

The forum was then open to questions from the audience. One member asked about the idea of using ethanol from corn and the efficiency of the Fischer-Tropsch process for coal gasification. Dr. Hall claims that corn-based ethanol is a net-energy loser when all factors are included (land removed from food production, oil and/or natural gas to fire the process, etc.).

Another question was posed regarding the use of low-grade geothermal heat pumping to warm campus buildings. The panel desribed that the heat of non-tectonic geothermal energy is of such low-quality (it can only be used to heat space), that the amount of high-quality energy (in the form of electricity which can be used for a wide array of applications, and is generated primarily by burning of coal or gas) needed to "extract" it would be a misappropriation of finite fungible resources.

I suggested that we have exemplars for national solutions for or mitigations of the "problems" presented by Peak Oil. Namely, Cuba--which had its own Peak Oil-type scenario abruptly imposed in 1990 when the Soviet Union collapsed and the island nation lost most of its imported petroleum, exacerbated by the US embargoes--and Iceland, which is committed to converting to a 100% renewable energy program. While acknowledging that Iceland is a special case (because of its abundant high-quality geothermal energy), the panel agreed that Cuba is a great example of how a nation, once forced to accept and counter the crisis of Peak Oil, can restructure and repurpose itself to adapt to a reduced energy state.

I met several local (Capital Region) people who are involved in the CoRE group including Paul Swartz, Jim Welch, and Howard Hart. I also introduced myself to Steve Breyman who said he recognized my name from my posts to CoRE.

Overall this was a good event. My only wish was that there might have been a geographer or land planner available since many of the solutions will require an integrated, interdisciplinary, and systems-based approach, including a restructuring of the automobile-centric infrastructure whose time has come and gone, just like the era of "cheap energy."

Cheers,
Jim Z.