In 1815, when ships were still made of wood and sail powered, it was economical to transport grains from Europe AND the Americas to the UK, so much so that British Landowners had it blocked.
I was just reading a few old articles regarding food production in the future and our current reliance on imports and I thought it was relevent that we were pretty major food importers 150 years ago.
Britain's dependence on imported grain in the 1830s was 2%; in the 1860s it was 24%; in the 1880s it was 45%, for corn it was 65%.[
If grain could be sailed across the atlantic in a sail boat 200 years ago, trade might not slack off as much as people think.
We were a superpower then, and Britain ruled the waves. It may be technically possible to import food in future, but it relies on friendly countries to supply it, and safe passage on the sea to get it here. Things were a bit dodgy in WW2.
DominicJ wrote:
If grain could be sailed across the atlantic in a sail boat 200 years ago, trade might not slack off as much as people think.
Shifting cargo round the planet using large seagoing vessels is the most energy efficient method there is. I imagine this will be the last use for the fossil fueled internal combustion engine as oil supply declines.
Sail/engine hybrids as common at the end of the 19th century could make a comeback. There's a system called SkySail - which uses a computer controlled parasail/kite as an auxilliary power source which looks promising. One of its major advantages is that it can be retrofitted to existing vessels. http://www.skysails.info/index.php?id=472&L=2
The first to be knocked out by PO will be airfreight for 'low' value items.
"When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
John Maynard Keynes.
perhaps we could manage the volume of trade in the 19th century by sail, but how big was our population then?????
however, as long as we can prioritise ff for fertiliser production and other agriculture uses, we may well retain self sufficiency in wheat as we have now in the UK. Its the fruit and veg that's the problem I think.
It was just something that jumped out at me, 200 years ago, grain, what must be the worst cost/volume ratio, was shipped in such quantities protectionist laws were introduced.
Interestingly, social critic Stateside James Howard Kunstler in his recent blog mentions about revitalisting waterways as freight transport in between bashing WalMart, suburbia and car culture - and steam trains making a comeback could be a possibility! If we hit Peak Coal then bear in mind a lot of early American steam locomotives were woodburners.
That has me thinking, IKEA could be a stock of fuel!!!
Much of our fruit came from abroad in days gone by and still does - oranges, lemons, etc, I'm sure we couldn't grow them here because of the climate.
'The honey bee is vital to the environment! Every year in America, they pollinate six billion dollars worth of crops! If you kill the bee, you're gonna kill the crop! If you kill the plants, you'll kill the people!'
Sand Dancer Nick wrote:Interestingly, social critic Stateside James Howard Kunstler in his recent blog mentions about revitalisting waterways as freight transport in between bashing WalMart, suburbia and car culture - and steam trains making a comeback could be a possibility! If we hit Peak Coal then bear in mind a lot of early American steam locomotives were woodburners.
I get the impression that British Waterways are cost cutting and trying to sell off everything they can. They are almost totally focused on leisure boating. In the recession the waterways seem likely to deteriorate, rather than be revitalised. That's one of the reasons I have doubts about the idea of living (and travelling) on a narrow boat, although I haven't totally ruled it out yet.
As far as the railways go, all the steam infrastructure, fuelling and water points, locomotive sheds with ash pits etc were destroyed many years ago, as well as the heavy engineering facilities to build locomotives. It would take massive investment to go back to steam.
going back to steam large scale would be nuts. 6% efficient! Burn the fuel (wood, coal, whatever...) in a power station and have an electric train, far superior.
