The March To Memetic Dominance  

Jamais at WorldChanging continues his production of novel peak oil related phrases (though his spelling of apocaphiliac is starting to wobble) with his latest note on the peak oil meme's increasing penetration of the blogosphere and general media (although blogpulse shows that peak oil and long emergency are both on the decline as far as blogosphere attention goes lately).



He then takes a look at the various methods being proposed to produce biodiesel from biomass (noted earlier here and here) and from algae (also noted earlier here and here). These tend to be my favoured biofuel production mechanisms as well, so hopefully the increasing interest in the subject results in more effort being put into research and development of these techniques.

"Peak Oil" continues its march to memetic dominance, and a greater number of pundits and politicians not previously known for talking about the environment have started to ask what happens when oil runs out. For many who embrace the "Peak Oil Is Here" idea, the answer is simple: chaos, because petroleum is at the heart of much of industrial and agricultural production, not just transportation.

But that's not the only scenario. There has been quite a bit of research into alternative means of producing the materials we now make using oil. Biomass is the top candidate for oil equivalents, and indeed biodiesel has been getting more attention of late as a renewable and low-net-carbon method of fueling vehicles, both by renewable energy advocates trying to move away from fossil fuels and by researchers trying to improve the efficiency of biodiesel production. Biomass is also being used as an experimental feedstock for chemicals now requiring petroleum. And by stretching the definition of biomass a bit, even fertilizer -- a favorite of the apocyphiles -- can be made without fossil fuels.

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I don't look at these developments as being permanent substitutes for sustainability, I see them as transition technologies. Work on improving the efficiency and utility of the more sustainable practices will continue, and -- as I fully expect -- when they are recognized as being demonstrably better, large-scale adoption will follow. A world of Peak Oil crisis and conflict is far less likely to let us get to that point.