Fossil fuel outlook

I've been researching energy efficiency recently. It has to do with a book I'm coming out with soon. It's presently in editing stages and coming along really well.

As a result of research for the book I also became interested in how much fossil fuel energy is available for our future use. I had to research it and the numbers I found aren’t what the gas and oil companies are making part of their ads.

These numbers are as of 2012 and they are US reserves we’re talking about. They are the official numbers which include fracking. These numbers haven’t been updated either and I think it’s for good reason they haven’t. For oil there were 29 billion barrels of proven reserves, we go through about 7 billion barrels per year. On natural gas there were 322 trillion cubic feet, we use about 26 trillion cubic feet per year. http://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/crudeoilreserves/

I know there were some additional reserves that have been found. The thing is all of them together add maybe a year that we have available. Regardless, we’re going to have a problem and it’s going to be sooner rather than later.

If you know what's coming, you can prepare for it. Hopefully we don’t run out but if these numbers are correct we’re are going to be importing every last bit of fossil fuel starting about 2020. Personally, I would hope more will be proactive about energy use. I'm preparing for what looks like will be the eventuality by trying to make my house even more energy efficient.

Upcoming!

   I sent off the majority of "Offsets & Savings" to a beta reader this morning. She remodels homes and does construction for a living. That’s of course a group of people who I think would be interested in the book. Of course many average home owners would be also I think would be interested. The entirety of the book consists of things I’ve done to lower my utility bills and I’ve also become a little greener in the process.
   The feedback I got from her is that she thought the book is really good which greatly pleased me. There are others I’ve also ran the concept by and they thought it was a good one.
   Since it looks like I mostly have it together the manuscript will now go through the various editing stages. That will take a little while I’m sure. I want to make sure it’s as clean as possible and readable though.

   Here’s the cover that I’ve created for the book. The image just fit the subject matter in my mind the moment I’d seen it.

   When the book comes out it will be available on Amazon and Smashwords at first. Give it a few weeks and it will probably be available at most of the other online e-book stores.

   Having the manuscript available to both my computer and Droid phone at the same time has been great for this project. It’s the first one I’ve worked on exclusively where the manuscript is on a cloud drive. Pretty much anywhere that I've been at I’ve been able to work on the manuscript. I haven’t been tied to any single place and it's quite wonderful. It also sped up the process a lot. I’ll be doing more books the same exact way in the future.

US drought 2014

There is severe drought in significant portions of the United States. Nevada, California, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, and Arizona are affected along with a few other places like parts of Colorado where I live. Here is a map that shows the affected areas of the US.


Map courtesy of: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

If you are living in such states you really need to be careful with open flames, BBQ's, etc. The last thing you want is to start a fire that might burn down your house along with the rest of the neighborhood. One thoughtless moment and that's all it takes. 

It also is a good idea in the affected areas to go xeriscape with your lawn and use drip irrigation for a garden if possible. Drip irrigation systems can be expensive I'll note and not within my budget though I do have a soaker hose system that works similarly. I'm expecting drought issues to become even bigger in the future.

Now I'm not expecting to actually see a full fledged dust bowl. Significant areas of the US aren't plowed up these days like they were in the 30's which lessens the possibility considerably. Still, fire is a significant issue and will continue to be. 

My thoughts on war

I’m watching Through the Never by Metallica and they just finished playing “One.” I really do love the song and it brings back memories from 1991. While I was in southern Iraq there were a lot of dead vehicles, the fires that had raged through them left the blackened. There were also a lot of dead people. I’ll never forget seeing a guy who was turned into charcoal except for his eyes. They were still white and he looked like he was looking at me. Since then it’s haunted me.

At that moment was the exact point I couldn’t ever again see war as something glorious. Honestly I can’t ever support going to war anywhere or for any reason. All it does in my mind is creates death, destruction, and it ruins lives. You carry the baggage from that back with you so you aren’t the same as when you left.

While I understand it isn’t everyone’s viewpoint it is mine. Yes, I am very anti-war. To tell you the truth I will never change when it comes to that.

Offsets & Savings

I'm presently working on a book that I’m calling "Offsets & Savings" and it will be nonfiction. It's about some of the home improvement projects I've been working on and what savings I've achieved. We all need to save wherever we can so I thought it might be a good idea to share some of it. So far the book has been coming along really well and it shouldn't be too long until I’m able to release it.

What makes writing project different than any is the cloud. Presently the manuscripts on Google Drive which I can pull it up on both my Droid phone and the PC. It's actually sped up the process much faster than it would have been otherwise. I can add to a manuscript just about anywhere.

Reusable grocery bags

I thought I should maybe make mention of food safety with the reusable grocery bags. Make sure the ones used for food are only used for food if at all possible. There is a distinct possibility you could get ill because hamburger leaked on to the bag. Yes, you do need to inspect them periodically and clean them when you see food leakage. I would also recommend grabbing a store bag for meat separately. Of course, if the city has made it illegal, like Chicago that won't be possible and you'll need to bring your own but make sure they are clean.

http://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/reusable_bags.html

Go ahead and use them but be careful. They do save the environment in so many ways. Now for boxed and canned goods there probably won't be any issues and I've never had any in the last six or seven years.

Each of those bags does cost about 2 cents each. That gets into what the store charges you for the items you buy. They are not without a cost to you. So, if you want lower prices at the store bring your own bags and make it a habit.

National Bike Month

Now is national bike month here in the US. Bikes are really great for transportation. 

I of course do save quite a bit by not driving and I know it every time I pass by a gas station. It's almost $3.50 per gallon and I'm not expecting it to ever get below $2.50 per gallon again. 

One of the bigger surprises though was getting a discount on my life insurance because I didn't expect that. Probably the biggest detraction is that it takes you longer to get from place to place but I never have to take any days off for sickness. I'm going on 50 and I'm just about the only one that works where I do who doesn't have to. It's probably because of all of the bike riding, a bike is my only transportation.

Here are some of the numbers that have been put together by a couple of other sites. 
https://www.mint.com/blog/trends/shift-your-saving-into-gear-a-visual-guide-to-how-cycling-can-save-you-money-0514/?display=wide

Here's my ride these days. I really like the Takara, it's been a really good bike. So far I haven't even had a flat tire which has been a shocker.