Nachoman's summer 2010 enginehouse challenge.

[Gary S]

Gary - we're now past the global peak of petroleum discovery and production. Not even deregulation can reverse the law of nature, that we're tapping out a non-renewable resource. Sucking it out of the ground at a faster rate isn't going to help in the long run.

I guess I deserve that for having inserted a pseudo-political statement into my sincere commentary concerning Kevin's situation. :x

Let me commend Kevin for his use of non-petroleum based products for his good-looking and innovative engine house. And a big thumbs up for the effort put into slicing scale lumber from those paint stirrers and still having 10 fingers!

I did notice that Kevin had a bottle of Elmer's glue on his workbench... a bottle made from petroleum products! Kevin! :o

[nachoman]

I did notice that Kevin had a bottle of Elmer's glue on his workbench... a bottle made from petroleum products! Kevin! :o

LOL. Gary, Gary. Didn't your dad tell you that glue was made from old horses, or was he trying to spare your feelings?

Seriously, I appreciate all the advice I have gotten here regarding my career situation. I certainly have nothing against the oil industry. I've got former classmates who got jobs in the oil industry - and did quite well for themselves. In fact, the oil industry gave plenty of incentives to my former university. I almost feel like my school should have been given NCAA probation for all the money, food, and beer they gave us. They even sent a class of 20 grad students on a all expenses paid 3-day tour of southern california . Every year, a representative from each of the big oil companies would come to my department and give a speech that we were required to attend. Afterwards, they treated all grad students to pizza and beer where we got to "converse" with the company representative without our professors around (they got treated to another dinner, that was much more extravagant than pizza). I am not sure quite what their goal was, but the rep from ExxonMobil was a fetching young lady who, for some reason, pretended to take a peculiar interest in my research that had nothing do with petroleum (I won't go into further details - this is a family forum ). And for those lucky enough, the oil companies gave the richest grad student research grants. My advisor forced me to apply for the oil company grant and somehow try to relate my landscape project to oil. That was probably the biggest load of BS I ever wrote . Good times, though.

[Gary S]

Kevin, not the glue, the plastic bottle!

Certainly oil has its issues, but I just don't see us Americans and Canadians doing any significant weaning off of it anytime soon. If each of us looks around our homes, we'll see that 99.9% of everything we have is oil related in way or another. I just don't see us giving up any luxuries to significantly affect the need for oil. Oh, we'll do little things to make ourselves feel better - we'll talk the talk, but none of us are going to walk the walk... as in give up all use of petroleum related products. Now that's what I am talking about! If I ran across a person who totally gave up the use of all petroleum based products, man, I would stand in awe of that guy and put him up on a pedestal! But the guy who proclaims "I am saving the earth because I cut my driving down from 175 miles a week to 150," well, the only acknowledgement he'll get from me is "hypocrite!"

[P5se Camelback]

... a person who totally gave up the use of all petroleum based products, ... the guy who proclaims "I am saving the earth because I cut my driving down from 175 miles a week to 150," well, the only acknowledgement he'll get from me is "hypocrite!"

Seriously, I tried really hard to walk on by this topic, mum. But the OCD took over as I went to click on "View new posts."

Reduction in the use of gasoline, regretably, would do little to reduce petroleum needs in this or any other developed nation, as nearly all plastics and synthetic compounds used in the manufacture of 90+% of consumer products are petroleum based. A quick scan of E. I. DuPont de Nemours' product offerings, coupled together with the two or three dozen other synthetic materials producers in this country alone should bear that claim out. It seem to me that those who profess the goal of a non-petroluem lifestyle are somewhat naive to the manufacture of those things they use without thinking in their everyday lives.

To go back to a non-petroluem lifestyle would be an unbearable, unacceptable existance to even the most devoted tree-hugger, unless an existance that mirrors that of Ted Kazinsky seems incredibly attractive. And a ten minute search of his delightfully woodsy shack would have no doubt revealed plastic keys on his manifesto typewriter or a plastic roll holder in his bathroom T.P. dispenser.

One bored Sunday afternoon, just for grins and giggles, take a pad of paper and go room to room, listing all those things that have any kind of a petroleum-based component in its manufacture. My guess is that if you removed each of them from your living experience, you would be enjoying the most spartan of exisitances!

Hope you're enjoying the use your wooden handled tooth brush with the boars' hair bristles and writing with that quill pen diped into the glass bottle of india ink! Have that all-important blotter handy!

However, I must express supreme kudos to Kevin for his inventiveness, creativity and focus in constructing an engine house that more than just portrays the look of a hardscrabbble construction bill of materials ... it actually uses such a list of components and comes out the other end in fine style!

Beautifully done, Kevin!

EDIT: Correction of overlooked spelling and punctuation errors.

[nachoman]

Ah, but the point is, like it or not we will run out of petroleum someday, as the earth only has a limited supply. It's best to make that later rather than sooner. As you mentioned, there are plenty of items that would be difficult to replace. If you an save from throwing stuff away as unneeded plastic packaging or vaporizing it as gasoline, that limited supply will last a little bit longer for the things we really cannot do without. That glue is made from petroleum . So when will we run out? I asked those oil company recruiters and that was the honest question they would step around. Their answer was that a career in the oil industry is no longer about finding new oil reserves as those are already discovered, but rather about finding more efficient ways of extracting the oil. I took that to mean what you see is what you get.

Reducing driving from 175 miles to 150 could be hypocritical if the person looked down on you for not doing it (as the person who drove only 100 miles could look down on them), or justified being wasteful in other areas because they drove less. It's just like the oxymoron of the"hybrid suv", that still gets worse daily mileage than my 45 year old ford. But reducing driving from 175 to 150 miles is 14% savings - and that is significant if everyone did it. Most people would love to save 14% on their food bill, the government to spend 14% less, get a 14% raise, lose 14% of their body weight, or have their favorite quarterback complete 14% more of their passes. By the way, I am not a "tree hugger" by any stretch. I just hate throwing things away (and my enginehouse is proof of that )

[tetters]

I'd be more concerned about overpopulation, then petrol reserves. The planet can only sustain so many of us until we run out of more important things like i dunno "fresh water"...

We seriously need to control our birth rate globally. I'm not suggesting we stop have children all together, as a species, as human beings we need to stop having so many...

But this a topic for another forum not here. I'll say no more. :|

[P5se Camelback]

The tragic problem with the "population control arguement," is that intellegent, educated people understand the arguement and take the required steps to "not contribute" to the problem, so to speak.

On the otherhand, less intelligent, under-educated, ill-informed, or worse, uninformed people continue to breed at an alarming rate. The result is unfortunately that the intelligence, and therfore the capability of the world's population to develop new ways to cope with declining resources in the face of a growing population is being diminished geometrically to the detriment of the world as a whole.

Ultimately, inability to cope with a lack not of resources, but of those resources that we have already learned to use to our advantage (or to "exploit" as those who see humans as a scourge to continued wellbeing of the planet) coupled with a generally lowered intelligence level, will hamper our ability as a species to develop new solutions from as of yet undiscovered resources with which to enhance and promote a better, easier, more comfortable way of life and therefore promote the contiinued existance of homo sapien on planet Earth.

I see it as a sad foregone conclusion ... that the unintended consequenses of well-meaning do-gooders who propose change without a full study of all the parameters affecting the problem will, in time, bring about the ultimate demise of society and them blame it on those who proposed first studying the problem and then developing aa thoughtful considered solution and did not jump to cause change of behavior without seeing all the cards face up on the table.

Now ... let's once again get back to ripping lumber from paint sticks, producing home-made corrugated metal and in the future, manufacturing scale cut nails with which to construct it all from discarded soda cans.


I apologize, Kevin ... I tried before to cut the discussion short but they kept egging me on!

[ocalicreek]

Gee, Kevin, I didn't mean to kick your enginehouse thread into a full blown environmental resource depletion discussion! :oops:

But it has been fun to read. Good points all around.

Question, Kevin: What sort of foundation will you construct, if any? I see the structure will have to be raised in order to allow the doors to open and close.

Galen