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07.03.09- 'Waterless' washing machine cleans using nylon beads
The beads are added to the wash along with as little as a cup of water and a drop of detergent. After the water dissolves the stains, the beads, which become absorbent under humid conditions, soak up the water along with the dirt. The dirt is not just attracted to the surface, but is absorbed into the center of the beads. The beads are removed automatically within the machine at the end of the load so there's no need for the user to worry about separating the beads themselves. They also don't require cleaning and can last for about 100 loads or laundry, or about six months of average family usage. Read More
07.02.09- Positioning for When Water Runs Out: Part 2
An important industry has developed around this fact to treat, clean, and transport this water from its various sources to where people drink it, shower in it, irrigate their fields with it, and use it in literally thousands of manufacturing and agricultural applications. Because of the limited supply, much of this “waste” water is then purified, cleaned, and recycled for use again. But we can only refresh, re-use, and recycle so much. Read More
07.01.09- Positioning for When Water Runs Out: Part I
It takes somewhere between the three pounds of grain the National Cattlemen's Beef Association estimates and the sixteen pounds some environmentalists and vegetarians claim to produce a pound of beef. I believe the truth lies closer to the cattlemen’s numbers - all the ranchers I know, and I know plenty, graze their cattle where they consume vast quantities of weeds and natural grasses. What business person wants to buy grain, adding to their cost of doing business? Read More
06.30.09- A Recipe for Economic Destruction
06.29.09- Heat from the earth
Sunny Ruthchild, local farmer and entrepreneur, is taking a 107-year old building on Main Street in Milroy and bringing it into the 21st Century. The building is the old Milroy State Bank, which is a solid brick structure. Ruthchild picked the building and adjoining lots up at auction for around $1,000.00. Read More
06.27.09- The Thermodynamic Economy
Not too long ago, it bears remembering, most people on all sides of the peak oil debate - believers, skeptics, and everyone in between - assumed that the law of supply and demand would necessarily define the world's response to the end of cheap oil. As existing reserves depleted, nearly everyone agreed, the intersection of decreasing supply and rising demand would drive prices up. Common or garden variety cornucopians insisted that this would lead to more drilling, more secondary extraction, and other measures that would produce more oil and bring the price back down; techno-cornucopians insisted that this would lead to the discovery of new energy resources, which would produce more energy and bring the price back down; green cornucopians insisted that this would finally make renewable energy cost-effective, and at least keep the price from rising further; and pessimists argued that none of these things would happen, and the price of oil would rise steadily on up into the stratosphere. Read More Copyright © 1996-2009
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A washing machine that cuts water usage by 90% is due to hit American shores next year. The Xeros washing machine, which takes its name from the Greek word for "dry", cleans clothes using reusable nylon polymer beads with an inherent polarity that attracts stains.
In 
If current trends continue, there is no doubt that there will be wars fought in the 21st century over water. Not oil. Not ideology. Not theology. Water. Survival.
Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad is an ancient saying
that Obama seems intent on confirming with his energy bill. It has been estimated
that if implemented this bill will added $9 trillion to energy costs by 2050.
And the bad news does not stop there. Critics point out that the these costs
will be felt throughout the US economy, particularly in the production of goods
and services. However, Americans will not have to wait until 2050 for a severe
energy crisis to strike. 
(Editor's Note: In our constant and ongoing mission to help our readers cope with our current economic climate we continue to explore all the alternatives. The individual highlighted in the following article was able to get a grant to cover labor costs. On the front page of "the Bear" we provide a link which allows you to explore all the 
The last twelve months or so of economic chaos has taught those of us in the peak oil community some useful lessons. Perhaps the most valuable of these lessons is extent to which conventional economic ideas have failed to make sense of the way that the twilight of fossil fuels is working out in practice. 
