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- ‘The oil we eat’. Following the food chain back to iraq
- Vanishing open spaces: population growth and sprawl in America
- Admiral Rickover 1957: Energy Resources & Our Future
- The Green New Deal is not a solution for the real problem: Overshoot
- A transition from fossil fuels to renewables could take a century – if it ever happens
- Electrifying freight trains in the U.S. is a bad idea
- Why Nuclear Power can’t replace fossil fuels
- Energy, Water, & Climate Change are interdependent
- Why fusion power is Forever Away
- Climate Change dominates news coverage at expense of other existential planetary boundaries
- Excerpt from “The Geopolitics of Resource Wars”
- Homes & Buildings
- Book Review “The Outlawed Ocean” by Ian Urbina
- Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future
- Motherboards: too complicated to make after oil
Author Archives: energyskeptic
‘The oil we eat’. Following the food chain back to iraq
Source: The Oil We Eat – How Our Food System Depends On Oil and How Fragile It Makes Our Food Security Preface. Even though this article was published in 2004, it is still true today, only worse. This article will … Continue reading
Posted in Overpopulation, Peak Food, Peak Topsoil
Tagged overpopulation, peak food, peak soil
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Vanishing open spaces: population growth and sprawl in America
Preface. Before the fossil fuel age began, up to 90% were farmers. The end of the brief blip of oil production will send us back to that time (if we aren’t so far into overshoot we go back to … Continue reading
Posted in Overpopulation, Peak Food, Soil
Tagged agriculture, peak food, population, sprawl
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Admiral Rickover 1957: Energy Resources & Our Future
Preface. I’ve shortened and reworded this prescient speech. You can see all of it at “Energy resources and our future” – remarks by Admiral Hyman Rickover delivered in 1957″ archived at http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2011/ph240/klein1/docs/rickover.pdf and resilience.org has a speech by Congressman Roscoe … Continue reading
The Green New Deal is not a solution for the real problem: Overshoot
Preface. Seibert & Rees’ paper is important and well-written, without unintelligible scientific jargon. It explains overshoot in just 13 pages, and covers the most important issues we face and real solutions. It explains why the Green New Deal is a … Continue reading
Posted in Limits To Growth, Overshoot
Tagged biocapacity, climate change, ecological limits, energy transition, overshoot, renewable energy, social justice, sustainability
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A transition from fossil fuels to renewables could take a century – if it ever happens
In 2024 and the previous 60 years, primary energy consumption was 80% or more fossil fuels. An energy transition is not happening, fossil fuel growth exceeds renewable growth, reliability requires fossil fuel electricity generating plants to remain, they are not … Continue reading
Posted in An Overview, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Vaclav Smil
Tagged diesel engine, energy transition, vaclav smil
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Electrifying freight trains in the U.S. is a bad idea
Diesel-electric locomotives use electricity to drive forward motion despite the name ‘diesel’. A large diesel engine turns a shaft that drives an AC generator which makes electricity. This electrical energy powers large electric motors at the wheels called ‘traction motors’ … Continue reading
Posted in Electric Grid, Electrification, Railroads
Tagged diesel-electric, electrification, electrify, electrify rail, rail, train, train electrification
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Why Nuclear Power can’t replace fossil fuels
Preface. Economic reasons are the main hurdle to new nuclear plants now, with capital costs so high it’s almost impossible to get a loan, especially when natural gas is so much cheaper and less risky. But there are other reasons … Continue reading
Energy, Water, & Climate Change are interdependent
Preface. This is a very long post with summaries of two GAO reports on interdependencies of energy, water, and climate change from 2014 and 2012, which are still true today. While cheap and plentiful oil remains, these problems can be … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Energy Infrastructure, Energy Production, GAO Government Accountability Office, Interdependencies
Tagged climate change, energy, infrastructure, interdependency
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Why fusion power is Forever Away
Preface. When my husband Jeffery Kahn was a science writer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, astrophysicists told him fusion was 30 years away and always would be. ITER was supposed to be ready in 2016, but the completion date for … Continue reading
Climate Change dominates news coverage at expense of other existential planetary boundaries
Preface. Almost all environmental stories in the media are about greenhouse gases. Yet there are dozens of others in the meta/polycrisis and existential boundaries (Rockström 2009). Overpopulation is the driver, but the severity and magnitude is made possible by fossil … Continue reading