Author Archives: energyskeptic

Phosphates add heavy metals such as cadmium to soils

Posted on September 10, 2013 by

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

Posted on September 10, 2013 by

Click to enlarge  

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

Posted on September 10, 2013 by

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

Posted on September 4, 2013 by

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

Posted on August 21, 2013 by

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

Posted on August 17, 2013 by

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)

Posted on August 17, 2013 by

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

Posted on August 15, 2013 by

  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?

Posted on August 7, 2013 by

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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Cyber Attacks an unprecedented threat to U.S. National Security

Posted on August 7, 2013 by

Preface. This post contains extracts from 3 congressional hearings in the House of representatives session on cyber attacks. Alice Friedemann  www.energyskeptic.com  Author of Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy; When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the … Continue reading →

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