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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: Energy
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
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What is the plan for an electric grid outage that lasts for months?
Preface. This is one of three posts based on Ted Koppel’s book Lights out. There’s also: Want to survive peak everything? Become a Mormon” and a longer book review, which this post has excerpts from regarding what the plan is … Continue reading
Do you want to eat, drink, or fly?
Preface. In this post the New York Times writes about renewable airplane fuel from corn ethanol, and questions whether there is enough water and a few other problems. First I’m going to summarize their issues with this, and then follow … Continue reading
Posted in Airplanes, Biofuels, Biomass EROI, Groundwater, Peak Water
Tagged aquifer, aviation fuel, corn, EROI, ethanol
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Will Congress ever create a new independent agency to store nuclear waste permanently?
Preface. The lack of permanent geological storage of nuclear waste will be yet another nightmare for those living after fossils have declined and civilizations go back to biomass fuels and muscle power. They will already be dealing with heat making … Continue reading
Posted in Nuclear Waste, U.S. Congress Energy Policy
Tagged energy policy, nuclear power, nuclear waste, Nuclear Waste Administration Act, S. 1240, senate hearing, Yucca mountain
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Nuclear waste will harm future generations for a million years without underground storage
Preface. This is a book review of “Too Hot to Touch: The Problem of High-Level Nuclear Waste” and the best book I’ve read on the topic, as well as additional research on the topic. Now that world wide production of … Continue reading
A Nuclear spent fuel pool fire could force millions to evacuate & cost $2 trillion
Preface. Nuclear cheerleaders love to talk about how safe nuclear power is. You will never ever hear them talk about nuclear fuel pools because that would destroy their argument. Though like Limits to Growth and Malthusian overpopulation dismissed by capitalists, … Continue reading
Sodium Sulfur Batteries
Recent research progress in sodium ion batteries: (a) cathode, (b) anode, (c) electrolyte and (d) binder. Source: Hwang J (2017) Sodium-ion batteries: present and future. Chem. Soc. Review 46: 3529-3614 DOI: 10.1039/C6CS00776G Preface. If lithium were used for both EV … Continue reading
Posted in Battery - Utility Scale
Tagged battery, electricity storage, sodium, utility scale energy storage
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Book review: Atomic Days. The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America
Preface. Plutonium for nuclear weapons was produced at the Hanford Washington site for nearly four decades. Today it is the world’s most polluted site chock-a-block with radioactive waste and toxic chemicals. The department of energy estimates a clean-up could cost … Continue reading
Posted in Disasters, Energy Books, Nuclear Waste, Pollution
Tagged accident, Bechtel, DOE, Hanford, nuclear waste, plutonium
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Bill Gates Gen IV sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) in Wyoming
Source: Japan abandons Monju fast reactor: the slow death of a nuclear dream. The Ecologist. ‘Fast breeder’ reactors are promoted by nuclear enthusiasts as the clean, green energy technology of the future. But all the evidence tells us they are … Continue reading
Posted in Gen IV SMR reactors
Tagged bill gates, Gen IV, Natrium, nuclear power, SMR, sodium-cooled
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