By LARRY RULISON, Business writer
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First published: Sunday, June 24, 2007

Cheryl Nechamen knows that when a discussion turns to the theory of “peak oil,” listeners’ eyes tend to glaze over. So she’s been pleasantly surprised at how well talking about the 100-mile diet helps to break the ice.

The peak oil theory is extremely controversial. It stipulates that the world has reached — or is about to reach — its peak oil production, and society’s demand for oil will soon start outstripping supply, wreaking havoc on the world economy.

The United States already reached its peak oil production in the 1970s, and that is why it must get oil from other regions.

On the other hand, the 100-mile diet is much more colorful and approachable. The practice originated in 2005 with a couple in Vancouver, Canada, who wanted to reduce the amount of petroleum used to transport food to their table by only buying items grown or made within 100 miles of their home.

Nechamen, a microbiologist who lives in Schenectady, promotes awareness about the peak oil problem through a group she founded called Capital District Energy Action.

But she says her Web site about the 100-mile diet and the frequent talks she gives about the program help her educate people about peak oil.

“It’s been more effective than anything else I’ve tried,” she said.

Nechamen is one of a growing number of people in the Capital Region who are focusing their own energy trying to get the word out about peak oil.

And it’s all at the grass-roots level, with groups like Nechamen’s using the power of the Internet to stir up discussions and organize events.

Each group has its own voice and views, although many of their members attend each other’s events. Barely visible to the general public, they are trying to enlighten people on the looming environmental and economic problem one potluck supper at a time.

Capital Region Energy Forum is another grass-roots group. Its chairman is Paul Swartz, a former General Electric Co. researcher who was one of the founders of Intermagnetics General Corp., now Philips Medical Systems MR.

CREF, as it is known, has been holding meetings at the Italian American Community Center, where members talk about energy policy and technological advances and share a buffet dinner. Speakers have also included energy experts from GE.

The group is working on the creation of a “peak oil protocol,” which members want to use to help mobilize community and political leaders on the issue.

“This whole thing is a voluntary effort,” Swartz said. “We don’t come with a political agenda. We come educating ourselves.”

Another grass-roots group, the Hudson-Mohawk CoRE Project (for community renewable energy), organizes public energy forums aimed at reducing the region’s dependence on oil.

One of the highlights of the local grass-roots efforts occurred last year when a number of groups sponsored a talk in Albany by noted peak oil author Richard Heinberg, who wrote the book “The Party’s Over.” Heinberg said the Capital Region needs to develop more walkable communities and work on producing electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar.

Dave Smalley, who lives in the town of Glen in Montgomery County, said he has attended CoRE meetings and communicates with members online. The state retiree powers his home with solar electricity and heats it with a passive solar system and a small wood stove.

Smalley said the realities of peak oil will force people to eventually curb their consumption and travel habits as oil becomes scarce and extremely expensive.

He admits the change could hurt retail businesses, such as those at Crossgates Mall, that rely on people driving there and buying products that are shipped in from thousands of miles away.

“It’s not our job to support that,” Smalley said. “Our job is to come up with a sustainable pattern.”

Another local activist in the peak oil community is Christian Grieco. The Glenmont resident, who has a 3.6-kilowatt solar electric system at his home, is the local organizer for the open-house tour of green buildings held each fall by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association at homes that have renewable power and heating systems.

Like others in the local peak oil community, Grieco was motivated by the movie “The End of Suburbia,” which focuses on the dwindling oil supply and how it will impact the American way of life.

“It was so powerful and utterly depressing,” he said. “There will be a day of reckoning.”

Jim Zach of Saratoga Springs was also moved by the film, and in December 2005 started the group Sustainable Saratoga Springs. It is an affiliate of the Post Carbon Institute, a California-based group that seeks to change consumption habits and also advocates for the local production of food and energy.

Zach said his group, which has about 35 members, communicates mostly through the Internet but also holds so-called salons, where they gather for discussions and to showcase things like Zach’s organic garden.

Zach said he also was inspired by the documentary “The Power of Community — How Cuba Survived Peak Oil,” which shows how Cuba adapted to the U.S. embargo and the fall of the Soviet Union, which cut off its oil supply. Organic farms sprang up everywhere, and the island embraced mass transit and bicycles.

“Becoming a farmer became a noble profession,” he said.