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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: November 2018
One less worry: the magnetic field flipping between north and south poles is not the end of the world
Preface. The geomagnetic field reversal of polarity has occurred thousands of times in the geological past. We are overdue for another. Indeed, Earth’s dipole has decreased in strength by nearly 10% since it was first measured in 1840. It could … Continue reading
Posted in Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, EMP Electromagnetic Pulse
Tagged electromagnetic field, magnetic flip
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Crash alert: China’s resource crisis could be the trigger
Preface. Way to go Nafeez Ahmed, your second home run of reality based reporting on the energy crisis this week. There are countless economists within the mainstream media predicting an economic crisis worse than in 2008, but they totally ignore … Continue reading
Posted in Crash Coming Soon, EROEI remaining oil too low, Peak Oil
Tagged china, debt, EROI, financial crisis, peak oil
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India wants to build dangerous fast breeder reactors
Preface. India was planning to build six fast breeder reactors in 2016, but now in 2018, they’ve reduced the number to 2. This is despite the high cost, instability, danger, and accidents of the 16 previous world-wide attempts that have … Continue reading
Germany’s wind energy mess: As subsidies expire, thousands Of turbines to close
Preface. This means that the talk about renewables being so much cheaper than anything else isn’t necessarily true. If wind were profitable, more turbines would be built to replace the old ones without subsidies needed. Unless they can be dumped … Continue reading
Posted in Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, Energy Infrastructure, Wind
Tagged Energiewende, germany, recycling, subsidies, wind
8 Comments
Book review of Vaclav Smil’s “Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects”
Preface. In my extract of the 178 pages in the book below, Smil explains why renewables can’t possibly replace fossil fuels, and appears to be exasperated that people believe this can be done when he writes “Common expectations of energy … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Energy Books, Vaclav Smil
Tagged biofuels, coal, energy, geothermal, hydropower, kinetic, LNG, muscle power, nuclear, solar, vaclav smil, wind
13 Comments
Rex Weyler on “what to do” about limits to growth, peak energy
Preface. Professor Nate Hagens is teaching a class at the University of Minnesota about the state of the world that may be expanded to all incoming freshmen. Many despair when they learn about limits to growth and finite fossil fuels. … Continue reading
Fresh water depletion, contamination, saltwater intrusion, & subsidence
Map of the U.S. showing cumulative groundwater depletion from 1900 through 2008 in 40 aquifers. Source: Groundwater Depletion in the United States (1900-2008), USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5079. Preface. This isn’t mentioned in the subsidence paper below, but half of USA … Continue reading
Posted in Groundwater, Peak Water, Water Infrastructure, Water Pollution
Tagged aquifer, climate change, depletion, flood, groundwater, storm surge, subsidence, water
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