From: Jan Lundberg <jan@culturechange.org>

An: sfbayoil@yahoogroups.com; Global Warming Crisis Council <gwcc@lists.riseup.net>
Received: Mo., 17. Sept. 2007
Thema: unanticipated effect from all out energy efficiency

These days. when those that think worry about a UN-US competition for the title of who will be doing LESS on saving the world from the effects of CO2 emissions, comes this e-mail that caught up with me in Vienna.

Jan Lundberg, a scion to the Lundberg family that runs the Lundberg Newsletters which are the best pulse-taking media network used by the petroleum industry and its products distributors, and who personally got interested in the concept of petrocollapse quite a while ago, writes often on the potential self-correcting effect that an upcoming world shortage of oil will have on the issue of oil use in food production and distribution - the movement towards “use locally produced food” - or the revival of local agriculture.

Jan Lundberd is asking in his letter for ideas, and we repost his letter and suggest you send him your ideas. We also suggest to those involved in the “end-of-September wind-making meetings” - in New York and Washington - to look at his short note as a stimulant to their brain cells.

Dear reader - here is Jan’s e-mail:

A Culture Change volunteer and I were discussing today whether some “time could be bought” to forestall petrocollapse if only the big potential for energy savings were enacted “before it’s too late.”

I believe that if this were to happen, we’d still be stuck with the same overbuilt petroleum infrastructure, and nothing can be done in rapid enough fashion to avoid agricultural and distributive failure from supply constraints now that peak oil has arrived. But an unanticipated effect of all out energy conservation could be that if somehow enough energy saving kicked in suddenly, this alone could kick the consumer economy and energy utilities in the guts hard enough to even bring down the economy. Any thoughts? Any studies on this?

It could be similar to a sudden, successful buy-local movement that if widespread enough deprives corporations of revenue and growth: a body blow to the whole consumer economy, intended or not. Then what would come about afterwards?

Jan