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Vol 1 No 2 July 2006

Welcome to the Powerdown Community Bulletin in which we bring together news, events and other initiatives from around Ireland of community-based responses to Peak Oil and the Energy Crises. Interactive web pages dedicated to supporting all your 'Powerdown' efforts are now available on sustainable.ie

Many thanks to all the contributors. Please send us items for the next bulletin by the end of July. powerdown (at) sustainable.ie

In this Bulletin:

1) Energy and Community: How to thrive in the Coming Energy Crises
2) Irish Premiere of ‘AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH’
3) Crude Awakening – A Peak Oil Panel Discussion at Galway Film Festival
4) Call for Irish Minister for Energy
5) 5th International ASPO Conference
6) Huge local interest in Energy Forum In Ballylicky, Cork.
7) Over 100 Attend Colin Campbell's Talk in Kerry
8) Oil Depletion Protocol Project Launched
9) News from the North West by Roger Adair
10) Rethinking Design for the Post Carbon World
11) Fuelling the Future - At Local Level
12) FADA Movement Kicks off in Newbridge

"We should feel a great sense of urgency about the impending peak oil scenario because it is with climate change the most dangerous crisis we have ever faced, by far. But it also provides us with opportunities to do a lot of things we ought to be doing for other reasons anyway. And to solve this crisis we can develop a shared sense of moral purpose. Peak oil is not a political issue its a moral issue which needs global cooperation and strong leadership." Al Gore from a Transition Culture exclusive interview.

1. Energy and Community: How to thrive in the Coming Energy Crises

Cultivate in association with the Village project are holding a course introducing Permaculture with a focus on building community and responses to the peak oil issue. The course will be of interest to those with no experience and those who have completed a full Permaculture Design Course. This groundbreaking event will take place on the site of Ireland’s first planned sustainable community in Cloughjordan.

“The Village” as it has become known spans 67 acres and will merge with the historical town of Cloughjordan, almost doubling its population to about 800 residents. This project, now years in the planning, is being designed as a worldwide model for sustainable living. Last month the project received its 100th investor who has committed to buying a site on the development which has planning permission for 132 homes. As well as the 132 living units ranging from apartments to detached residences, the site will include an enterprise centre, large areas of woodland, an organic farm and private allotments. The homes and commercial units will be built using permaculture principles. Permaculture is a practical design concept applicable from the balcony to the farm, from the village to the city. It enables people to establish productive environments providing for food, energy, shelter, material and non-material needs, as well as the social and economic infrastructure that supports them.

The course will run from Friday the 28th to Sunday 29th of July

Camping €150 / €100 Village and Cultivate members and students
Dormitory €175 | €150 Village and Cultivate members and students

This price includes course materials, two meals a day, three nights accommodation and tuition with Graham Strouts, Permaculture Teacher at the Kinsale Further Education College; and Davie Philip, Learning and Communication Manager at the Cultivate Centre, Dublin and a founding member of the Village Project.

More info: 01 674 6396 or email davie[at]cultivate.ie

This is part of Cultivate’s Powerdown Community Project and will incorporate a public talk by Graham Strouts on the Thursday night in Cloughjordan for local people worried about Rising Energy Prices?

Public Talk - "Energy and Community: How to thrive in the Coming Energy Crises"
Date: Thursday, 27th July
Time: 8.00 pm
Venue: Cloughjordan Parish Hall,
Cost: Donation

2) Irish Premiere of ‘AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH’

Galway Film Fleadh
Omni 5 on Saturday 15th July at 12:15.

Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced. If that sounds like a recipe for serious gloom and doom -- think again. From director Davis Guggenheim comes the Sundance Film Festival hit, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, which offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. That man is former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, re-set the course of his life to focus on a last-ditch, all-out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change.

The Galway Film Fleadh, now in its 18th year of promoting and showcasing the very best in new and classic Irish and World cinema.
www.galwayfilmfleadh.com

3) CRUDE AWAKENING’ A Roundtable Discussion

A major new Peak Oil film, 'CRUDE AWAKENING – The Oil Crash' will be screened at this year's Galway Film Fleadh at 17:00 on Saturday the 15th of July in the Town Hall Theatre. Davie Philip from the Cultivate Centre’s 'Powerdown Project' will facilitate a discussion on the subject of 'Peak Oil' after the film in the Town Hall.

This new 90 minute documentary, which is produced and directed by award-winning European journalists and filmmakers Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack, tells the story of how our civilization's addiction to oil puts it on a collision course with geology. Compelling, intelligent, and highly entertaining, the film visits with the world's top experts and comes to a startling, but logical conclusion – our industrial society, built on cheap and readily available oil, must be completely re-imagined and overhauled.

The panel consists of....

Davie Philip the Learning and Communication manager at the Cultivate Centre for Sustainable Living and Learning and a founding member of FEASTA: The Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability and the Village Project.
Tara O’Leary from the International Association for Community Development (Scotland)
Michael D Higgins, Labour TD and Spokesperson for Foregn Affairs
Graham Strouts is a Lecturer in Sustainable Living in Kinsale and the author, with Dr. Colin Campbell, of the forthcoming book "Living through the Energy Crises"
Peter Keavney is the director of Galway Energy Agency
Professor Angela Savage from NUI Galway
Nial Ó Brolcháin the Mayor of Galway City
Ray McCormac the Director of ‘Crude Awakening”

www.galwayfilmfleadh.com

4) Call for the creation of an Irish Minister for Energy

The environmental group Friends of the Irish Environment have called for the creation of an Irish Minister for Energy in the wake of the recent decision by English Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks to give the green light to the development of nuclear power. FIE Director Tony Lowes claimed in a statement responding to the UK decision that 'Not having a minister with this single portfolio is like not having a Minister for Finance - leaving the economic affairs in the hands of often competing interests.'

'In this case, the Minister for the Environment is trying to defend Ireland's nuclear position, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural resources is trying to support a market in alternative green solutions while the Environmental Protection Agency is attempting to meet our international obligations to limiting greenhouse gases.' The short sighted decision by the UK places Ireland at risk when we can still measure contamination from the Chernobyl accident 20 years ago. The last contaminated sheep were rejected from Irish slaughterhouses only 5 years ago - 15 years after the accident at Chernobyl.

Radioactive waste is 100 million times more radioactive that fresh fuel - and there is no technical solution to the problem of storing this waste. Scientific predictions for 10,000 years or more lies in therealm of fantasy. Energy is the new currency. Ireland's failure to have a Minister for Energy places us at a sever disadvantage in addressing the most critical environmental challenge facing Ireland today. www.friendsoftheirishenvironment.org

5) 5th International ASPO Conference

The Fifth International Conference of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO-5) will be held in San Rossore (near Pisa) in Italy, on July 18-19 2006. Previous ASPO conferences were held in Lisbon (2005), Berlin (2004), Paris (2003) and Uppsala (2002).

The objective of the ASPO-5 conference is to raise the awareness of the impending peak of oil extraction and the general phenomenon of depletion of all mineral resources. For this purpose, international experts will evaluate the consistence of the resources, assess the effects of depletion on society and economy, and discuss dynamic models able to help us understand the present and future situation. The conference will also examine the need for political action to reduce the impact of depletion. The submission of communications for oral and poster presentation is welcome (See details below)

The conference will be held in the open air, in the park of San Rossore, near Pisa, an area conveniently located near the international "G. Galilei" airport and a few km from the leaning tower. It is organized by the Italian section of ASPO (ASPO-Italia) with the support of the University of Firenze and of the Tuscan Regional Government. The ASPO-5 conference will be followed on July 20-21 in the same location by the "San Rossore conference on Energy" directly organized by the Tuscan Regional Government. This second conference (attendance is free, mainly in Italian) will deal with renewable energy.

6) Huge local interest in Energy Forum In Ballylicky, Cork.

The Ouvane Falls hotel in Ballylicky, near Bantry, West Cork, was filled to capacity for an energy forum hosted by Sustainable Energy Ireland on June 17th. Well over 100 people came to hear about the new grant schemes available for domestic heating systems, including wood pellet, geo-thermal and solar thermal panels. Environmental economist Richard Douthwaite of Feasta addressed the audience on the broader implications for energy in Ireland after Peak Oil: we are fast running out of cheap energy and will need to look to local, renewable sources, while at the same time emphasizing the need to reduce overall consumption: renewables alone will not be able to make up the shortfall as global supplies of oil and gas become increasingly scarce. He also pointed out that the raw materials needed for nuclear power- uranium ore- are also depleting fast and are unable to meet demand, and indeed this is true of many raw materials in general, in particular metals like copper, which are themselves approaching a global supply "peak" and will rapidly get more expensive.

Richard said that a regional grid system would be more sustainable in the long run, rather than a national grid which has many inefficiencies built in; and he also emphasized the need for communities to become more cohesive and pro-active in assessing and meeting their own energy requirements on a regional level. Within just five years, Richard warned, energy scarcity will have dramatic effect on the Irish economy leading to high inflation and rising interest rates. We have just this short window of opportunity to make the right investments for local and regional energy self-reliance.

For more information please visit
www.sei.ie or www.feasta.org

Thanks to Dave Simmonds for giving information on this event.

7) Over 100 Attend Colin Campbell's Talk in Kerry

On a wet and windy night in Annascaul on 8th July 110 people gathered to hear Dr Colin J. Campbell of ASPO-Ireland talk on what is now termed 'peak oil' . Dr Campbell presented a talk entitled 'The end of cheap oil -The end of the Oil Age?'.

Dr. Campbell talks about how we are using more that is available and that now 7 billion people are competing for and using the finite resources of fossil fuels and also that all money issued and borrowed is brought into being on the future collateral of cheap oil. We are now using 6 barrels to every 1 in production. This presentation particularly made us aware of the geological reality of finite fossil fuels and hopefully the amount of people present reflects the general public's increasing interest in the energy issue.

8) Oil Depletion Protocol Project

The Oil Depletion Protocol Project is a major new initiative to bring the nations of the world together to reduce oil consumption.

The Post Carbon Institute are working with Richard Heinberg, one of the world's foremost Peak Oil educators, in laying the groundwork for the successful adoption
and implementation of the Protocol. Richard's book about the Protocol, ‘The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism and Economic Collapse’, can be preordered (entitling you to a 20% discount) through New Society Publishers .

Post Carbon are currently putting the finishing touches on the Oil Depletion Protocol website, which will is ready for your online viewing at a href="http://www.oildepletionprotocol.org" target="_blank">www.oildepletionprotocol.org.

9) News from the North West by Roger Adair

Bio fuel continues to grip the public imagination here, in a typically nonsensical manner, with no consideration of the sheer volume of oil we currently burn every year in Ireland – about 9 million tonnes or 9,000 million 1 litre bottles of the stuff. This was brought home to me recently in conversation with some local farmers. I discovered that they have joined what is now a small, but growing, price driven, mini rush in rural Donegal to convert diesel vehicles to run on vegetable oil in response to price pressure.

Not that any of these farmers are actually growing their own fuel yet but they are naturally tempted by the prospect of home grown energy independence and profit from their own “oil wells”. What is missing from their calculations is the simple consideration that the oil we now use, produced during the Carboniferous period, required no land to be bought, no farm labour to be employed, no investment in or running of machinery and no application of, fossil fuel based fertiliser, herbicide or pesticide. More importantly, in the Carboniferous era, there was no competition for acres of land used to provide food for human consumption.

10) Rethinking Design: Towards a Low-Carbon World

This is the title of a Design and Innovation Conference being produced in partnership by the Cultivate Centre for Sustainable Living and British Council Ireland, with the EnviroCentre of Enterprise Ireland. The urgency of building an effective and integrated response to the twinned pressures of climate change and energy scarcity present an opportunity for developing a wide range of new products and technologies that use less fossil fuel. The day will look at a broad range of specific projects, products, incentives and initiatives responding to the need to develop low-carbon design.

Cultivate Sustainable Living Centre
Dublin, October 13th, 2006
Price: €150
Earl Bird: (Bookings Received By September 1st) : €125

More Information and Early Bookings: erik@cultivate.ie
www.cultivate.ie

11) Fuelling the Future- at Local Level

About 50 people attended a one-day seminar on energy at the Nano Nagle Centre, Killavullen, on Saturday 24th June. This was the latest in a series of seminars organised by the North Cork Organic Group (NCOG), previous topics covered including food, money and health. Inspired partly by the Fuelling the Future Conference held in Kinsale June of last year, the focus of the seminar was to educate and inform the local community on issues of peak oil and rising energy costs, and to provide practical information on renewable energy options, lifestyle changes and community empowerment. Speakers included Alex Grassick of the Cork County Energy Agency; Quentin Gargan of Ecologics, suppliers of solar hot water panels; Gerry Cunnane, supplier of hybrid renewable systems; Frank Scherer, sustainable architect; Mary Sleeman, of the NCOG and founder member of the Killavullen Farmers Market; Rosaleen O’Leary of NCOG;Martin Haymann, landscape architect and carpenter; Fergal and Juliet Duff of NCOG; and Gavin Harte, director of An Taisce and founder member of The Village.

Of particular interest in the ensuing discussions was the role of the government and the new grants fro renewable heating systems. Gerry Cunnane made the point that the government in Ireland has historically had not much of a handle on how to regulate electricity consumption, but have simply asked the ESB. The lack of urgency and engagement with the issues of energy by the government is seen in the fact that there used to be a Department of Energy – “Now it is the department of Something and Something and Energy”. Gerry also made the point that power stations were at best 60% efficient – so much of the power that we have just goes up in smoke.

12) FADA Movement Kicks off in Newbridge

The Newbridge group has continued its four-meetings introductory process through June, following the Willits model, as presented at the Willits Economic Localisation workshop in Kinsale in early May. Meeting 3 (June 12th) was a Values Exercise, which most people were happy to do, though some expressed a desire to get stuck into practical projects immediately.

At Meeting 4 (June 26th) we agreed on a provisional name for ourselves, we came up with initial vision and mission statements, we outlined some potential projects, and agreed to meet informally on Saturdays over coffee during the summer, to get to know each other better and to give some momentum to practical projects. We start formally again in the 1st week of September.

The name we have adopted is FADA:
Fada in Irish means something long or enduring, but we were also using it as an acronym for "Fuinneamh An Duchais Againn" which has layers of meaning, and that could include
"The energy of our local place"
"The vigour of our innate talents"
"The strength of our inheritance".

Produced by Sustainable Ireland Cooperative
Cultivate Sustainable Living and Learning Centre
15-19 Essex St. West, Temple Bar, Dublin 8
http://www.sustainable.ie