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Recent Posts
- Self-driving cars in San Francisco cause accidents, congestion, and more
- “Star Wars” missile defense won’t stop incoming nukes
- Lab-grown meat is energy intensive – and up to 25 times worse for the climate than beef
- The Biblical Revelations, critical thinking, and how this affects us today
- Why the U.S. is ignoring nuclear winter in nuclear policies & strategies
- Oil choke points vulnerable to war, chaos, terrorism, accidents, & piracy
- Nuclear weapons must be reduced or we risk nuclear winter
- Fusion is already running out of fuel
- Peak Oil is Officially Here! World oil production peaked November of 2018
- Wood, the fuel of preindustrial societies, is half of EU renewable energy
- 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?
Monthly Archives: August 2021
The Nitrogen Bomb: fossil-fueled fertilizers keep billions of us alive
Preface. There are two articles below that explain why natural gas fertilizers are keeping at least 4 billion of us alive today. If you’re interested in this topic, here are a few more to read: Erisman JW, Sutton MA, Galloway … Continue reading
Posted in Farming & Ranching, Life After Fossil Fuels, Natural Gas, Overpopulation, Peak Food
Tagged agriculture, fertilizer, nitrogen, overpopulation, peak food
4 Comments
Can democracy survive peak oil?
Preface. This is a book review of Howard Bucknell’s Energy and the National Defense. University of Kentucky Press. Bucknell was amazingly prescient as you’ll see in this review, especially about why democracy might not survive the energy crisis. Though the … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Energy Books, Military, Politics, Rationing
Tagged authoritarianism, Bucknell, defense, democracy, energy crises, energy transitions, rationing, synthetic fuel
1 Comment
Index of best energyskeptic posts
This is an attempt to boil down 1500+ energyskeptic posts into the 200 of the best ones. Alice Friedemann www.energyskeptic.com Women in ecology author of 2021 Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy best price here; 2015 … Continue reading
Posted in An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts
Tagged biofuels, books, coal, diesel, electric trucks, fusion, geothermal, hydrogen, manufacturing, natural gas, nuclear, overpopulation, overshoot, peak oil, solar power, wind power
2 Comments
Peak oil: “It’s the flows, stupid!” Energy abundance depends entirely on the RATE of energy flow
Preface. Below are excerpts from two articles on why the FLOW RATE of oil is what matters for our fossil-fueled civilization. It’s like how, when filling up a bathtub, you want to turn the faucet on as high as it … Continue reading
Posted in Flow Rate, How Much Left, Peak Oil
Tagged oil, peak oil, petroleum, rate of flow
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Diesel is finite. Trucks are the bedrock of civilization. So where are the battery electric trucks?
Last updated: 2023-1-21 Preface. Heavy-duty diesel-engine trucks (agricultural, mining, logging, construction, garbage, cement, 18-wheelers, and more) are essential for doing the actual work of our fossil-fueled civilization. Without them, no goods would be delivered, no food grown, nothing manufactured, no … Continue reading
Posted in Batteries, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Trucks: Electric
Tagged battery, BEV, drayage, e-truck, electric truck, heavy-duty, HHD, Nikola, tesla, truck
11 Comments
Book review: The Bottlenecks of the 21st Century
Preface. Nate Hagens and DJ White’s book is the kind of book I’d like to write someday. Like them, I’d publish only in paper to preserve knowledge because the electric grid will come down some day since it can’t outlast … Continue reading
Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future
Preface. This is another “Scientists Warnings to Humanity” by many famous scientists, including Paul & Anne Erlich, John Harte, Peter Raven, and Mathis Wackernagel. Some of the challenges they point to are loss of biodiversity and consequent 6th mass extinction, … Continue reading
Posted in Scientists, Scientists Warnings to Humanity
Tagged biodiversity, overpopulation
6 Comments
We’re Running out of Antibiotics
Preface. A collection of articles I’ve run across about potential antibiotic shortages some day. By no means definitive, and maybe the Scientists Will Come Up With Something. Alice Friedemann www.energyskeptic.com author of “Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on … Continue reading
Excerpt from “The Geopolitics of Resource Wars”
Preface. This is an excerpt from Philippe Le Billon’s (editor) anthology “The Geopolitics of Resource Wars.” Global peak oil production happened in 2018 (EIA 2020), and the energy crisis will probably hit by 2025. The coming energy crisis and climate … Continue reading
Posted in War Books, Where to Be or Not to Be
Tagged resource war, war
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Aging nuclear power plants should be shut down
Preface. Below are my notes from the Greenpeace 146-page “Lifetime extension of ageing nuclear power plants”. Even if you don’t understand all the terms, read on anyhow, since it certainly conveys why nuclear plants grow more dangerous with age. Imagine … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Infrastructure, Nuclear Power Energy
Tagged corrosion, degradation, embrittlement, lifetime extension, nuclear power
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