It’s unlikely that there will be a single magical energy solution to transition humankind away from fossil fuels as oil and gas production declines. Luckily we don’t need just one solution, in fact if we build a bridge from a diverse array of solutions the whole will be much more stable than the sum of its parts.

Diversity is the key and there are many examples in nature and business. Putting too many eggs into one basket is never a good idea.

• Diversity in ecosystems creates a more robust natural system of life.
• Diversity in personal income streams and savings makes us each more immune to tough times and job loss.
• Diversity in investment portfolios creates more stability while maintaining the flexibility to experiment with some risky and potentially higher yield investments.
• Diversity in a business venture reduces risk and allows the business to explore and nurture new opportunities.

The Bloom Box by Bloom Energy appears to be perfectly positioned to add to the growing pool of energy diversity we will need to move away from fossil fuels. It’s fuel cell technology that turns oxygen and fuel (hydrocarbons?) into electricity.

More details on the Bloom Box will be announced in a few days and we’ll learn more about how efficiently it converts carbon and oxygen into electricity.  We’ll also probably learn more about the ‘fuel’ that’s required to run this magic box, which we already know can include fossil fuels. So in other words it’s not necessarily always a carbon neutral energy appliance.

I’m still very hopeful this kind of human ingenuity will help us build a bridge of diverse array of energy solutions; but it’s important to point out that no matter what solutions appear, the bridge will be easier to cross if we get a head start by downsizing, conserving, and living more self-sufficient lifestyles.

Even if the future is filled with inventive new ways to generate power, our civilization will be more stable when more of us surround ourselves with diverse and sustainable systems, both natural, economic, and human-made.

I had lunch with an old friend form Willits, California today. Willits is a small town in Mendocino County, California where highway 101 stops being a freeway and turns back into a main street. I used to live nearby so I thought I had a pretty good sense for the place. It sounds like the town has had a bit of an awakening.

My first tip-off to this change was buried in a movie where Willits was featured as a town prepping for peak oil. The movie is The End of Surburbia and is a must see movie. The segment on Willits is about 10 minutes long and starts at 1 hour 21 minutes into the movie. My friend confirmed that much of the town is in fact, prepping for peak oil, by simply focusing on creating a local sustainable economy independent from outside resources. You can learn about this grass roots movement at the Willits Economic Localization website.

Hearing this not only made me homesick for Mendocino County but it also made me feel a little less crazy.  I think it’s also important to point out that it’s just common sense to focus on strengthening our local communities. When we focus on finding sustainable self-sufficient solutions together we increase our resiliency and ability to thrive under good and bad times.

I really applaud the folks up in Willits, and other communities moving in this direction, for their foresightedness and bravery for leading the way.

I was shocked to see news of Peak Oil in the Wall Street Journal this morning. I hope it helps begin to break loose new conversations on this taboo topic, the inevitable energy crisis brought on by the exhaustion of cheap oil reserves.

I say inevitable because there will be a day when worldwide oil production begins to decline as the cost to extract the remaining fossil fuels becomes too expensive. I have no doubt that the world will make a transition to renewable energy sources as we run out of gas but no one can predict accurately what this transition period will look like.

My humble opinion is that if each of us move toward an environmentally and economically sustainable lifestyle now, we position ourselves perfectly for whatever the future has in store, good and bad. In other words, the best way to end our civilization’s addiction to oil is for each of us to end OUR PERSONAL addiction to oil.

Wall Street Journal: The Next Crisis: Prepare for Peak Oil

The proof will be in the pudding and price, but from these official Google mockups you might begin to see why I think Apple is going to have trouble making a major impact on the tablet market segment. If Google can keep the price comparable to netbooks they are going to easily be on their way to becoming personal computing hardware and software giant. See and read about this future tablet computer from Google. Image credit to The Chromium Project.

This past week I finished an update to Basic Simplicity. I also launched a new blog dedicated to the theme to help focus on theme content. I’ll also be writing about my adventures in problogging with an emphasis on avoiding all the deep bullshit you’ll read about making money.

Don’t get me wrong, you can make money blogging, but it seems most of the probloggers are so focused on selling the idea of blogging to schemers that they often sound like schemers themselves with all their ebooks, mentorships, and classes. I have no plans to ‘make money’ writing about blogging; I’ll stick to selling something of real value, tiny house plans. So in other words… what I’ll have to say about blogging will be free.

So if you want a slightly different tone I hope you’ll follow me at BasicSimplicity.com. I also setup a Twitter account specifically for Basic Simplicity theme and blogging tweets @basicsimplicity.

In these days following Apple’s iPad announcement many people have pointed out the flaws in the iPad. Gizmodo and Lifehacker both have good lists of glaring flaws with the device that will definitely impact it’s adoption and usefulness.

Announcing all the details 60 days before they have a shipping product gives Apple the opportunity to make some quick changes to the design and price point based on public reaction but it also gives competitors an opportunity to catch up faster, and there seems like a lot of folks are moving in the low cost tablet direction.

My money is still on Google. Apple has left the door wide open for Google to swoop in and steal this new market segment Apple just defined.  It also looks like I’m not the only one who agree’s with this theory, see what the Android Guys say. But only time will tell if Google thinks it’s a smart move and has willing partners, for example it looks like HTC is ditching the idea of a tablet and refocusing on Android phones. Now that they know what the iPad will feature, will they get re-interested or back-off? It will be fun to watch.

Here’s the line up of potential competitors. Photo credit Gizmodo.

Today Apple announced the iPad, which is essentially a cross between a tablet computer and an iPhone. It appears to have a super easy-to-use interface and the expected sexy wrapper. It is most certainly a new class of device and should be a success; but it’s NOT the Amazon Kindle or netbook killer it was expected to be simply due to the price.

iPad Price

The price will range from $499 to $829. Kindles cost $259 and netbooks typically range in price from $300 to $500. Had Apple found a way to offer a version in the sub-$400 range I think they could have dominated this market.

Defending Apple’s Price Point

The iPad will be a far more capable device than any ebook reader or netbook for at least a year or two. So I can understand their reasoning for pricing it between low cost Macs and netbooks. My guess is that they are hoping buyers will agree that the added value justifies the added cost… but I’ll stick to my guns in saying that they could have cornered the market on this segment with a slightly lower price.

The other major competitor for them will be Google Chrome based tablets, (more here). In fact Google seems to be quickly becoming Apple’s and Microsoft’s biggest competitor on multiple fronts from hardware, to operating systems, to mobile devices.

In the end my money is on Google, not because they have a superior product, but because they have a superior business model and approach. They also seem to get that quality + low price will always beat top quality + premium pricing. Sad but true.

For those of you salivating over the prospect of owning a new Apple iPad you’ll need to get a sponge and mop up your keyboard because it will be some time before it hits store shelves.

That’s right my fellow American citizens, our political offices are now officially available to the highest bidder, thanks to  the Supreme Court. No need to hide those illegal campaign contributions. Just pour your money in and buy the political offices you want… you’ll just need a few hundred million dollars.

Here’s a quote from an MSNBC article:

A major ruling Thursday by the U.S. Supreme Court could change how advertisements for presidential and congressional elections are funded, possibly opening the floodgates of money from corporations, unions and other groups.

By a 5-4 vote, the court overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said corporations can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to pay for campaign ads. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states.

I don’t think I’m overreacting when I say that American politics is now officially for sale. We’ve known politicians have been for sale for a long time… that’s not news. What is news is that the highest court in the land just made it legal for huge injections of cash into campaigns. The only ethical guy left in the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens, seems to agree… although he says it much more eloquently than I.

Strongly disagreeing, Justice John Paul Stevens said in his dissent, “The court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation.”

So now what?

Sounds like Stevens said it all and I really hope this one wakes America up. We must restore integrity to our elected institutions.

Photo credit wikipedia.org

This is an excellent video of a presentation by Jeff Rubin at The Business of Climate Change Conference 2009. I’m not sure if I agree with his predictions but it is concerning to hear someone with his credible references speaking so bluntly about how the looming transition off oil is going to affect how we live. Here’s a quote from the YouTube video description.

“Jeff Rubin, the former Chief Economist of CIBC World Markets and the author of Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller built his reputation as one of Canada’s top economists based on a number of successful predictions including the housing bust of the early 90s and the rise of oil prices. In his recent book, Mr. Rubin predicts $225 per barrel oil by 2012 and with it the end of globalization, a movement towards local sourcing and a need for massive scaling up of energy efficiency.”

Last night I watched the movie Escape from Suburbia on Netflix. As the movie started it seemed like a lot of Peak Oil movies as it rattled off all the scary statistics and doomer predictions. I found myself kind of rolling my eyes a few times but as the movie continued I was happy to see the movie tell the positive story we may find at the end of the end-of-oil rainbow… which is that a sustainable, self-sufficient, community-focused life will be a nice way to live so long as we can get across the gap left behind when we run low on gas.

Escape from Suburbia isn’t the best documentary I’ve seen on Peak Oil but it’s worth watching. If you have a Netflix account you may be able to watch it online like I did.