[tmazanec1]

http://www.energybulletin.net/4273.html
I would enjoy living in such a society depicted, with a few quibbles (I will keep my DSL modem longer than I will keep anything else that uses electricity...I will web-surf by Coleman lantern if I have to! I will also carpool if I can, but NOT be the driver then (too nervous)). Currently I have cut out television and am planning to move from a big ranch to a small apartment closer to work. I also lowered the thermostat a bit (just a bit ). Of course, I would have to live in a democratic republic (heck, they had that before industrial civilization...arguably better than we have now). I would not be in the farmer fraction, but we could still decuple the number of farmers and they would still be a minority. I mostly clean/run errends/look after residents (who mostly have no family to fall back on anyway), so my job would still exist in this energy-efficient society.

[Antimatter]

That was a great read! Interesting their oil consumption fell 50% almost overnight. Makes a 3% decline or so look like a walk in the park. Of course Cuba was in a much better position to handle this society wise than many of the more industrialised sprawlburbia countries. Scaling down will be more difficult. Good to hear about the success of the organic farming though