From Cold, to Old, to Hot...Ice > Oil > Solar

[LeftHander]

The Cold - Ice



We can look back through history and see the change. Many of us have forgotten that fortunes were made in the 19th century harvesting ice from frozen rivers and lakes in North America, storing and shipping it as far as India. Each century has technological advances that renders the previous economy obsolete. So much so that now in less than 100 years...the ice man and "ice box" are all but forgotten relics. I grew up with my Grandmother and mother calling the the refrigerator the "ice box". I learned that and for many years used the term. Until we switched to "fridge" short not for refrigerator but for "Frigidaire" the brand name.

The Ice market was vast and touched everyone's lives. IN fact it could be said that in the 19th century much of our efforts and technological advances went in the harvesting, handling and distribution of ice blocks to keep food and beverages cold in our homes. Much of that ice....millions and millions of pounds of the stuff was moved with little help from petroleum based products. Real horse power, steam and man power ruled the day. Oil was to lubricate the joints of the steam engines as was whale oil which was more prevalent and less expensive.

The Old - Fossil Fuels



Fossil Fuels. What would ice moguls of the 19th century think if you told them that in 50 year their industry would no longer exist and it would be replaced by machines that run off of electricity generated by coal and oil driven power plants. And horses would be replaced by engines that explode internally driving wheels at unimaginable speeds. they would of thought you were crazy.

The Hot - Solar



So now...oil moguls scoff, conservative war mongers moan and laugh at the prospect of a post oil dependant economy. They can't imagine a world without oil. They are our modern ice merchants. Doomed to fate as sure as the ice markets experienced in the early 20th century when GE created mass market refrigeration run on electricity. The ice box that makes it's own ice. We now have the technology of the next great economic shift. The solar panel. A power plant in every home. Free electricity with a low cost of ownership is going to be a reality. Along with that comes the ability to create combustible fuels for internal combustion engines and natural oil lubricants synthesized from the power generated by the sun into viable petroleum replacement products. We will become producers not consumers...as we take personal responsibility for our own energy needs by producing electricity with solar panels and produce combustible liquid fuels with biomass sources and solar power.

The Ice trade is now just a memory. But look into it. Look into the vast wealth and influence that was made and the empires it built. The global economic model was built on commodities like ice, tea, spices and now oil...it will soon be replaced by local economies tied together by wind, solar and biomass fuel production. Global economics built from a local scale will become the mainstay of humanity and usher in a renaissence of human creativity, expression and a era of peace that will be unmatched in human history.

That is the future. That is reality. That is the truth, that the oil moguls cannot accept and are willing to sacrifice millions of lives to preserve a dying economy built on a obsolete resource. It is so clear...clear as the ice cut from the Hudson River or the finger lakes of upstate New York.

[lectrobyte]

1. I hope you are right.

[dweller]

2. my maternal grandfather was an 'iceman'

His first job was hauling iceblocks to the homes in Charleston,SC for home iceboxes. I have heard the stories of how his shoulders were broad from carrying the blocks with tongs, on foot, didn't matter if they melted along the way they were still large enough to cool the foods. He later went into fuel transportation, and built a successful business and along the way married and fathered 10 children with my grandmother. Their family business still exists today, his kids still run it, and one just recently passed, she was the oldest child. She was 83.

But my grandad dropped dead at 40 years old, long before i was around,(and i'm 52 yrs old) so i only have the stories i have been told to rely on. He also had the insight (as an iceman) to start a few other small businesses, one, an ice cream shoppe that my mom and her sister ran near the Navy yard in Charleston, where my mom met my dad, and her sister met my uncle around the start of WWII. My mom credits the extra scoops she gave my dad for the way she caught his eye. He left for the Phillipines with the Navy, 2nd Class Radar man on an LST, and came back at the war's end, and married her the next week. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last June of this year.

The memories and the realities blend. I tend to believe that as humans we will adapt and surmount our current energy crisis. But it will take a broad, brand new approach, with sweat equity and whole generations involved.

thanks for your thread, Rec and :kick:
dp

[LeftHander]

3. Great story thanks for sharing...

I was thinking about ice the other day for some reason and "ice box" popped into my head and I remeber seeing something long ago on PBS...and in it they mentioned the impact that having the ability to keep foods fresh with ice had on the industrial revolution. It litererally drove the migration from a rural to city for millions and set the stage for the maturation of the industrial economy.

And the ::POOF:: the ice industry completly vanished. I saw an article yesterday from a archeologist working to uncover the Hudson River ice industry. It was huge. Giant 300 ft x 100 ft multi-story warehouses lined the river, and ice barges were the largest on the river. Millions of tons of ice were moved from the river stored and shipped to New York City and farther south.

Facinating stuff and a testament to how good at humans are at exploiting a natural resource and how we can create an entire industry and economy based on it. The other point is how quickly we can drop that when somethig better comes along.

But certainly the ice markets taught a generation how to move on to the next big thing....and that was oil.