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Category Archives: Infrastructure
Vanishing open spaces: population growth and sprawl in America
Before the fossil fuel age began, about 80 to 90% of people farmed to make a living. Since the end of the oil age will send us back to the past, farmland and farmers will once again comprise the greatest … Continue reading
Utility scale energy storage has a long way to go to make renewables possible
What follows comes from my book “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation” , which is also where you’ll find the references backing up what I’ve written below. I often get letters from people about energy breakthroughs … Continue reading
Concrete: the most destructive material on Earth
Preface. Some of the points I found most alarming or interesting: After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on Earth. Concrete is a thirsty behemoth, sucking up almost a 10th of the world’s industrial water use. This often … 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, so more are being torn down than built. In the U.S. 546 dams were removed between … Continue reading
California’s central valley aquifers may be gone in 2030s, Ogallala 2050-2070
Preface. Clearly the human population isn’t going to reach 10 billion or more. California grows one-third of the nation’s food, the 10 high-plains states over the Ogallala about a quarter of the nations food, and exports a great deal of … Continue reading
Posted in Groundwater, Water, Water
Tagged aquifer, california, depletion, groundwater, Ogallala, peak water
1 Comment
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. Today, industrial agriculture is doing this far faster – in most of the United States half of the original topsoil is gone from the richest … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Agriculture, Peak Food, Soil
Tagged agriculture, erosion, peak food, peak soil, soil
4 Comments
Vaclav Smil: from wood to coal to oil, energy transitions take a long time
Preface. This post has a shortened, reworded, and heavily commented on article from Scientific American in 2014. You can also see two much longer articles about energy transitions by Smil from n 2008 and 2010 here: Vaclav Smil: Our transition … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Coal, Dependence on Oil, Energy, Vaclav Smil
Tagged coal, gas, oil, renewables, solar, transition, vaclav smil, wind, wood
2 Comments
75% of Earth’s Land Areas Are Degraded. Environmental damage threatens 3.2 billion people.
Preface. Yikes, by 2050 95% of Earth’s land could be degraded and reduce or even end food production, forcing hundreds of millions to migrate. Whatever you’ve read in the past about the State of the World, it’s gotten even … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity Loss, Limits To Growth, Peak Food
Tagged biodiversity, erosion, limits to growth, peak food
Comments Off on 75% of Earth’s Land Areas Are Degraded. Environmental damage threatens 3.2 billion people.
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, Energy, Wind
Tagged Energiewende, germany, recycling, subsidies, wind
9 Comments