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Ten U.S. Cities Best Prepared for an Oil Crisis

Mon, 2006-03-27 00:45 — energyblog

Hey,

I was reading "Ten U.S. Cities Best Prepared for an Oil Crisis" from www.sustainlane.com and although interesting since the US has so many large cities, we have only about 10 large cities in Canada anyway! We're more a regional collection of towns. The effects on cities as well as smaller communities would need to be researched a bit more in our case.

Are there any articles that you know of that have done a Canadian version, and if not would it be difficult to create our own? I think it might be helpful to see where local issues and regional issues collide during peak oil, not just transportation, then for us to focus on those issues within our communities. To what degree will we be affected? Where and how, exactly? This will help our neighbourhoods realize their vulnerabilities on a wider range of issues.

Also if you're another postcarbon outpost, this might be a good idea to explore. Not all communities will feel it the same way. Perhaps our efforts can then act as a template for other postcarbon outposts.

Thanks

cite: http://www.sustainlane.com/article/734//Ten+U.S.+Cities+Best+Prepared+fo...

Comments

denise4peace's picture
denise4peace
March 28th, 2006

New York City Prepared?!

I think the people who performed this analysis were missing a few key points, like the fact that electricity is largely produced in petroleum-powered plants. New York has already seen some major black- and brown-outs, even with oil abundant and cheap. Elevators run on... electricity (!) and 5-6 floors is pretty much the maximum for practical walk-up apartments. Ever notice how all of the buildings in Paris, built before the advent of the elevator, are the same height? How sustainable can it be when hundreds of thousands won't even be able to get in and out of their apartments on a daily basis? Also, with their weather (short growing season) and population-to-agriculture ratio, I don't see their food situation looking too good. What happens when the pressure in the natural gas lines drops below a usable level and they can't heat their homes (and skyscrapers? Well, for one thing, their pipes will freeze. When they thaw... big problems. I guess we all have a different perspective on these things, but I, for one, would not want to be living in New York twenty years from now. The point about having a port is a good one. Even as manufactured goods become fewer and more expensive, they will still need to be transported, and ships are definitely the energy-efficient way to go. Geographical location, specifically water and navigable waterways, will certainly become central to a city's survivability. The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. (Plato)