Categories
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Recent Posts
- Rare Earth updates: recent research on why complex & intelligent life are rare in the Universe
- Book review of “Chip War” and the Fragility of microchips
- The tremendous material and energy toll of the digital economy
- Nuclear attack on U.S. could kill 90% of Americans
- What percent of Americans are rational?
- Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A Nation Unprepared. Surviving the Aftermath
- Off-Road vehicles & equipment need diesel fuel
- Book review of “Prime Movers of Globalization: the History & Impact of Diesel Engines & Gas Turbines”
- Mental Health. Coping with the future: notes from Jackson & Jensen’s “An Inconvenient Apocalypse”
- Tesla Semi trucks hauling corn chips
- What is the plan for an electric grid outage that lasts for months?
- Where to be? Links to Superfund, hazardous waste and other toxic sites in U.S.
- Why methanol cannot replace petroleum in shipping
- Why is everyone afraid of AI taking over? It makes stuff up!
- Do you want to eat, drink, or fly?
Monthly Archives: March 2016
Millions of hours of magnetic tape will be lost forever
[ Sarah Everts writes about the race to save magnetic tape in the August 21, 2014 issue of NewScientist in Wiped out: The race to save our video heritage. This article suggests that the fix is to convert magnetic tape … Continue reading
Posted in Preservation of Knowledge
1 Comment
E. O. Wilson to save humanity from extinction, get rid of religion
[ Below is an excerpt, out of order, from New Scientist’s 21 Jan 2015 interview with E.O. Wilson “Religious faith is dragging us down“. The extinctions we cause will kill us too, says the sociobiology pioneer – the best thing … Continue reading
Corrosion eats $552 billion of infrastructure a year (6% of GDP)
Preface. United States infrastructure was built when the EROI of oil was very high and minerals and metals were cheap due to high ore concentrations. This study was done in 2002, since then, things have gotten much worse (see ASCE … Continue reading
Posted in Bridges, Oil & Gas, Rail, Transportation Infrastructure
Tagged corrosion, infrastructure, mining, nuclear waste, pipelines, transportation, utilities
2 Comments
Coal plants are causing water shortages in China
Wong, E. March 22, 2016. Report Ties Coal Plants to Water Shortage in Northern China. New York Times. China’s consumption of coal, a major contributor to climate change and the country’s horrific air pollution, is worsening a severe water shortage … Continue reading
Posted in China, Energy Production, Peak Water
Tagged china, coal, power, water
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Who Killed the Electric Car & more importantly, the Electric Truck?
Preface. Who cares about electric cars? Civilization ends when trucks stop running. Trucks can’t run on batteries because they’re too heavy (93% of the cargo weight, 25% of the cargo space), and an all-electric truck fleet would require thousands of … Continue reading
Posted in Automobiles, Batteries, Critical Thinking, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Electrification, Transportation, Transportation Infrastructure
Tagged battery, BEV, capacity, efficiency, electric car, electric truck, energy density, EV, lead-acid, lithium ion
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Don’t export LNG to Europe, they have their own natural gas
Preface. The congressional record is full of senators, representatives, and witnesses trying to sell U.S. shale “fracked” gas as LNG to Europe so that they aren’t beholden to Russia. Well uh-oh, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the chickens have … Continue reading
Posted in LNG Liquified Natural Gas, Oil & Gas Fracked
Tagged Europe, natural gas, Russia, Ukraine
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Why we need a diverse electricity generation portfolio: House hearing 2013
House 113-12. March 5, 2013. American Energy security and innovation. The role of a diverse electricity generation portfolio. House of Representatives. 135 pages. June 5, 2015. Proposed Clean Power Plan would accelerate renewable additions and coal plant retirements. U.S. Energy … Continue reading
Posted in Coal, Grid instability, Natural Gas, U.S. Congress Energy Independence
Tagged diversity, electricity, new power plants
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Nature: All women in the world should have the right to birth control
Source: Masri L (2019) “Two is enough” Egypt tells poor families as population booms. The Star. Preface. Nature is one of the top science journals, so it is a big deal that Nature finally acknowledged a growing population will wreak … Continue reading
Posted in Population, Scientists Warnings to Humanity
Tagged family planning, overpopulation, population
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67% of USA counties still in recession — lower incomes than 2009
[ Time magazine points out that most of the green counties are oil drilling locations, which in 2016 are quickly losing jobs ] Wilson, C. December 15, 2015. See How Well Your Neighbors Have Recovered From the Recession. Time Magazine. … Continue reading
Posted in Poverty
Tagged poverty, recession, unemployment
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Nearly a third of cacti threatened with extinction
Illegal trade contributes to placing cacti among world’s most threatened species – IUCN Red List 05 October 2015 | International news release Gland, Switzerland, 5 October 2015 (IUCN) – Thirty-one percent of cactus species are threatened with extinction, according to … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity Loss
Tagged biodiversity, cacti
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