Author Archives: energyskeptic

The U.S. May Soon Have the World’s Oldest Nuclear Power Plants

Posted on June 18, 2020 by

Preface. This is nuts. Sea level rise threatens many nuclear power plants and drought has shut plants down since they need cooling to operate. As nuclear reactor age, they require more intensive monitoring and preventive maintenance to operate safely. But … Continue reading →

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High-level nuclear waste storage degrades faster than thought

Posted on June 15, 2020 by

Preface. Burying nuclear waste ought to be a top priority, now that it appears peak oil may have happened in November of 2018 (Patterson 2019) and perhaps even sooner if covid-19 crashes the world economy (Tverberg 2020). It won’t happen … Continue reading →

Posted in Nuclear Waste | Tagged | 10 Comments

Concentrated Solar Power is dying out in the U.S.

Posted on June 12, 2020 by

Preface.  Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) contributes only 0.06 % of U.S. electricity, mainly in California (64 %) and Arizona (24 %) because extremely dry areas with no humidity, haze, or pollutants are required. Of the 1861 MW power they can … Continue reading →

Posted in Concentrated Solar Power, CSP with thermal energy storage, Grid instability, Seasonal Variation | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Oil consumption of containerships

Posted on June 6, 2020 by

Preface.  Since 90% of international goods move by ships, I was curious about how much fuel they burned.  It’s a lot: The very large container ship CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin above, which can carry 18,000 20-foot containers, carries approximately 4.5 … Continue reading →

Posted in Electrification, Ships and Barges | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Life before Cars: When Pedestrians Ruled the Streets

Posted on May 31, 2020 by

Preface.  The past is future after fossil fuels, but minus the horses for a while, since before cars they required about a sixth of U.S. farmland for their feed.  My grandfather, Francis J. Pettijohn, used to fondly reminisce about how … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Transportation What To Do | Tagged | 1 Comment

15 Nations that Collapsed because of Drought: will we be the 16th?

Posted on May 28, 2020 by

Preface.  Another repercussion of drought may be the Muslim religion as Fleitmann (2022) proposes below. This post began with 10 civilizations that collapsed due to drought (below), and I’ve added 5 more. Will the American South West be #16? Lynn … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapsed & collapsing nations, Drought & Collapse | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

World’s Oceans are losing Oxygen rapidly

Posted on May 25, 2020 by

Preface. Yikes, add deoxygenization to your list of worries. Oxygen levels in the world’s oceans declined by roughly 2% from 1960 and 2010. The decline was largely due to climate change, though other human activities such as nutrient runoff from … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Extinction, Mass Extinction, Planetary Boundaries | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change

Posted on May 22, 2020 by

Preface. This is a summary of the National Research Council 2013 study of abrupt changes of climate change. Related: 2019-12-6. Research reveals past rapid Antarctic ice loss due to ocean warming.  “…the sensitive West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed during a … Continue reading →

Posted in Planetary Boundaries | Tagged | 1 Comment

Nuclear waste will last a lot longer than climate change

Posted on May 19, 2020 by

Preface. One of the most tragic aspects of peak oil is that it is very unlikely once energy descent begins that oil will be expended to clean up our nuclear mess. No one wants the spent fuel! New Mexico is … Continue reading →

Posted in Nuclear Waste, Planetary Boundaries | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Half of U.S. Coal runs out in 30 years, not 250

Posted on May 13, 2020 by

Preface. The USGS did a survey of coal in the U.S. in 1974 and announced that America had 250 years of coal left.  In 2007, the National Research Council wrote a report suggesting 100 years was more likely due to … Continue reading →

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