Author Archives: energyskeptic

Renewable incentives destabilize, harm electric grid

Posted on October 11, 2014 by

Wald, Matthew L.   7 Oct 2014. How Grid Efficiency Went South. New York times. Summary: 1) society would be better off if homeowners faced their rooftop solar panels westward, the peak time more energy is needed, but they won’t because … Continue reading →

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LNG overview

Posted on October 9, 2014 by

                      Liquefied natural gas is natural gas chilled down to -260 F which reduces its volume by about 600 times. Exports                   … Continue reading →

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Will Republican “Hate Talk” be the spark of violence in the future?

Posted on October 9, 2014 by

Will Republican “Hate Talk” be the spark of violence in the future? by Alice Friedemann, Oct 9, 2014 As long as trucks keep delivering goods, enough food is grown and distributed, then even if times get a lot worse, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Violence, Who is to Blame? | 1 Comment

Wall Street Journal Gets it Wrong on “why peak oil predictions haven’t come true”

Posted on October 8, 2014 by

WSJ Gets it Wrong on “Why Peak Oil Predictions Haven’t Come True”  October 6, 2014 by Gail Tverberg On Monday, September 29, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published a story called “Why Peak Oil Predictions Haven’t Come True.” The story is … Continue reading →

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Almost half of Rail Freight is Energy, increasingly Crude Oil

Posted on October 8, 2014 by

Source: American Association of Railroads. 46% of all tonnage hauled by freight trains is Energy: In 2014, crude oil will likely be 650,000 carloads — 2% of all carloads, 2.2% of tonnage.  In addition 2.6% of rail tonnage was refined … Continue reading →

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Conservation? Maybe not: Jevon’s Paradox & the Rebound Effect

Posted on October 7, 2014 by

Conservation? Maybe not: Jevon’s Paradox & the Rebound Effect by Alice Friedemann, October 7, 2014 The rebound effect makes it much more difficult to solve our energy problems, because the full energy savings aren’t realized, and the energy savings can … Continue reading →

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Super Rust Corrodes hundreds of ships and could sink the oil industry

Posted on October 4, 2014 by

Blame it on super-rust, a virulent form of corrosion that has destroyed hundreds of ships and could sink the oil industry. By Richard Martin, June 2002. Wired Magazine. Key points (see the full article at http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/superrust.html): Ships that cost hundreds … Continue reading →

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Moving oil by ship or barge to refineries

Posted on October 2, 2014 by

Frittelli, J., et al. May 5, 2014. U.S. Rail Transportation of Crude Oil: Background and Issues for Congress. Congressional Research Service. Barge One river barge can hold 10,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil. Two to three river barges are typically … Continue reading →

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Thorium in the news

Posted on October 1, 2014 by

[ When trucks stop running, civilization as we know it ends.  Nuclear electricity — or anything that generates electricity — doesn’t matter a rat’s ass if trucks can’t be electrified to run on batteries or overhead wires — especially tractors … Continue reading →

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Out of time: 50 years to make a transition, 210 years at the current rate

Posted on September 30, 2014 by

If transportation is to be electrified, then electric generation and the electric grid must be doubled, or even tripled. So by Cobb’s calculation, that would push back the transition time to renewables 420 to 630 years.  Alice Friedemann. By Kurt … Continue reading →

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