Categories
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Recent Posts
- Peak Oil is Officially Here! World oil production peaked November of 2018
- Wood, the fuel of preindustrial societies, is half of EU renewable energy
- 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 as a transportation fuel
Category Archives: Pollution
Why Canadian oilsands will not help solve the energy crisis
Preface. I posted this back in 2011, but it is all still true, and a lot more can be said about them in my additional posts here. The Canadian oil sands are reputed to be the 3rd largest oil reserve … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Hazardous Waste, Pollution, Tar Sands (Oil Sands)
Tagged energy, hazardous waste, oilsands, pollution, tarsands
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Corn for ethanol & soy for biodiesel tremendously destructive
The Green Gold Rush to make biodiesel has begun in earnest in California. It would not be profitable without subsidies from LCFS credits, federal RIN D5 credits, and Blenders Tax Credits at $3.32 a gallon, which is enough to cover … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiesel, Peak Food, Pesticides, Soil, Water Pollution
Tagged aquifer depletion, biodiesel, corn, erosion, ethanol, pollution, soybeans, topsoil
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Coal Ash is a major toxic waste
Coal ash is what remains after coal is burned, and has numerous elements dangerous to human health, including known carcinogens such as arsenic, hexavalent chromium, and radium. A nuclear power plant generating as much energy as a coal plant generates … Continue reading
Posted in Hazardous Waste
Tagged arsenic, coal ash, radioactive, rare earth
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The Good News About Peak Oil
As oil declines, the threat of a greenhouse earth & extinction from climate change decline Carbon sequestration, wind, solar, geo-engineering, and other remedies are trivial compared to the effect declining fossil fuels will have on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The … Continue reading
Posted in Peak Natural Gas, Peak Oil, Pesticides, Planetary Boundaries, What to do
Tagged climate change, fertilizer, natural gas, peak oil, pesticide, rationing
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Toxic chemicals threaten health, reproduction, cause cancer, diabetes
Preface. This post could have thousands more entries, but devoting energyskeptic to the tens of thousands of chemicals that are legally polluting our environment would be a full-time job. However scary the transition from fossils back to wood world may … Continue reading
Posted in Chemicals
Tagged bisphenol A, BPA, CFC, chemicals, EDC, endocrine disrupting chemicals, health, phthalates, pollution, reproduction
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Largest oil spill on earth: Plastics
Preface. There have been thousands of articles since I published this back in 2003. Today I read a surprising study that claims glass is more harmful than plastic because it is mined from rare materials and requires more fossil fuels … Continue reading
Reducing pesticides with crop diversity
Preface. Pesticides are the main cause of the insect apocalypse, which reverberates up the food chain, leading to loss of biodiversity and extinction. And pesticides are made out of oil, which probably peaked globally in 2018, and pesticides only last … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Farming & Ranching, Pesticides
Tagged agriculture, biodiversity, pesticides
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Water Theft
Preface. As fresh water supplies are depleted worldwide and water crises increase, water theft is becoming more common. And damage to marine environments as well. It is estimated that between 30% and 50% of the global water supply is stolen … Continue reading
Posted in Food production, Groundwater, Peak Water, Water Pollution
Tagged agriculture, pesticides, theft, treatment, water
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945 U.S. Superfund sites vulnerable to climate change
Preface. The energy crisis is likely to strike soon since global peak oil production was reached in November 2018 (EIA 2020). Let’s use energy to clean up these Superfund sites and nuclear waste, rather than wasting energy on wind turbines … Continue reading