Chris Jenson

David Wieland wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:Petroleum is the root of so many problems.

Mollison has suggested that permaculture is about replacing petroleum with people.  And yet, people tend to come with so much drama.  A fella with a tractor has less drama, although the drama of the problems with petroleum are still there.  

Why do you think petroleum is problematic?
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Petroleum is a wonderful resource, and we're blessed to live in a time when it provides the lion's share of the energy that powers our world. Having ready access to its various forms has enabled me and everyone else to be far more productive than our ancestors were.
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Living without petroleum would be problematic and add unpleasant drama to everyday life.

You're absolutely correct that the discovery of how to harness fossil fuels has made us far more productive than our pre-industrial ancestors could have ever dreamed of.
That said, the energy provided by fossil fuels releases carbon which had been locked away for millions of years. The rate at which we're releasing that carbon is far above the earth's natural ability to absorb it, thus the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and climate change. We're already seeing weather records broken, and if we don't change course, there are going to be catastrophes.

We won't have to go back to pre-industrial times though. The way forward is basically to electrify everything we can that currently runs on fossil fuels, and then generate that electricity through renewable and low-carbon means. The UK now regularly provides over half of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources, and it's cheaper than ever to set up your own off-grid solar system. Battery materials are the biggest issue, but there is a lot of work being done on commercial-scale production of batteries that don't need cobalt or lithium, along with exploration of alternative material sources (e.g. it's possible to extract lithium from seawater).

All of this is really to say that phasing out fossil fuels is basically mandatory, but they got us to a place where we can now harness other forms of energy.

Nissa Gadbois wrote:OK, so next question (and maybe this needs to be in a separate topic), How would it be to DIY an installation for an old farmhouse?  Current system is oil-fired forced hot air.  We also have a lovely well that might be a source for a ground-source system.  Is this something that absolutely, positively has to be done by a super expensive contractor?  Because we definitely do not have the scratch if this thing is going to cost over $10K.

You can absolutely do it yourself! I've found that HVAC is one of those things that once you learn the fundamentals, it's no more difficult than basic car repairs.
Things get a bit more complicated when you want to have multiple indoor units run off of a single outdoor unit, but it's nothing that a reasonably handy person shouldn't be able to accomplish. You may have to buy some tools, but it will be far, far less expensive than hiring a contractor. I've heard that HVAC contractors in the US are charging astronomical amounts of money for heat pump installations, so probably best to avoid hiring out if at all possible.

As for how induction cooktops work: The short and oversimplified version is that under the cooktop surface, there is a big copper coil with electricity rapidly going back and forth in it. When a suitable metal pot/pan is placed within close distance of that coil, the circuitry in the cooktop matches the resonance of the pan (kind of like how a big bell rings at a certain note). This causes large amounts of electrical current to flow in the pan, but at super low voltage. Large electrical current = heat.
Essentially, unlike the old style electric cooktops with a heating element the pan sits on, induction cooktops turn the pan *into* the heating element. Stuff heats up super fast, and all the heat goes right into the pan.

Hopefully I've been somewhat helpful!