Author Archives: energyskeptic

Fill ‘er up with kelp?

Preface. Here are just a few of the dozens of reasons why seaweed can’t make a dent in energy supplies: A negative return on investment like corn ethanol No commercial biofuels are being made from it. Kelp is mainly used … Continue reading

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European Power plants are burning American forests

Preface. More than half of Europe’s “green” energy comes from burning wood, a lot of it imported from America.  Now Denmark would like to import methanol made from pinyon pines and junipers from hundreds of thousands of acres in the … Continue reading

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Peak Potassium threatens crops

Potassium is one of the Big 3 essential plant nutrients that has allowed human population to soar to 8 billion people,as well as phosphorus and nitrogen. Potassium is a vital nutrient for plant growth that helps with photosynthesis and respiration, … Continue reading

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Permafrost & lack of gravel will limit arctic natural gas, oil, and coal extraction

Preface. For many people, it’s comforting to know that about 25% of remaining oil and gas reserves (we have the know-how and economics to get it) and resources (beyond our technical and/or monetary capability) are in the arctic. They assume … Continue reading

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America is not the good guy anymore

Preface.  This is a book review of Toft & Kushi’s 2023 Dying by the Sword: The Militarization of US Policy.  Oxford University Press. They make the case that America is not the good guy anymore, and hasn’t been for a … Continue reading

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Shrink the military budget

Preface. Much of this post is based on Miriam Pemberton’s 2023 book “Six Stops on the National Security Tour”.  Large sections of the book are about why past attempts to cash in on the ending of the cold War since … Continue reading

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World Scientists’ Warning: Ecological Overshoot & Human nature

Preface.  It is rare for a mainstream newspaper to bring up overshoot, so congratulations to the scientific paper of Merz et al (2023) for appearing in The Guardian.  It is so frustrating for those of us who are ecologically aware … Continue reading

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The pillaging of Native American coal, water, uranium and more

Preface. This is a book review of: “Unreal City: Las Vegas, Black Mesa, and the Fate of the West” by Judith Nies.  This book is about how stealing the resources of native Americans lands was made legal, despite enormous Native … Continue reading

Posted in An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Biodiversity Loss, Coal, Energy Books, Energy Infrastructure, Global Warming, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Mass migrations, Peak Resources, Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS), U.S. Congress Energy Policy, Water Pollution | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The pillaging of Native American coal, water, uranium and more

Self-driving cars in San Francisco cause accidents, congestion, and more

Cruise robotaxi crashes into firetruck in San Francisco Two companies operate self driving taxis in San Francisco: Waymo and Cruise.  Over 92 problems were reported in 2023, which led to Cruise being suspended, in part due to footage of a … Continue reading

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“Star Wars” missile defense won’t stop incoming nukes

Preface.  In a recent Russian attack, Ukrainian air defenders intercepted less than half of the kamikaze drones, ballistic and cruise missiles launched (Korshak 2024). So it seems that Reagan’s impossible “Star Wars” missile defense system worked out after all.  Well, … Continue reading

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