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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?
Tag Archives: renewable energy
The Green New Deal is not a solution for the real problem: Overshoot
Preface. Seibert & Rees’ paper is very important. And also well-written, unlike the usual scientific jargon perfect for putting you to sleep at night. It’s short too. In just 13 pages Siebert and Rees cover the most important issues we … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Limits To Growth, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat, Overpopulation, Overshoot, Peak Critical Elements, Politics
Tagged biocapacity, climate change, ecological limits, energy transition, overshoot, renewable energy, social justice, sustainability
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Power density of biomass, wind, & solar take too much land to replace fossil fuels
Volumetric versus specific energy density for selected energy carriers. Source: Palmer, G. 2020. Energy storage & civilization: a systems approach. Springer. Preface. Vaclav Smil writes “The fact that wind, solar, and biomass have incredibly low energy density per square meter … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Biomass, Coal, Hydropower, Natural Gas, Oil
Tagged alternative energy, biodiesel, biomass, coal, ethanol, natural gas, oil, renewable energy
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Federal government subsidies, tax breaks, costs of renewable and fossil energy production GAO 2014
[ I’m far more interested in the energy returned on invested than money since that’s what really matters. So I often stopped taking notes, and didn’t organize them. But the tables and figures give you an idea of subsidies and … Continue reading
Posted in GAO Government Accountability Office, Subsidies
Tagged renewable energy, subsidy, tax
1 Comment
Is there enough renewable energy to replace fossil fuel electricity generation?
NREL. July 2012. U.S. Renewable Energy Technical Potentials: A GIS-Based Analysis. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This document is a thought experiment that uses GIS mapping to estimate how much renewable power could possibly be generated in each state regardless of … Continue reading
Out of time: 50 years to make a transition, 210 years at the current rate
If transportation is to be electrified, then electric generation and the electric grid must be doubled, or even tripled. So by Cobb’s calculation, that would push back the transition time to renewables 420 to 630 years. Alice Friedemann. By Kurt … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, Peak Oil
Tagged alternative energy, peak oil, renewable energy, transition time
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