Monthly Archives: December 2017

Dangers of EMP exaggerated?

Posted on December 20, 2017 by

Preface. The article by Lewis (2017) below questions whether a nuclear bomb can really ruin our grid and cause societal collapse.  All the other posts in the Fast Crash/Electromagnetic Pulse category think otherwise. The most hopeful study that EMP effects … Continue reading →

Posted in EMP Electromagnetic Pulse | 4 Comments

Civil war coming?

Posted on December 17, 2017 by

Preface. I read Turchin’s latest book which attempts to show why his past theories about the rise and fall of agrarian nations also applies to our modern civilization.  But there was not one mention of fossil fuels, natural resources, or … Continue reading →

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Not only are telecom companies screwing us on net neutrality, they refuse to get rid of robocalls

Posted on December 15, 2017 by

Preface. It’s four years after the 2013 Senate hearing below and the telecomm industry has still refused and congress and/or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have not demanded robocalls be blocked despite over 10 years of complaints.  In fact, unwanted … Continue reading →

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U.S. Senate 2014 Freight rail service: improving the performance of America’s rail system

Posted on December 14, 2017 by

Preface. This Senate hearing is mainly full of oil and grain industry leaders bashing the rail industry and asking Senators to do something about it. But the railroad industry is four times more energy efficient than trucks, and not guilty … Continue reading →

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China is securing energy resources. A potential threat to Europe and U.S. interests.

Posted on December 11, 2017 by

Preface. China is vastly expanding its fleet of natural gas heavy-duty trucks to 700,000 in 2018 and similar or more amounts after that.  They are building pipelines to Russia and other Central Asian countries to keep the gas coming.  I … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy Dependence, Energy Policy, Natural Gas | Tagged , | 1 Comment

If we really cared about CO2, we’d reduce car size and weight, not make electric cars

Posted on December 8, 2017 by

Preface. Since my book “When trucks stop running: Energy and the future of transportation makes the case that it’s trucks that need to be electrified to keep civilization going, since biofuels don’t scale up, natural gas and liquefied coal are … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Electrification | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Will the Navy go out with a whimper instead of a bang?

Posted on December 5, 2017 by

Preface. This house hearing is about the continuing decline of the Navy There are fewer and fewer ships. The remaining ships are overused, some past their normal lifespan, and under-maintained. As the U.S. descends into fascist plutocracy enabled by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Infrastructure, Transportation | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Is Peak Oil dead? Not by a long shot! Remember Ladyfern?

Posted on December 2, 2017 by

Preface. Oil is finite. Period. Don’t be fooled by news stories that peak oil is dead, or we have reached peak demand.  They’re all nonsense. Gail Tverberg at ourfiniteworld.com is especially good at explaining this. Worse yet, what we have … Continue reading →

Posted in Oil & Gas Fracked, Peak Natural Gas | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment