Categories
-
Recent Posts
- In a world without people, how long would NYC last?
- Network States to replace democratic governments with billionaire Silicon Valley CEO dictators & Republicans
- Why the kerogen in oil shale will never fill up your tank
- ‘The oil we eat’. Following the food chain back to iraq
- Vanishing open spaces: population growth and sprawl in America
- Admiral Rickover 1957: Energy Resources & Our Future
- The Green New Deal is not a solution for the real problem: Overshoot
- A transition from fossil fuels to renewables could take a century – if it ever happens
- Electrifying freight trains in the U.S. is a bad idea
- Why Nuclear Power can’t replace fossil fuels
- Energy, Water, & Climate Change are interdependent
- Why fusion power is Forever Away
- Climate Change dominates news coverage at expense of other existential planetary boundaries
- Excerpt from “The Geopolitics of Resource Wars”
- Homes & Buildings
Author Archives: energyskeptic
2008 National Academy of Sciences meeting on America’s Energy Future
Preface. Hundreds of top scientists gathered in 2008 to discuss the future of energy in America at a time when oil prices were reaching record highs. And here we are again with record breaking prices and no reduction of our … Continue reading
Posted in National Academies of Sciences, Oil Shocks
Tagged coal, energy crisis, energy dependence, energy shock, holdren, Moniz, nuclear power, oil
1 Comment
The Vory. Russia’s Super Mafia
Preface. After reading this book about the history of organized crime in Russia, I thought surely Russia must be the most corrupt nation in the world. But amazingly there are 47 countries that are ranked even lower of the 180 … Continue reading
Posted in Corruption & Finance, Crime, Gangs, Corrupt police, Private security, War Books
Tagged corruption, criminal, mafia, Russia, Stalin, totalitarian, vory
Comments Off on The Vory. Russia’s Super Mafia
Dozens of reasons why solar power can’t replace fossil fuels
Preface. Last update 2024-6-3. All solar (and wind) do is add to the giant bonfire of burning fossil fuels — which still provide two-thirds of the power for the electric grid. Electricity is just a fraction of how we use … Continue reading
Posted in CSP with thermal energy storage, Photovoltaic Solar, Solar
Tagged china, EROI, fossil fuels, greenhouse gases, orbiting solar, PV, solar, subsidy, toxic chemicals
Comments Off on Dozens of reasons why solar power can’t replace fossil fuels
SMR / Gen 4 nuclear reactors less safe & create even more toxic waste
Preface. With climate change getting all the press and the coming energy crisis virtually no coverage, pro-nuclear forces are strongly pushing new nuclear plants as a way to lower CO2 emissions and deliver reliable power (but only baseload, they … Continue reading
Posted in Gen IV SMR reactors, Nuclear Waste
Tagged modular reactors, Natrium, nuclear power, nuclear waste, PWR, SMR, sodium
Comments Off on SMR / Gen 4 nuclear reactors less safe & create even more toxic waste
North Korea: what happened when the oil was cut off?
Preface. All nations will eventually run low and then out of petroleum, so it is worthwhile to see what happened to those countries where oil was scarce first to get glimpses of our own fate and perhaps try to mitigate … Continue reading
Posted in North Korea, Oil shock collapse
Tagged collapse, cuba, japan, North Korea, peak oil, Venezuela
1 Comment
An extremist Republican gun industry will lead to a dark future in the U.S.
Preface. This is a book review of Busse’s 2021 “Gunfight. My battle against the industry that radicalized America”. I have always wondered why stricter gun laws haven’t been passed after horrifying mass shootings at schools and workplaces. This book explains … Continue reading
Posted in War Books
Tagged book review, Busse, civil war, gun control, gunfight, guns, NRA, Republican
Comments Off on An extremist Republican gun industry will lead to a dark future in the U.S.
An Amazonian community in balance with nature
Preface. Now that limits to growth and energy have arrived, it’s past time to invent a sustainable society living in balance with nature without fossil fuels and electricity. The Dawn of Everything showed us such civilizations from the past. Today … Continue reading
Posted in Dawn of Everything
Tagged Amazon, Ashaninka, dawn of everything, new community, steady state
Comments Off on An Amazonian community in balance with nature
Is the USA energy independent?
Preface. Below are excerpts from U.S. House & Senate hearings where various speakers made the case that due to tight fracked gas & oil the United States had 100 or 200 or even 250 years of Energy Independence ahead. For … Continue reading
Posted in Natural Gas, Oil & Gas Fracked, Peak Natural Gas, U.S. Congress Energy Independence
Tagged congress, energy independence, house, natural gas, oil, senate
Comments Off on Is the USA energy independent?
Dawn of Everything Miscellaneous
Preface. I’ve put interesting bits that don’t belong in a single category here as well as summaries and links to new archeological discoveries, societies today living in balance sustainably, etc. Starting with the review from Science which summarizes the book … Continue reading
Posted in Dawn of Everything
Tagged dawn of everything, dreams, yanomani
Comments Off on Dawn of Everything Miscellaneous
States do not evolve from Bands to Tribes to Chiefdoms to States
Preface. The bulk of this book is dedicated to showing why the idea of the evolution from tribes to states is false. If the authors are correct, then the flexibility of societies to invent ways of living with more freedom … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Dawn of Everything, Farming & Ranching, Slavery
Tagged dawn of everything, state evolution
Comments Off on States do not evolve from Bands to Tribes to Chiefdoms to States