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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?
Author Archives: energyskeptic
Rare Earth updates: recent research on why complex & intelligent life are rare in the Universe
Preface. I think that Ward & Brownlee’s 2000 book “Rare Earth : Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe” is one of the most important books ever written. There’s a good case to be made that our planet hosts … Continue reading
Posted in Evolution, Human Nature, Planetary Boundaries, Wood
Tagged combustion, complex life, evolution, intelligent life, photosynthesis, rare earth, venus, water
1 Comment
The tremendous material and energy toll of the digital economy
One minute on the internet around the world. Source Infographic by @LoriLewas and @officiallyChad, 2020. Preface. This is a book review of Pitron’s “The Dark Cloud”. Of note is the huge amount of electricity and rare earth and other critical … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Microchips and computers, Mining, Peak Critical Elements
Tagged computer chips, data center, electric grid, electricity, internet
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Nuclear attack on U.S. could kill 90% of Americans
A map showing modelling by Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security showing the worst-case scenario effects of a strike on America’s nuclear missile silos. Researchers found as many as 300 million people would be at risk of a … Continue reading
Posted in An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Biodiversity Loss, Nuclear War, War & Violence
Tagged nuclear war, nuclear weapons, war
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What percent of Americans are rational?
Preface. Why does rationality matter — what’s the harm in believing there’s a fat “Santa Claus” God in the sky noting down every time any intelligent creature in the entire universe is naughty or nice on the trillions of inhabited … Continue reading
Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A Nation Unprepared. Surviving the Aftermath
Preface. This is one of three posts based on Ted Koppel’s book Lights out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath. There’s also these 2 posts based on this book: “Want to survive peak everything? Become a Mormon” and … Continue reading
Posted in Cyber, EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Energy Books
Tagged cyberattack, electric grid, EMP, Koppel, lights out, preparation
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Off-Road vehicles & equipment need diesel fuel
Preface. Move over semi-trucks. You are not the most important truck in the world, even though I gave you the starring role in “When Trucks Stop Running”. What really matters are the trucks that grow our fuel: Food. And mining … Continue reading
Book review of “Prime Movers of Globalization: the History & Impact of Diesel Engines & Gas Turbines”
Preface. This is my book review of Vaclav Smil’s “Prime Movers of Globalization”. A topic near and dear to my heart after working for the 5th largest shipping company, American President Lines (now Neptune Orient Lines), for 22 years and … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Books, Peak Resources, Rail, Roads, Transportation, Where to Be or Not to Be
Tagged diesel engines, microprocessor, ships, trucks
1 Comment
Mental Health. Coping with the future: notes from Jackson & Jensen’s “An Inconvenient Apocalypse”
Preface. Because I’d been reading non-fiction since college across every section in bookstores for decades before I stumbled on Peak oil in 2000 (full story in about), I understood the horror and tragedy of energy decline and was depressed for … Continue reading
Posted in Critical Thinking, Health What to do
Tagged denial, ecology, hope, jackson, jensen, optimism, population, rees
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Tesla Semi trucks hauling corn chips
Preface. Many dismiss my writing about why battery electric trucks can’t replace diesel trucks because commercial electric trucks exist. Most famously the Tesla semi trucks, which are under a trial at the PepsiCo Frito-lay plant in Modesto California. It is … Continue reading
Posted in Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Trucks: Electric
Tagged electric trucks, frito lay, pepsi, SuperTruck, Tesla Semi, trucks
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