Author Archives: energyskeptic

How fuel prices are being affected by the current boom in domestic oil production

Senate 113-71. July 16, 2013. Gas Prices Hearing on how U.S. gasoline and fuel prices are being affected by the current boom in domestic oil production and the restructuring of the U.S. refining industry and distribution system. Senate Hearing. [ … Continue reading

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Phosphates add heavy metals such as cadmium to soils

Larsen, A., et al. March 1, 2001. Re-engineering the toilet for sustainable wastewater management. Environmental Science and Technology Vol 35(9):192-197  http://www.internal.eawag.ch/~maurer/abstracts/09larsen.html Current fertilizer production and use consume limited resources and harm the environment. At current extraction rates, reserves of phosphate … Continue reading

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Peak element and mineral production

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Jeremy Faludi: Your Stuff: If It Isn’t Grown, It Must Be Mined

Below is an excerpt from Jeremy Faludi’s “Your Stuff: If It Isn’t Grown, It Must Be Mined” (25 Dec 2007). Where does your stuff come from? Before the store, before the factory, where did it really begin? If it isn’t … Continue reading

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Pandemics

As declining energy leads to lower farm yields, malnutrition and starvation will make people far more vulnerable to diseases.  A lack of anti-biotics, and little transportation to get to medical facilities at some point down the oil depletion curve is … Continue reading

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Cascading failure + Liebig’s Law + Supply Chain Breakdown = Collapse of civilization

Declining supplies of high-quality, easy-to-get fossil fuels with no alternatives ready to replace them — ever — is the #1 issue. As long as we have oil, all problems can be solved, unless oil lasts long enough to deplete every … Continue reading

Posted in 3) Fast Crash, Alternative Energy, Cascading Failure, Electricity Infrastructure, Infrastructure & Collapse, Oil & Gas, Predictions, Supply Chains | 2 Comments

Emergency drill: Cyberattack on electric grid

Preface.  Although I am mainly concerned about peak oil, we’ve become so incredibly dependent on the electric grid, including electricity to pump oil at gas stations, that if the grid came down from an EMP or cyberattack, millions of people … Continue reading

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Alfred McCoy in Salon Magazine on How America will collapse (by 2025)

How America will collapse by 2025. Four scenarios that could spell the end of the United States as we know it — in the very near future. Alfred McCoy. December 6, 2010. Salon.com Here are a few extracts from this … Continue reading

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Decline and Fall of Civilizations links to articles about this

  The Histomap. Four thousand years of world history. Relative power of contemporary states, nations, and empires from slate.com

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Cyber attack methods. Who are the cyber attackers?

This just in: Cyber criminals are planting chips in electric irons and kettles to launch spam attacks.  A Russian TV channel had footage of an iron being opened up to reveal a “spy chip” with a small microphone that could … Continue reading

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