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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: Experts
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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Fusion: Tokamak Obstacles
Source: Sparkes M (2022) Korean nuclear fusion reactor achieves 100 million°C for 30 seconds. New Scientist. Preface. Hope springs eternally for Fusion. I’ve come to see press releases about fusion breakthroughs as mostly a way to get more startup investment … Continue reading
President George W. Bush energy policy & hurricane Katrina
Preface. After Hurricane Katrina damaged oil and gas infrastructure, oil prices shot up. Below are excerpts from news stories in 2005 when President Bush, an oilman, openly discussed the U.S. energy dependence.
Posted in Energy Policy & Politicians, Hurricanes, U.S. Congress Energy Policy
Tagged energy, energy policy, hurricane, oil, President Bush
1 Comment
550,000 abandoned mines, $50 billion to clean up the worst of them
Preface. Below are excerpts of a US House 2010 congressional hearing on cleaning up abandoned mines. Abandoned mines can cause soil erosion, heavy metal contamination (i.e., cyanide, lead, arsenic, mercury, uranium), and acid drainage that threatens thousands of streams and … Continue reading
Military Threats: Peak oil, population, climate change, pandemics, economic crises, cyberattacks, failed states, nuclear war
Mackintosh C (2010) Peak Oil “The debate is over”. Permaculture research institute. https://www.permaculturenews.org/2010/11/10/peak-oil-the-debate-is-over/ Preface. The military is more realistic about the challenges the world faces than congress or other branches and government agencies. In 2010, all of the military branches … Continue reading
Posted in China and War, CyberAttacks, Disasters, Military, Pandemics, Peak Oil, War
Tagged cyber attack, cyber war, military, peak oil, threats, war
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Book review of Turchin’s “Secular Cycles” and “War & Peace & War”
Preface. This is a book review of both “Secular Cycles” and “War & Peace & War”. I recommend reading “War & Peace & War” first, then the more difficult “Secular Cycles”. Turchin has found patterns in the rise and fall … Continue reading
Posted in 2) Collapse, Overpopulation, Peter Turchin, Predictions, Social Disorder, Stages of, War Books
Tagged collapse, crisis phase, decline and fall, secular cycles, Turchin, violence, war
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Energy and potato crops. U.S. House Hearing 2011
Preface. We eat so many potatoes I thought it interesting how future oil shocks may reduce potato crops. Potatoes are very “oily” needing a great deal of diesel fuel over their life cycle of planting, harvest, delivery to sorting, grading, … Continue reading
Posted in Congressional Record U.S., Farming & Ranching
Tagged agriculture, energy, potato
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Dennis Meadows of Limits to Growth: Collapse inevitable
Preface. Dennis Meadows is a co-author of The Limits to Growth. In 1972, the team of 66 scientists he assembled for the original Limits to Growth study concluded the most probable result will be a rather sudden and uncontrollable decline … Continue reading
Posted in Limits To Growth, Peak Oil History
Tagged aspo, dennis meadows, limits to growth, peak oil history
18 Comments
The nine boundaries we must not cross or we may go extinct
Preface. This post has excerpts from the famous paper by Rockström et al (2009) as well as a more recent proposal by Running (2012) on an easier measure of how close we’re coming to rendering the planet uninhabitable. The media … Continue reading
Posted in Acidification, Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Extinction, Peak Oil, Planetary Boundaries, Pollution, Sea Level Rise, Water, World's Best Scientists
Tagged atmospheric aerosol loading, biogeochemical nitrogen cycle, biological diversity, boundaries, chemical pollution, climate change, Earth, extinction, global freshwater use, global warming, IPCC, land system change, ocean acidification, ozone hole, peak oil, phosphorus cycle, stratospheric ozone, sustainability
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Heinberg on how to avoid an energy crisis
Visualcapitalist (2022) Europe’s Energy Crisis. European gas prices have skyrocketed 8x higher than their 10-year average, throwing the continent into crisis. Preface. I sure hope that government leaders are reading Heinberg’s columns, since action needs to take place at a … Continue reading
Posted in Expert Advice, Government on what to do, Richard Heinberg
Tagged diesel, energy crisis, government, heinberg
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