Author Archives: energyskeptic

Coal or Biomass & Coal to Liquids: CTL, DCL, & CBTL technology

Gray, D., et al. August 1, 2012.  Topic Paper #8 Production of Alternative Liquid Hydrocarbon Transportation Fuels from Natural Gas, Coal, and Coal and Biomass (XTL). National Petroleum Council Background With national energy security still being a dominant concern because … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal to Liquids (CTL) | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Coal or Biomass & Coal to Liquids: CTL, DCL, & CBTL technology

Better truck fuel efficiency to delay the end of the oil age

NAS. 2010. Technologies and Approaches to Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles (National Academy of Sciences Study) This free, 251 page document is one of the best I’ve seen on the myriad ways trucks could double their … Continue reading →

Posted in Transportation What To Do, Trucks | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Better truck fuel efficiency to delay the end of the oil age

New land converted to cropland to grow biofuel crops equal to 34 coal-fired power plants

Summary of article below: Between 2008 and 2012 over 7 million acres new land, much of it grasslands, were converted to croplands, damaging native ecosystems, and mimics the extreme land-use change that led up to the Dust Bowl in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Biofuels | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Petroleum council urges Arctic oil to offset declining production in lower 48

The U.S. should immediately begin a push to exploit its enormous trove of oil in the Arctic waters off of Alaska, or risk a renewed reliance on imported oil in the future, an Energy Department advisory council says in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Arctic | 1 Comment

All Electric Trucks. Probably not going to happen. Ever. Why not?

There are “forms of transport that cannot be electrified — heavy-duty trucks and planes… Even if the electricity problem can be solved, it won’t address the needs of planes, trucks, ships and some industrial heating that cannot be electrified” (Long). … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, Lithium-ion, Trucks | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

GAO on why ethanol, and other non-drop in fuels, face pipeline & installation at service station challenges

[The challenges that ethanol faces in being put into new or modified pipelines and added to gas stations are issues faced by all alternative fuels (methanol, CNG, LNG, DME, diesohol, CTL, hydrogen, and so on) in a transition from gasoline … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Biofuels, Fuel Distribution, Pipeline | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on GAO on why ethanol, and other non-drop in fuels, face pipeline & installation at service station challenges

Biofuels do not scale up enough to power society

Richard, T. August 23, 2010. Challenges in scaling up biofuels infrastructure. Science. (329)   Below are excerpts from this paper.  Look at the impossible scale of biomass required: 150 EJ/year = 15 billion metric tons of plant biomass = 200 billion … Continue reading →

Posted in Biofuels | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Biofuels do not scale up enough to power society

Oil shortages: Transportation needs to go back to high inventories, not just-in-time delivery

Huge amounts of fuel are wasted as trucks arrive half full with just the needed parts at factories and warehouses and return empty. As oil shocks strike, fuel will be less available.  Large inventories will help by cushioning businesses from … Continue reading →

Posted in Railroads, Ships and Barges, Transportation, Trucks | Comments Off on Oil shortages: Transportation needs to go back to high inventories, not just-in-time delivery

A third of Nuclear Reactors are going to die of old age in the next 10-20 years

70% of reactors are over 25 years old, 23% are over 35 years old, so within 10 to 20 years about a third will have to be decommissioned, far more than the 63 under construction.  Some are bound to fail … Continue reading →

Posted in ! PEAK EVERYTHING, Nuclear Power Energy | Tagged , | 7 Comments

EROI negative for Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) at Shenuha Direct Coal Liquefaction plant

Kong, Z. et al. 23 January 2015. EROI Analysis for Direct Coal Liquefaction without and with CCS: The Case of the Shenhua DCL Project in China. Energies 8(2): 786-807.   Many nations see coal-to-liquids (CTL) as a way to avoid … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal to Liquids (CTL), EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested | Comments Off on EROI negative for Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) at Shenuha Direct Coal Liquefaction plant