Who is Mike Stasse and What Does He Know About Solar Energy Systems?

One of my friends in the world of energy and resource decline is Mike Stasse. I have a considerable number of friends who have serious experience with solar PV systems, and Mike is one who has written a blog regarding his experiences. He constantly and consistently shares lots of information about ecological overshoot and the symptom predicaments which offshoot from it in the blog he writes, Damn the Matrix.

Now, I have already previously shared much about the limitations, the overall environmental cost, the reasons why non-renewable "renewable" energy systems actually end up requiring MORE energy than if we simply began reducing overall energy use in the first place (civilizational inertia and Jevons Paradox), and the science proving all of this; however, Mike's information comes from personal, real world experience. Here is his latest saga regarding his (relatively) new solar system.

As one can clearly see, the real world experience is a whole different scenario from what one typically hears, reads, or sees in the mainstream media. The overwhelming lesson one learns is that in typical Western culture, the average person is going to be required to learn how to do FAR MORE with FAR LESS. This particular story goes back to Mike's big wake up (the same one a large percentage of us have after discovering the confluence of climate change, energy and resource decline, and ecological overshoot). 

Over the years, I have been very impressed with Mike's knowledge in many different areas; especially his appreciation of the layers of infrastructure that make up industrial civilization and the dependency of the upper layers (the newer layers [platforms]) upon the lower layers (the older layers [platforms]). The newer layers consist primarily of newer electrical systems, "smart" devices, internet-connected devices and the worldwide web, the suburban areas of cities, and almost ALL so-called "green" "clean" "renewable" infrastructure. The older layers that all of this depends upon are the central parts of cities, the older water systems and sewer systems, the streets, roads, and bridges that connect everything together, the older basic parts of the electrical grid, and the master platform, the fossil fuel platform. This particular post may be a bit more difficult to comprehend for some people who are not already familiar with these layers and how they function together, but it really encapsulates where we are headed (and this was written almost 5 years ago!).

Part of Mike's experience has to do with his building a brand new house based upon the criteria of where we are heading with ecological overshoot, climate change, and energy and resource decline. Watching it all unfold has been fascinating and informative, to put it mildly. So, Mike's expertise isn't just solar power, he also gets in on plumbing systems, heating systems, and the whole enchilada here and here. He is establishing as much resilience as he can knowing what is heading our way.

Questions? Go here to read the first article in this blog which explains many different aspects of what these stories are about.