References – Page 74 – Public Intelligence Blog

Photovoltaic (PV) technology (aka solar panels) is advancing steadily. That advance will occur regardless of whether we have an economic depression or booming prosperity. This advance means that price of PV modules are dropping at a rate of 7% per year (as it has been doing that for decades). This means that by 2020, the price of a PV module (with micoconverters etc. included) will likely be close to $1 a watt (not including installation, which is also falling). That puts PV tech within the range of being cost competitive with today's alternatives. As an added benefit, it's possible that modules that approach this level of cost efficiency might also be locally printable (as in: they could be made in a 3D fab or grown in a bio-lab).

The implication: for those communities able to deploy it in quantity, it will mean increasingly inexpensive energy for as many years into the future as you want to project. For those that don't, you will increasingly fall behind.

There is a caveat though. The real potential for this technology isn't going to be found in a large number of big, commercial solar complexes. Why? The infrastructure and investment necessary to make this happen on a scale that really matters doesn't exist in the US or EU anymore. We are broke (and even if we weren't, NIMBY is nearly impossible to overcome as the record of new power line construction over the last 30 years attests to). So, it should be easy for us to conclude that it won't get built at national/regional level (if you think otherwise, I have a planet I'd like to sell you).

Fortunately, there is a ray of hope. For those of us building resilient communities, we WILL see this infrastructure deployed. How? Through the hard word and dedication of a resilient entrepreneur: the solar farmer. The solar producer that keeps his/her entire community fed with increasingly inexpensive and bountiful solar energy, 24x7x365 (via energy storage for round the clock production).

A Platform For Local Solar Farming

Continue reading “John Robb: Solar Farming, Localized Power Resilience”

2011/11/162011/11/16

Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, IO Secrets, Movies

47 minutes 49 seconds. Riveting. The bottom line: high-frequency computer based trading is divorced from reality, humans, and tangible value.

2011/11/162011/11/16

Chuck Spinney: Paris-Berlin-Moscow Axis Reinstated

02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Articles & Chapters, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Government, IO Deeds of Peace, Peace Intelligence

The Paris-Berlin-Moscow Axis Back Again

by Immanuel Wallerstein

It always amazes me how the world's politicians and media spend most of their energy debating geopolitical prospects that are not going to happen, while ignoring major developments that are happening.

Here is a list of the most important coming non-events that we have been loudly debating and analyzing: Israel is not going to bomb Iran. The euro is not going to disappear. Outside powers are not going to engage in military action inside Syria. The upsurge of worldwide popular unrest is not going to fade away.

Meanwhile, to minimal serious coverage in the media and on the internet, the Nord Stream was inaugurated in Lubmin on Germany's Baltic Coast on Nov. 8 in the presence of Pres. Medvedev of Russia and the prime ministers of Germany, France, and the Netherlands, plus the director of Gazprom, Russia's gas exporter, and the European Union's Energy Commissioner. This is a geopolitical game-changer, unlike all the widely discussed non-events that are not going to happen.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Paris-Berlin-Moscow Axis Reinstated”

2011/11/16

NIGHTWATCH: Iran – Turkey – Brazil Nuclear Axis

01 Brazil, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Iran, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Blog Wisdom, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Officers Call

Turkey-Iran: A senior Iranian official recently said Iran is willing to share its nuclear technological capability with neighboring, friendly countries, which could include helping Turkey build an atomic power plant.

For years Turkey has tried to build a nuclear power plant, but no Western country has been willing to help, the official said, adding that this is true for other countries in the region. Iran is also willing to cooperate with Brazil in the nuclear field, he said.

Comment: Energy policy provides a basis for an expansion of Iranian influence and presence in the Middle East and Brazil.

NIGHTWATCH KGS Home

Phi Beta Iota: The insanity of US foreign and security policy is breath-taking, and only explainable in the context of an out of control government that is advancing pathological short-term corporate interests. Brazil does not need Iran's help on nuclear energy. What is interesting here, in combination with the French-German-Russian Axis [and more distantly, India-Pakistan and China-Asia] is the isolation of the US Government – the world is beginning to isolate the pathogen.

2011/11/162011/11/16

John Robb: Understanding Pathogenic Behavior

03 Economy, Blog Wisdom, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Sense-Making, Military

THE ART OF PATHOGENIC WARFARE

Within human social and economic systems, pathogenic behavior is spreading. This is particularly true among powerful, successful, and wealthy people (finance, economics, politics, etc.) in the developed world. What specifically do I mean by pathogenic? An ever greater number of these people are adopting behaviors that are actively hostile to the human systems we rely upon. They actually think it is OK to put these systems at risk for personal benefit. This is very dangerous. Given the massive amounts of network, technological, and financial leverage that's currently available to these people, even a single bad actor can wreak global havoc like never before (as in, they could cause an economic collapse that's so severe that it could kill more people than every war we've ever had to date, combined).

So, why is this happening and how can we prevent it? This has been a tough section of the book I'm currently writing. Fortunately, I think I'm starting to unravel it. Here we go. In order to understand why some bad actors are willing to do grievous harm to the complex systems they rely upon, we need to visit the cutting edge of microbiology. Let's start that exploration with a look at an amazing article by Brett Finlay in the Scientific American called, “Stopping Infections: The Art of Bacteriological Warfare.”

Good, Neutral, and Bad Bacteria

Continue reading “John Robb: Understanding Pathogenic Behavior”

2011/11/16

Seth Godin: Has Your Journey Been Worth It?

Blog Wisdom, Ethics

Worth it?

That's a question you hear a lot. “Was it worth it?”

Not certain what either “it” refers to, but generally we're saying, “was the destination worth the journey? Was the effort worth the reward?”

The thing about effort is that effort is its own reward if you allow it to be.

So the answer can always be “yes” if you let it.

Phi Beta Iota: Those on journeys generally know they are on a journey – and the pain is part of the deal. Those not on a journey – those who settle for being drones and gerbils repeating the same motions, the same experience, year after year without question – may not realize that the fastest way to experience conversion and start a journey is to reconnect with one word: INTEGRITY. Is all that you do consistent with the Constitution, with service to the public, with honor toward the Republic? If it is not, start your journey today.

2011/11/152011/11/15

John Robb: Radical Energy Innovation Here Now

05 Energy, Blog Wisdom

RC ENERGY TIDBIT: Leveraging the Earth for Heat/Cooling

Resilient energy leverages the terrain.

Resilient guerrillas/warriors leverage the terrain they are fighting on to the max. In our case, we want:

plentiful, low cost (hyper efficient) energy that
uses a process that's inexpensive to maintain and is
under our control (not subject global supply chain factors and limited to locally available labor).

The way to do that is through the installation of geo-exchange systems. These systems run water through plastic pipes buried in the ground. Since the ground (below six feet or so) remains at a constant temperature (50-65 degrees) year round (it's a heat sink), this circulation process will heat or cool water to the ground's temperature. This allows heat pumps that run 2-3 times more efficiently and cooling that is dirt cheap. For example:

Here's a note from Australia on a recently built hospital. Lithgow hospital uses 1/3 less energy as any other hospital in the state and it's heating/cooling system requires less maintenance. It also eliminates noise and the risk of Legionnaires disease (an added bonus).

See Also from John Robb:

“Reinventing Fire maps pathways for running a 158%-bigger U.S. economy in 2050 but needing no oil, no coal, and no nuclear energy.”

Virtual power plant market set to zoom.

International Academy of Astronautics says we need to start building an orbital solar power system.