Monthly Archives: March 2019

Rare: The High-Stakes Race to Satisfy Our Need for the Scarcest Metals on Earth by Keith Veronese

Preface.  This is a book review of Keith Veronese’s book “The High-stakes race to satisfy our need for the scarcest metals on earth” (well, the kindle notes, so a bit disjointed). Capitalism believes there’s a solution for everything due to … Continue reading

Posted in Infrastructure Books, Mining, Peak Critical Elements, Peak Platinum Group Elements, Peak Precious Elements, Peak Rare Earth Elements, Peak Resources | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Book review of Bryce’s “Power hungry: the myths of green energy and the real fuels of the future”

Preface.  This is a book review of: Robert Bryce. 2009. Power Hungry: The Myths of “Green” Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future. This is a brilliant book, very funny at times, a great way to sharpen your critical … Continue reading

Posted in Energy Books, Other Experts | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Book review of Heinberg’s “Afterburn: society beyond fossil fuels”

Preface. This book has 15 essays Heinberg wrote from 2011 to 2014, many of them available for free online.  These are some of my Kindle notes of parts that interested me, so to you it will be disjointed and perhaps … Continue reading

Posted in Energy Books, Peak Oil, Richard Heinberg | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Why and how Jellyfish are taking over the world

Preface.  The more climate change kicks in, the more we over-fish, pollute, acidify and warm the ocean, create vast dead zones, and trawl ocean bottoms, the better the jellyfish do. It is quite possible that the ocean ecosystem will shift … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Extinction Books, Fisheries, Jellyfish, Peak Food | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Book review of Dirt: the erosion of civilization

Preface. On average civilizations collapsed after 800 to 2,000 years because they’d destroyed their topsoil, some of it caused by deforestation to grow more food, make metals, ceramics, glass and other objects requiring high heat, which fossils provide today. Today, … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Peak Food, Soil | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Why aren’t there battery powered airplanes or flying cars?

Preface.  Batteries are too heavy for airplanes to get off the ground. Though that hasn’t stopped people from trying: Norway’s new electric plane crashes during demo flight (Robitzski 2019) The two articles below explain why. Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of … Continue reading

Posted in Batteries, Energy | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

IEA 2018 World Energy Outlook: Peak oil is here, oil crunch by 2023

Preface. Excerpts from the cleantechnica article below make it clear why there is likely to be a supply crunch as soon as the early 2020s, and the investment implications. Here’s what I’ve gleaned from other summaries of the report. Although … Continue reading

Posted in Investment, Oil & Gas Fracked, Peak Oil | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

How United Nations scientists are preparing for the end of capitalism

Preface. The article below was written by Nafeez Ahmed, who wrote one of my favorite books  “Failing States, Collapsing Systems: BioPhysical Triggers of Political Violence“. Ahmed writes: “Most observers have no idea of the current biophysical realities – that the driving … Continue reading

Posted in Crash Coming Soon, Organizations | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Pedro Prieto: many solar panels won’t last 25-30 years, EROI may be negative

Preface. Pedro Prieto and Charles Hall wrote the definitive book on the EROI of solar power, “Spain’s Photovoltaic Revolution. The Energy Return on Investment” and has built many commercial facilities himself and witnessed the failure of solar panels long before … Continue reading

Posted in Pedro Prieto, Photovoltaic Solar | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Richard Heinberg: Our bonus decade

Preface.  Because of the bonus oil and gas fracking brought us starting in 2005, Heinberg says “I’ve titled this essay “Our Bonus Decade” because the past ten years were an unexpected (by us peakists, anyway) extra—like a bonus added to … Continue reading

Posted in Crash Coming Soon, Richard Heinberg | Tagged , , | 7 Comments