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- 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
Walter Youngquist: Geodestinies Exponential growth
Preface. I was fortunate enough to know Walter for 15 years. He became a friend and mentor, helping me learn to become a better science writer, and sending me material I might be interested in, and delightful pictures of him … Continue reading
Posted in Exponential Growth, Walter Youngquist
Tagged exponential growth, Geodestinies, Youngquist
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Walter Youngquist: Geodestinies Minerals
Preface. I was fortunate enough to know Walter for 15 years. He became a friend and mentor, helping me learn to become a better science writer, and sending me material I might be interested in, and delightful pictures of him … Continue reading
Posted in Mining, Walter Youngquist
Tagged minerals
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Youngquist: Geodestinies Population
Preface. Youngquist emphasized overpopulation in everything he wrote, since this is the root of all our problems — pollution, climate change, soil erosion, fresh water depletion, extinction, biodiversity loss — can you think of a single problem that wouldn’t be … Continue reading
Posted in Experts, Overpopulation, Walter Youngquist
Tagged Geodestinies, overpopulation, population, Youngquist
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Walter Youngquist: Geodestinies
Preface. I was fortunate enough to know Walter for 15 years. He became a friend and mentor, helping me learn to become a better science writer, and sending me material I might be interested in, and delightful pictures of him … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Books, Walter Youngquist
Tagged Geodestinies, oil, population, war, Youngquist
5 Comments
Kurt Andersen: “Evil Geniuses” & wealth
Preface. This is a well-written book with original insights into the economic, cultural, and politics behind how we got to a right-wing wannabe fascist incredibly unfair distribution of wealth. But Andersen is unaware that energy, not money, is the basis … Continue reading
Disposal of nuclear waste in municipal landfills
Preface. The pandemic is probably going to enable a lot of bad legislation to be snuck in while attention is focused elsewhere. This proposal is for low-level waste in landfills. But the big problem is that nothing at all is … Continue reading
Why no single or combination of alternative energy resources can replace fossil fuels
Preface. This 2002 paper is still true today. There simply are no renewable replacements for the fossil fuels that power our civilization. If only scientists could violate the laws of thermodynamics and physics the way capitalistic crooks cheat, like Bernie … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Biomass, Fusion, Hydrogen, Nuclear Power Energy, Orbiting Solar, Peak Oil, Photovoltaic Solar, Wind
Tagged fusion, hydrogen, nuclear, peak everything, solar, wind
6 Comments
Energy storage doesn’t scale up: limits to minerals and geography
Preface. Natural gas is finite, but aside from (pumped) hydropower, natural gas is the main way wind and solar are balanced now. Therefore, a tremendous amount of energy storage will be needed in the future as natural gas declines. And … Continue reading
Lifespan of infrastructure, transportation, and buildings
Preface. What follows is from the International Energy Agency 2020 report “Energy technology perspectives” on how to transition to net zero emissions by 2050. This might require the replacement of just about everything, since power plants, steel blast furnaces, cement … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure
Tagged buildings, cement, dams, infrastructure, lifespan, steel, transportation
5 Comments