Monthly Archives: February 2019

Book review of Underbug: an obsessive tale of termites and technology

Posted on February 23, 2019 by

Preface.  I read this book mainly to find out where “grassoline” stood. Scientists thought 10 years ago that we could recreate the termite biota system of digesting biomass to create biofuels.  But this appears to be far in the future … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Wood | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Booklist: Natural history & Science, Evolution, Critical thinking, Health, Resource allocation, Climate change, Fire

Posted on February 20, 2019 by

Preface. My goal since college has been to read as much as I could across as many fields as possible to obtain a Big Picture View and understand the world as it really is rather than how I’d like it … Continue reading →

Posted in Book List | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Can Zinc batteries save us?

Posted on February 17, 2019 by

Preface: The New York Times had two articles about zinc air batteries in September 2018.  Right now, finite natural gas is the dominant way of balancing unreliable, outright missing, or intermittent power from wind and solar.  So other energy storage … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, Energy Storage, Lithium-ion | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Earthquakes in California could cost over $200 billion dollars

Posted on February 14, 2019 by

Preface. The figures below don’t do justice to the harm an earthquake would do.  There is $1.9 trillion dollars of property at risk from earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay Area, where a catastrophic earthquake on the Hayward Fault would … Continue reading →

Posted in Earthquakes, Infrastructure | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

The U.S. Military on Peak Oil and Climate Change

Posted on February 11, 2019 by

Preface. I find that of all the government branches, the military is the most realistic about the implications of Peak Oil and Climate Change.  The Department of Defense is also the largest consumer of energy in the federal government, spending … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Military | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

From Horsepower to Horse Power. When Trucks stop, Horses start.

Posted on February 8, 2019 by

Preface. Before the industrial revolution there were only four sources of mechanical power of any economic significance. They were human labor, animal labor, water power (near flowing streams) and wind power.   Work done by animals, especially on farms, was still … Continue reading →

Posted in Life Before Oil, Muscle Power | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Muscle Power

Posted on February 5, 2019 by

Preface. Before fossil fuels, the energy to do work came from muscle power and the heat from burning biomass, mainly wood.  When I visited the Deutsches museum in Munich in 2017, I saw two animal treadmills: The first picture shows … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Energy, Life Before Oil, Muscle Power, What to do | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Challenges to the Integration of Renewable Resources at High System Penetration

Posted on February 2, 2019 by

Preface.  This overview of challenges for wind and solar written in 2010 is still true today. We are far from being able to reach even a 50% renewable grid (excluding hydropower from the total) given the lack of storage, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Electric Grid, Solar, Wind | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment