Monthly Archives: January 2017

Failing states, collapsing systems: biophysical triggers of political violence

Preface. In this post I summarize the sections of Nafeez’s book about the biophysical factors that bring nations down (i.e. climate change drought & water scarcity, declining revenues after peak oil, etc.) The Media tend to focus exclusively on economic … Continue reading

Posted in Cascading Failure, Caused by Scarce Resources, Collapse of Civilizations, Collapsed & collapsing nations, Drought & Collapse, Exports decline to ZERO, Food production, Interdependencies, Limits To Growth, Middle East, Net Energy Cliff, Other Experts, Over Oil, Overpopulation, Peak Oil, Violence, War & Violence | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

After the harvest – protecting food from rats, mold, insects, fire, and bacteria

Preface. It’s hard enough to protect crops before a harvest. In New South Wales, Australia a plague of millions of mice has multiplied after a bumper grain harvest and eating whatever they can find. Mice can produce 500 offspring a … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Books, Farming & Ranching, Peak Food | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Tilting at Windmills, Spain’s disastrous attempt to replace fossil fuels with Solar PV, Part 2

[ Pedro Prieto presented an update on June 20, 2017 at the International Society for Biophysical Economics “Spain’s Solar Revolution Revisited: six years later” here: Pedro-Prieto_ISBPE_2017-Spains-solar-revolution-revisited.pdf.   See the pdf for more information Losses in book overestimated and revised Before / … Continue reading

Posted in Charles A. S. Hall, EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Pedro Prieto, Photovoltaic Solar, Solar EROI | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Tilting at Windmills, Spain’s disastrous attempt to replace fossil fuels with Solar PV, Part 2

Agricultural Transportation and Energy Issues. Senate hearing 2005.

Preface. What follows are excerpts from this hearing.  Over and over senators warn of our dependence on oil.  The question is: what are they doing about it?  I’d guess given the crackdown on immigration that the government is aware of … Continue reading

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Doomsday: Will peak phosphate get us before global warming?

Price, Ed.  July 22, 2013. Doomsday: Will Peak Phosphate Get us Before Global Warming? oilprice.com Although climate change catches the headlines, it is not the only doomsday scenario out there. A smaller but no less fervent band of worriers think … Continue reading

Posted in Peak Phosphorus | Tagged | 2 Comments

Sand mines used to frack oil & gas are destroying the best topsoil in the Midwest

Preface. Frac sand is a high-purity quartz sand that is injected into wells to blast and hold open cracks in the shale rock layer during the fracking process. In the United States, frac sand is being mined intensively from sandstone … Continue reading

Posted in Oil & Gas Fracked, Peak Sand, Soil | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

HSBC bank report predicts another financial crisis in 2018

[ Bill Hill of the Hill’s group predicted in June 2016 (at a peakoil.com forum): “We expect to have reached permanent depression by the end of 2017. The reduction will not hit all nations the same way. The richer Western … Continue reading

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Peak coal 2013-2045 — most likely 2025-2030

Preface.  The amount of coal reserves is far less than what the IPCC has assumed in their models, where they used RESOURCES, which is coal that can’t be economically and/or technologically obtained.  Typical economists, they assume humans are so smart … Continue reading

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Why Nuclear Power can’t replace fossil fuels

Last updated August 2022. Preface. Economic reasons are the main hurdle to new nuclear plants now, with capital costs so high it’s almost impossible to get a loan, especially when natural gas is so much cheaper and less risky. But … Continue reading

Posted in Alternative Energy, Energy, Nuclear Power Energy, Renewable Integration | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Ugo Bardi: The Hill’s Group report

[ The Hill’s group consists of energy insiders, and I must admit I was impressed by the predictions they said their model had already gotten right, such as the drop in oil price when everyone was expecting the price to … Continue reading

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