Author Archives: energyskeptic

China Water issues

China is one of a few and often only place making products from computers to furniture, as well as the components of most products, so if China collapses, the ripple effects will be felt elsewhere. On the other hand, if … Continue reading

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Sea Level Rise

[ There are four major sources of sea level rise that are related to human activity: thermal expansion (as ocean water heats up, it physically expands), melting mountain glaciers worldwide, the continental ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, and the … Continue reading

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GAO 2012 Spent Nuclear Fuel

[ If we don’t clean up nuclear waste while there is still the energy and a functioning financial system to make it happen, it won’t.  Yet another nightmare for future generations.  Shameful.  Disgusting.  Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks … Continue reading

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Ozone destroying HCFC is still being produced in enormous volumes

Johannes C. Laube, Mike J. Newland, Christopher Hogan, Carl A. M. Brenninkmeijer, Paul J. Fraser, Patricia Martinerie, David E. Oram, Claire E. Reeves, Thomas Röckmann, Jakob Schwander, Emmanuel Witrant, William T. Sturges. Newly detected ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere. Nature … Continue reading

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20% of Invertebrate species threatened with extinction.

Brendan Borrell. Sep 3, 2012. One Fifth of Invertebrate Species at Risk of Extinction. Freshwater snails and reef-building corals are among the threatened groups. Nature & Scientific American. One in five of the world’s invertebrate species are threatened with extinction, … Continue reading

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States should stockpile food like Alaksa

Bohrer, B. 29 Aug 2012. Remote Alaska to stockpile food, just in case. Business Week. JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska is known for pioneering, self-reliant residents who are accustomed to remote locations and harsh weather. Despite that, Gov. Sean Parnell … Continue reading

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Summary of Hirsch & Bezdek 2005 DOE Peak Oil study

A summary of: Hirsch, R. L., et al. February 2005. Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, mitigation, & risk management. Department of Energy. The peaking of world oil production presents the U.S. and the world with an unprecedented risk management problem. … Continue reading

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Germany National Academy of Sciences report: Don’t use biofuels

Preface. This German study explains why biomass doesn’t scale up to make biofuels, whether from algae, cellulose, or plants, as well as why trying to do so would harm the environment. Alice Friedemann  www.energyskeptic.com Women in ecology  author of 2021 … Continue reading

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Solar Infrastructure: Materials, Land, and Energy required

To replace just one year of world oil use (1 cubic mile) you’d need to mine, fabricate, deliver, and build 91,250,000 Solar panels every year for 50 years (Goldstein). A PV plant that could produce 5.5 TWh of power (what … Continue reading

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Oil Built Our Infrastructure Back When it was Cheap & Abundant

Most of our infrastructure was built many decades ago, when the energy returned on energy invested (EROEI) of oil was 100:1, and now it’s down to roughly 30:1 in the gulf, and much less elsewhere (at 10:1 civilization collapses). What … Continue reading

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