Tag Archives: renewables

Opposition to mining will prevent a green transition to renewables

Source: Bare (2012) Environmentalists win review of two more plants near Rosemont copper mine. Arizona Capitol times. I could overwhelm you with world-wide trillions of tons of mining waste and how China has rendered 20% of its farmland too toxic … Continue reading

Posted in Alternative Energy, An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Energy Supply Chain, Mining, Peak Copper | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Opposition to mining will prevent a green transition to renewables

Why mining to make renewables will destroy the planet

Figure 1 Landscape of earth after 37% is mined to build renewables Preface. As I wrote in Life After fossil fuels: “Mining spews out acid rain, wastewater, and heavy metals onto land, water, and air (PEBI 2016). One-fifth of China’s arable … Continue reading

Posted in Alternative Energy, An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Batteries, Climate Change, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Electric Grid, Energy Books, Peak Critical Elements, Peak Platinum Group Elements, Peak Precious Elements, Peak Rare Earth Elements, Recycle, Recycling | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

David Fridley, LBNL scientist, on why alternative energy won’t save us

Preface.  I’ve sought out David Fridley’s insights since I first met him in the Oakland Peak Oil group that formed in 2004.  That group eventually dissolved, but David’s expertise is still sought out by many of us following energy decline. … Continue reading

Posted in Alternative Energy, An Overview, EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Net Energy Cliff | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on David Fridley, LBNL scientist, on why alternative energy won’t save us

Movie review of Michael Moore’s “Planet of the Humans”

Preface. This documentary was made by Jeff Gibbs, a writer and environmentalist, with Michael Moore as the executive producer. This movie is worth watching, and an entertaining and quick way to understand why rebuildable “renewables” are neither green or a … Continue reading

Posted in Alternative Energy, Biomass, Coal, Natural Gas, Solar, Wind | Tagged , , , , , | 15 Comments

Foreign Policy: The limits of clean energy

Preface. This article appeared in the magazine Foreign Policy. Some key points: Renewables to power the world would require 34 million metric tons of copper, 40 million tons of lead, 50 million tons of zinc, 162 million tons of aluminum, … Continue reading

Posted in Alternative Energy, Mining, Peak Lithium | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Peak Copper

Preface. Copper is essential for modern civilization and any hope of migrating to renewable energy, since solar, wind, tidal, hydro, biomass and geothermal use 5 times more copper than traditional power generation in fossil and nuclear power plants. Nothing matches … Continue reading

Posted in Peak Copper | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Going 100% renewable power means a lot of dirty mining

Preface. Everyone talks about oil spills, but what about the dirty mining that will have a huge polluting footprint on the earth of mercury, arsenic, and other toxic heavy metals.  The Pebble mine is canceled for now, but if the … Continue reading

Posted in Groundwater, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat, Pollution | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Going 100% renewable power means a lot of dirty mining

Vaclav Smil: from wood to coal to oil, energy transitions take a long time

Preface.  This post has a shortened, reworded, and heavily commented on article from Scientific American in 2014.  You can also see two much longer articles about energy transitions by Smil from n 2008 and 2010 here: Vaclav Smil: Our transition … Continue reading

Posted in Alternative Energy, Coal, Dependence on Oil, Energy Infrastructure, Vaclav Smil | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Energy & Agriculture, Senate hearing July 20, 2000

Senate 106-930. July 20, 2000. Energy and agriculture. U.S. Senate hearing. Excerpts from this 162 page document follow: RICHARD G. LUGAR, INDIANA I begin the hearing by raising what I believe is a very important question: Are Americans prepared for … Continue reading

Posted in U.S. Congress Energy Policy | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Energy & Agriculture, Senate hearing July 20, 2000

Would Tesla, SolarCity or SpaceX exist without $4.9 billion in government subsidies?

[ Tesla has made no new battery breakthroughs. Batteries aren’t much better today than they were 200 years ago.  All Tesla did was build a better battery management system (BMS) by stringing tiny batteries together — thousands of them.  But … Continue reading

Posted in Debt, Lithium-ion, Photovoltaic Solar, Subsidies | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Would Tesla, SolarCity or SpaceX exist without $4.9 billion in government subsidies?