Health and Diet Scottish Recipes Ferret for Ferrets


Re: [pf] CO2 by average Americans and rich Americans. A statistic.
by Molly Williams
28 November 2000 16:04 UTC

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There was an article called "Oil Shortage" in the latest (Dec. 2000)
/Down East/ magazine (Maine's magazine), mostly talking about how
Mainers are switching back to wood as a fuel, instead of oil. The
article focuses on using wood (local! renewable!) vs. using oil (costly!
non-renewable! foreign!), and not much on reducing the need for so much
oil (although there is a sidebar on 10 ways to "save on heating costs")
-- most of which is used for transportation gasoline, not for home
heating anyway. Still, it's interesting. It's long, but here are some
quotes:

"After two decades of steady decline, wood heat is hot again in Maine.
Starting the with heating-oil shock of last winter and fueled by dire
forecasts of an even worse situation this winter, Mainers are dusting
offtheir woodstoves, buying new stoves, and driving firewood dealers to
distraction with calls. In late summer a poll by Market Decisions
(Portland ME-based), found 77% of Mainers were concerned about higher
prices, and 68% planned to add insulation, burn wood, or winterize their
homes."

"The effort gained some urgency on Sept. 24 when US Energy Secretary
Bill Richardson told a national television audience on 'Meet the Press,'
'We are preparing for a potential national emergency.'"

People are buying wood furnaces, and the comment is "'Without a doubt,
people think that this oil situation is not temporary. At the price we
charge for these furnaces, they're a long-term investment. People are
buying them for the future. They're convinced oil prices are going to
stay up there and even increase.'"

"Summer gasoline demand was so high, many refinieries didn't switch back
to heating oil until Sepptember. Added to all of that has been the
uncertainty surrounding crude-oil prices, which by early fall had hit
$37 a barrel, almost four times the price of early 1999. Oil-producing
nations are pumping all they can to meet current demand, and refiners in
the U.S. are operating at more than 95% capacity, a prodigious level
that had been maintained only by foregoing needed refinery maintenance,
according to news reports."

"Woodstove use in Maine peaked in 1980, when a State Planning Office
survey found 38% of Mainers relying on wood for most of their heating
needs. The last sruvey, 1998-1999, found usage had dropped to 8.7%. "

"Wood-furnace dealer Bruce Markham and many others are convinced that,
this time, wood heat is here to stay. Previous spikes in energy costs,
they argue, were caused by political actions -- wars and revolutions.
This time the shortage is a function of supply simply not meeting demand
on a global scale, amid predictions that world oil production may well
peak in this decade and begin a steady decline. 'This is a long-term
trend,' says Jotul's Gerencer [woodstove retailers]. 'We are going to
have to change the way we do things.'"

[Any typos are mine!]

~ Molly