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Recent Posts
- 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
- “More and More and More” one of the best books on energy ever written
- The staggering destruction of knowledge by Christians in the Roman Empire
- Why the R/P Reserves to Production ratio does not show when oil will run out
- Catton on Collapse “Bottleneck: Humanity’s Impending Impasse”
Author Archives: energyskeptic
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
Excerpt from “The Geopolitics of Resource Wars”
Preface. This is an excerpt from Philippe Le Billon’s (editor) anthology “The Geopolitics of Resource Wars.” The coming energy crisis and climate change are likely to trigger resource wars as nations sink into starvation and poverty. Indeed, this is already … Continue reading
Posted in War Books, Where to Be or Not to Be
Tagged resource war, war
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Homes & Buildings
Preface. To prepare for the day when there is no natural gas, oil, or coal to heat homes and buildings, the best possible way to prepare for the future and lessen suffering would be retrofitting homes to use less energy … Continue reading
Posted in Conserve Energy
Tagged buildings, cooking box, homes, insulation, retrofit
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Book Review “The Outlawed Ocean” by Ian Urbina
Preface. This is a book review of Urbina’s “The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier.” So many fishermen are enslaved for years, yet another reason to pay more for local fish at higher prices. Globally, so many fish … Continue reading
Posted in Fisheries, Fishery destruction, Natural History, Peak Food
Tagged fishery, peak fish, peak food, piracy, slavery
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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 Biodiversity, Extinction, Overshoot, Scientists, Scientists Warnings to Humanity
Tagged biodiversity, overpopulation
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