The Admiral's Warning (Peak Oil) -- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[IrateCitizen]

http://www.energybulletin.net/35992.html

The admiral's warning
by Dadid M. Shribman

Fifty years ago, he saw today's energy crisis coming, but we didn't listen. Are we listening now?

This year marks the 50th anniversary of a number of important cultural markers -- the launch of Sputnik; the publication of "The Cat in the Hat," Dr. Seuss' landmark children's book; the introduction of the Edsel, a symbol of failure, soon after the Bel Air, which became an American icon; the school crisis in Little Rock, one of the biggest battles involving racial integration; and the release of the movie "Bridge on the River Kwai," which went on to win seven Academy Awards.

All that plus one other, hardly noted at the time, all but forgotten now: A half-century ago Rear Adm. Hyman G. Rickover, the father of the nuclear Navy, accepted an invitation to speak at the banquet of the Annual Scientific Assembly of the Minnesota State Medical Association in St. Paul. In that speech, before a gathering of physicians, Adm. Rickover raised the specter that easily accessible and economically reasonable supplies of fossil fuels would be in jeopardy ... just about now.

SNIP...

This was no mere rhetorical warning. At the heart of the Rickover thesis was the role that energy played in civilization, or perhaps said another way, in civilizing humankind. "What lifted man -- one of the weaker mammals -- above the animal world was that he could devise, with his brain, ways to increase the energy at his disposal, and use the leisure so gained to cultivate his mind and spirit," he argued. "Where man must rely solely on the energy of his own body, he can sustain only the most meager existence."

So Rickover set the predicate: Energy is more than fuel but is instead a requirement for our very humanity and our survival. He went on to argue that a reduction of per-capita energy consumption throughout history has led to a reversion to a more primitive lifestyle. (One of his examples: Once wood supplies were exhausted, the Mayan civilization was imperiled.) Then he delivered the warning we did not heed: "Our civilization rests upon a technological base which requires enormous quantities of fossil fuels. What assurance do we then have that our energy needs will continue to be supplied by fossil fuels: The answer is -- in the long run -- none."

READ THE REST AT THE ABOVE LINK

[eppur_se_muova]

1. 51 years ago, Hubbert's original presentation on 'Peak Oil' --

reproduced for the 50th anniversary.

http://www.energybulletin.net/13630.html

[MADem]

2. Well, Rickover was a batshit crazy, mean-ass martinet who played fast and

loose with rules he didn't care about (his wife's diamond earrings, e.g.) and he was a screaming fan of NUKE POWER in all its forms.

He wasn't urging people to get windmills or solar panels on their roofs, or put paddles in gulfstreams offshore--he wanted nuke plants everywhere, and the planet lit up like a Christmas tree. That was his thing. Of course, we need to work on the safety of those bad boys, don't we, before people will get over that NIMBY attitude they have about that energy source.

If you read this article without a jaundiced eye, ole Hyman comes off like the Al Gore of his day. It needs to be noted that he was ANYTHING but. He was the father of the NUCLEAR Navy, but he wasn't a Greenie ahead of his time by any stretch. He was just pointing out the obvious. Resources ARE finite. In his head, the answer was more nuke plants, not solar panels.

In the meantime, we can always attack Cuba and subjugate them to our Imperialist Will...they've found a shitload of oil off the coast, there!!

[pscot]

3. It really is not fair to judge Rickover

in the rear view mirror. The end of cheap oil was by no means obvious, nor was the downside to nuclear power. You have to take the past on its own terms.

[MADem]

4. Oh, I drove on the highway with the guy for a time, there....

He was a smart son of a bitch, with the operative words being son of a bitch!!!!!

He was still kicking and pissy when the downsides to nuke power were plainly evident, and when oil as a resource started becoming more expensive and problematic. He saw rationing of gas under Carter. He weighed in on the investigation into TMI (supposedly, he said "DILUTE the report or it will be the END of commercial nuke power!" At least that's what his daughter said he said in a sworn affadavit, don't know if she's telling the truth). Ronald Reagan forced him into retirement, essentially, and when he wouldn't shut up, he made sure that bit about his wife's earrings was made public.

Fascinating fellow, he was. A rip roaring bastard, a genius, and a brutal taskmaster. And, make no mistake, a FAN of nuke power.

The Quick and Dirty on the man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyman_G._Rickover

[pscot]

5. I was too quick on the trigger

We have a tendency to judge figures from the past through the narrow lense of our own moral superiority. That is clearly not your perspective.