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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?
Category Archives: CO2 and Methane
Why carbon capture contraptions are absurd
Preface. At the first peak oil conference in Denver (ASPO 2005), many of the other attendees speculated that renewable energy would be the last chance for Wall Street to make money before limits to growth and energy decline put a … Continue reading
Posted in Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS), CO2 and Methane
Tagged capture, Carbon, CCS, CCUS, CO2, DAC, Direct Air Capture, Sekera, sequestration
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Not enough fossil fuels left to trigger another mass extinction
Preface. Since both conventional and unconventional oil peaked in 2018, we clearly won’t be burning fossils at exponentially increasing rates until 2400 as the IPCC expected. Quite the opposite, currently the decline rate of oil is 8% a year, which … Continue reading
800 scientists: Burning forests for electricity & heat releases more 1.5x more CO2 than coal, 3x more than natural gas
Preface. The 2015 Paris climate change agreement states that burning biomass is carbon neutral. Not true. Over 800 scientists have written the European Parliament to tell them that burning wood for heat or electricity emits 1.5 x more CO2 than … Continue reading
Posted in Biomass, Climate Change, CO2 and Methane, Deforestation
Tagged biodiversity, carbon dioxide, climate change, greenhouse gas, wood
1 Comment
Methane apocalypse? Not likely.
Preface. The four articles below explain why methane from permafrost or hydrates are not likely to erupt abruptly and send Earth into a hothouse hell. In addition, here are some posts debunking Guy McPherson who believes the world will end … Continue reading
Posted in CO2 and Methane, Methane Hydrates
Tagged clathrate gun, climate change, debunk, methane, methane burp, methane hydrate, permean extinction
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Carbon capture could require 25% of all global energy
Preface. This is clearly a pipedream. Surely the authors know this, since they say that the energy needed to run direct air capture machines in 2100 is up to 300 exajoules each year. That’s more than half of global energy … Continue reading
Hydropower dams and the ways they destroy the environment
Preface. Hydropower comprises 71% of renewable energy worldwide. Nations like the U.S. and Europe have dams that have reached the end of their lifespan — more are being torn down than built. In the U.S. 546 dams were removed between … Continue reading
Posted in CO2 and Methane, Dams, Hydropower
Tagged biodiversity, china, environment, hydropower, Three Gorges dam
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Because we’ve stuffed staggering numbers of cows on factory farms we live in a cow toilet
[ Book review of “Cowed: The hidden impactof 93 million cows” by Alice Friedemann www.energyskeptic.com author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, 2015, Springer] Hayes, Denis and Gail. 2015. Cowed: The Hidden Impact of 93 … Continue reading
Posted in Antibiotics, Biodiversity Loss, CO2 and Methane, Pollution, Soil
Tagged antibiotic resistance, cattle, cows
1 Comment
Plants are sucking streams dry thanks to more CO2
Slezak, M. October 24, 2015. Carbon emissions make Earth greener but are also drying it out. NewScientist. Source: Ukkola, A. M., et al. October 19, 2015 Reduced streamflow in water-stressed climates consistent with CO2 effects on vegetation. Nature Climate Change 6, … Continue reading
Posted in CO2 and Methane, Peak Water, Water
Tagged carbon dioxide, climate change, streams, water
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External costs of coal: probably over $500 billion per year in USA
Paul R. Epstein, et al. 2011. Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal in “Ecological Economics Reviews.” Robert Costanza, Karin Limburg & Ida Kubiszewski, Eds. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1219: 73–98. This paper tabulates a wide range of … Continue reading
Posted in Chemicals, CO2 and Methane, Coal, Hazardous Waste, Water Pollution
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PNAS: Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change: Anticipating Surprises
Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change: Anticipating Surprises. 2013. sponsored by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Intelligence community. This was the best summary of the 223 page National Academy of Sciences publication I could … Continue reading
Posted in CO2 and Methane
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