Monthly Archives: June 2015

Former President Carter on U.S. energy security & policy now and in the past

                    [Former President Carter and General Wald both say the American public need to be better informed about the energy crisis to motivate them to stop buying gas-guzzling vehicles, since that’s … Continue reading

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Renewable subsidies in Spain, Germany, Italy, and the UK

HRG. 113-623. 2014-7-22. U.S. Security implications of international energy and climate policies and issues. U.S. Senate 113th congress  MARY HUTZLER, Distinguished senior fellow, Institute for Energy Research, Berlin, MD RENEWABLE SUBSIDIES IN EUROPE Spain (Also see Spain’s Photovoltaic Revolution) In … Continue reading

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Energy & Agriculture, Senate hearing July 20, 2000

Senate 106-930. July 20, 2000. Energy and agriculture. U.S. Senate hearing. Excerpts from this 162 page document follow: RICHARD G. LUGAR, INDIANA I begin the hearing by raising what I believe is a very important question: Are Americans prepared for … Continue reading

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Congressional hearings on Rail

June 10, 2008. S. HRG. 110–1165 Keeping America Moving: A review of national strategies for efficient freight movement. 74 pages. Hearing before the subcommittee on SURFACE TRANSPORTATION & MERCHANT MARINE INFRASTRUCTURE, SAFETY, & SECURITY of the committee on COMMERCE, SCIENCE, … Continue reading

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Drinking the Kool-Aid. The U.S. Senate believes we are energy independent.

[Some of the interesting parts of this session are $95 billion dollars of new manufacturing, transport, & utilities that are growing to take advantage of the cheap NG here, which will exponentially increase the use of energy. Even if we … Continue reading

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Economic peak shale natural gas and oil from yet another bank & Wall Street scam

[ “Shale drillers companies are struggling to pay $235 billion of high-yield, high-risk debt taken on during the past 3 years of the U.S. shale boom. Shale drillers have consistently spent money faster than they’ve made it, even when oil … Continue reading

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Peak oil sands, low EROI, high debt, limited pipeline and refinery capacity

Peak tar sands, a.k.a. oil sands Techno-opmtimists claim that technology will enable nasty, sour, gunky, expensive, difficult unconventional oil to fill in the gap of declining conventional oil. Conventional oil is declining too quickly for unconventional to match But that’s … Continue reading

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Implications of declining EROI on oil production 2013 by David J. Murphy

[ To “see” declining EROI and the end of cheap energy, check out these photos of The Tallest structure ever moved by Mankind, a Norwegian natural gas offshore platform ] Murphy, David J. December 2, 2013. The implications of the … Continue reading

Posted in EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Net Energy Cliff, Other Experts | 1 Comment

The electric grid, critical interdependencies, vulnerabilities: U.S. House hearing 2003

[ Related articles: Russian hackers suspected in attack that blacked out parts of Ukraine How the weapon works (pdf): CRASHOVERRIDE Analyzing the Threat to Electric Grid Operations The EMP Commission estimates a nationwide blackout lasting one year could kill up … Continue reading

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Barges are more energy efficient than rail and truck

  [After reading two congressional hearings, one in 2008, and another in 2013, about how the inland waterway system was falling apart, and had been for 30 years, I was curious to know why such an important asset would be … Continue reading

Posted in Ships and Barges | 2 Comments