Supply gap could mean oil hits $200 a barrel

Just in case you thought the recent fall in the oil price was a new trend....

Only a collapse in the global demand for oil can save economies from a supply crisis and crude prices reaching more than $200 a barrel, according to a report out today.

Energy expert Paul Stevens says that governments and companies are investing too little to meet future needs and a "supply crunch" will hit within "five to 10 years."

His report, for the Chatham House think tank, dispels hopes that the recent 20pc fall in the oil price from its $147.27 peak might herald a return to more manageable levels. "A spike of over $200 is possible," Mr Stevens concludes.

(Full article in the Telegraph)

And remember that "a collapse in global demand for oil" is not going to happen because we've moved to renewable energy, it's going to happen because there's a global recession.

Check out these sites for more info:
http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/
http://www.theoildrum.com/

Mike

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Charcoal kiln test, and stuff that's growing

In an earlier post I was making a traditional charcoal kiln, but I also had a second oil drum, and today made that into a different kind of kiln I'd been told about.

Step 1: cut the top off an oil drum, and make slots in the side near the bottom (I did four, equally spaced):
Step 2: burn out any remaining oil (this wasn't smoky this time, as there was plenty of air getting in through the slots at the base)
Step 3: cut the top off a smaller drum, and pack it tightly with dry wood. I'm using a 20 litre veg oil drum for now, but I hope to get something larger, as I won't get an awful lot of charcoal out of this one: Step 4: put the small drum inside the big one, open end down, and make a fire around it. You can see several "hot spots" from the air being drawn in rapidly through the slots:
Step 5: Let it all cool down, and get your charcoal out of the small drum - I've not done this yet, it's cooling down right now, so I'll find out in the morning if it worked....

It should work better than a normal oil drum kiln (whole drum full of wood, lit and then sealed once the smoke turns blue), because the wood in the small drum will be heated and the volatile gases driven off, leaving the charcoal behind. There'll be no oxygen in the small drum, so the charcoal should not get burned up at all. Another advantage is that the fire in the larger drum can be made of twigs that aren't suitable for making charcoal, and the highly flammable volatiles driven off from the wood in the small drum will help feed the fire.

Tracy wasn't there with me today, so while the kiln was burning, I set about sharpening my chainsaw - this is much more pleasurable in the wood, rather than at the kitchen table! I mounted the saw on our chopping bock, using a neat little clamp:
I also took the opportunity to tidy up the camp fire area, arranging the log benches and rebuilding the stove:
I cleared an area for a tent too - I've got four mates visiting next weekend and we're going to camp there, hopefully cooking with my own sustainable produced charcoal!

And finally, here's some pictures of stuff that's growing. First, the biggest fungi I've seen in a long time. No idea what it is (so we won't be eating it...), but it was growing on the base of an ash tree in Sweep Wood:
Then the pond, which is decidedly green:
When you look closely, there are actually a lot of bubbles on the surface. Not sure if these are methane from decomposing matter in the pond, or oxygen from photosynthesis. Next time I'll take a match to find out! ;-) There's also a few random plants taking root on the banks of the pond - there's plenty of light there as we coppiced some of the nearby chestnut. We're really excited to see the pond slowly coming to life, as we have done absolutely nothing to introduce any species - this is all happening by itself.
Out in the wayleave, beside our entrance, the grass seed we put down on the track is beginning to yield results:
And in the wood, one of the oak stumps has decided to try and grow again. The only problem is that every single shoot is getting nibbled - I assume by rabbits or squirrels. Perhaps we could try using some closely spaced sticks to make a kind of fence to keep the rabbits off, though I'm not sure how well it would work...We're up again tomorrow, early in the morning, as we have some customers coming with a tractor and trailer to collect several tonnes of chestnut logs for using in their stoves - one of which is in a local pub.

Mike

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Making a charcoal kiln from an oil drum

Last night we started on making one of our charcoal kilns. I'm going to try two designs, the first is a basic one, cutting the top off the barrel and making a ledge for it to sit in. The base of the barrel has holes in it to let the air in while it is supported on bricks, then the bricks are removed and it can be sealed around the base to exclude the air once the charcoal is done. I'll do some photos when we use it...

First though, we had to rescue a caterpillar that had taken up residence:

Then I set about cutting the top off, by drilling some holes to get started and then going in with a pair of tin snips:
I still need to make some extra holes in the bottom, but first I had to make a fire in it to burn out any oil residues. This was a bit nasty, so we did it at the end of the evening, to try and avoid the smoke upsetting anyone...
More on this:
finishing making the kiln
the results

Mike

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Roll out the barrel

One of the things I want to do this summer is to try making some small charcoal kilns out of oil drums, just to produce a bit of charcoal for our own use. I'm not there yet, but the materials are now in place:


Tim's been up in the week with a log splitter by the look of it:and the last of the oak butts have now been milled, leaving a nice flat space, which could come in handy for visitor parking and further timber storage, if we prevent it growing back up: There's still a lot of oak firewood to be split and extracted, so it'll be a while before the wayleave track can be restored.

In the wood, things are growing really well, with the rain and warm weather we've had. Some of the coppice stools have grown up to 2 ft now:
and a chestnut stake I used to hold some logs back in January has decided to sprout. I'll be interested to see if the base of it has roots when I pull it up!
This one's my favourite though - an old pollarded chestnut that used to have several large stems on it. With the stems cut off, the pollard has come back to life as well as the stool!
Meanwhile back at home, Tom's decided that it's time he learned to sit up at the table during dinner time:
They're both enjoying their new box full of fresh grass seeds too:
Mike

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