Category Archives: Energy

the posts in this category used to be in “Energy in A Nutshell” at my former web site.

The “Solar Revolution” is financial, not from new breakthroughs

Posted on December 3, 2013 by

Jeff Himmelman makes the case that the “solar revolution” is caused by new financial instruments and strategies in the New York Times August 9, 2012 article “Here Comes the Sell”: The innovation that has pushed Sungevity and the rest of … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar | Leave a comment

Coal Power Plants stumped by Burning Wood

Posted on November 24, 2013 by

Power Plants Try Burning Wood With Coal to Cut Carbon Emissions.  Matt Wald. New York Times. November 3, 2013. There are many difficulties to burning wood in coal plants: Pound for pound, wood only produces 66% as much energy as … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal, Wood | Leave a comment

How much energy is there in Wood?

Posted on November 23, 2013 by

Since we’re going back to the Wood as our main energy source, I thought it would be interesting to try to get an idea of how wood stacks up against other things.  This is just part of the (Energy Fun … Continue reading →

Posted in Wood | Leave a comment

Nuclear Proliferation. Russia plans to build reactors all over the world.

Posted on November 23, 2013 by

A summary of Eve Conant’s “Russia’s new Empire: Nuclear Power. The federation is aggressively selling reactors all over the world, raising safety concerns.” Scientific American. October 17, 2013 Russia wants to supply nuclear power globally.  If a country can’t afford … Continue reading →

Posted in Cyber or Nuclear War, Nuclear, Nuclear, Nuclear War | Leave a comment

Microchips and Fab Plants: a Detailed description

Posted on November 17, 2013 by

I recommend reading my overview of how microchips are made before delving into the details below. Introduction to detailed overview of semiconductor manufacturing The crowning achievement of our civilization is the ability to make microchips.  It is by far the … Continue reading →

Posted in Antecedents, Chemicals, Cyberattacks, Microchip Fabrication stops | 7 Comments

Book review of “Too Hot to Touch: The Problem of High-Level Nuclear Waste”

Posted on November 8, 2013 by

A book review by Alice Friedemann of: Too Hot to Touch: The Problem of High-Level Nuclear Waste by William M. Alley & Rosemarie Alley. 2013. Cambridge University Press. Introduction to Nuclear Waste Disposal After Yucca Mountain was thrown out as … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Nuclear, Nuclear, Nuclear | 4 Comments

Peak Coal in America

Posted on November 4, 2013 by

Peak Coal: Will the US Run Out of Coal in 20 Years or 200 Years? “Most U.S. coal is buried too deeply to be mined at a profit.” U.S. coal production has peaked, and the miscalculations that have led to … Continue reading →

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California Shale Oil & Gas

Posted on November 2, 2013 by

I have heard for years this wasn’t a slam-dunk.  The oil companies don’t want people to know because they’d have to lower the value of their reserves, which would make their company & stock less valuable as well. Sep 22, … Continue reading →

Posted in Oil & Gas Fracked | Leave a comment

Alternative Energy Reading List

Posted on October 25, 2013 by

Why Alternative Energy can’t replace fossil fuels Book and Article list below   Introduction to alternative energy reading list Scale. Oil is the densest form of energy on the planet next to uranium.  To replace the one cubic mile of … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Book List | 2 Comments

Fossil Fuel Reading List

Posted on October 22, 2013 by

Fossil Fuel Energy Reading List Introduction “An Energy slave unit equals the average output of a man doing 150,000 foot-pounds of work per day 250 days per year. In low-energy societies, nonhuman energy slaves are horses, oxen, windmills, riverboats. Now, … Continue reading →

Posted in An Overview, Book List | Comments Off