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Comment by maaku | Hacker News Reader

> Not to mention alternative energy sources.

If I needed to rebuild civilization, that'd be the last thing on my mind.

It shouldn't be. Windmills and dams are a heckuva lot easier to make than oil rigs and refineries. Especially now that all the easy-to-harvest fossil fuels have been harvested. A second civilisation following in this one's footsteps is going to have a much harder time of it.

If you want to run the existing electronics or even rebuild basic electricity the easiest route isn't re-build the world's supply chains and production capabilities for oil and/or chemicals.

Wind, solar, and hydro are your easiest routes to electrical energy. From there lots of things become easier.

You don't like energy?

I think the keyword is "alternative".

Yeah, while it's "alternative" to us now, it won't be alternative then. Few people "need" windmills and water wheels now; but they will need them then.

Exactly! I was teasing a little, but my real point is that if you're "rebuilding civilization" then so-called "alternative" ways of gathering usable energy are not so alternative anymore.

I have heard of the idea of "Peak Wood" corresponding to "Peak Oil", being the time when wood to make charcoal for metal smelting became scarce due to the scale of production and the inefficiency of the process.

It's a long way from the blacksmithy to the oil derrick.

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