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- 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
- Book Review “The Outlawed Ocean” by Ian Urbina
- Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future
- Motherboards: too complicated to make after oil
- “More and More and More” one of the best books on energy ever written
- The staggering destruction of knowledge by Christians in the Roman Empire
Author Archives: energyskeptic
Let’s harness the muscle power of 54 million fitness center members to generate electricity
Preface. This is a short summary of a 10-page research paper by Carbajales-Dale. Alice Friedemann www.energyskeptic.com author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, 2015, Springer, Barriers to Making Algal Biofuels, and “Crunch! Whole Grain Artisan … Continue reading
Humans destroyed 10% of wilderness in just 25 years
Preface. Humans are destroying the wilderness so quickly there it could mostly disappear in less than a century. Since 1993 the world lost an area twice the size of Alaska. So kiss biodiversity, carbon sequestration, ecology, and a stable climate … Continue reading
Decommissioning a nuclear reactor
Preface. Below are excerpts of articles about the costs and challenges of dismantling nuclear power plants. This is at the top of my “Energy Descent To Do List” given the consequences for future generations for up to a million years, … Continue reading
Posted in Nuclear Waste
Tagged decommission, nuclear
Comments Off on Decommissioning a nuclear reactor
We evolved to exercise and need high levels of physical activity to be healthy
Preface. This is a summary of Herman Pontzer’s 2019 “Humans evolved to exercise. Unlike our ape cousins, humans require high levels of physical activity to be healthy” in Scientific American. As fossils decline, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll use more muscle … Continue reading
Groundwater rise. Yet another climate change threat.
Preface. In coastal areas flooding is likely to be caused from groundwater rise because as sea levels rise, they won’t only move inland, flooding low-lying land near the shore; but also push water up from the saltwater water table, on … Continue reading
Posted in Floods, Groundwater, Hazardous Waste, Sea Level Rise, Water Infrastructure
Tagged floods, groundwater rise, sea level rise
3 Comments
Nafeez Ahmed: Venezuela’s collapse is a window into how the Oil Age will unravel
Preface. Ahmed is one of the best writers on the energy crisis and other biophysical calamities. He’s written about why many states are failing now in part due to peak oil, but also drought and other biophysical factors in his … Continue reading
Posted in Peak Oil, Tar Sands (Oil Sands), Venezuela
Tagged collapse, peak oil, Venezuela
2 Comments
Climate change effects on hydropower in California
Preface. Climate change will impact California agriculture without the snow melt that allows for up to three crops to be grown a year, perhaps just one crop in the future. Not to mention the impact on the 40 million people … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Climate Change, Hydropower
Tagged california, climate change, hydropower
2 Comments
Hydropower can’t help with the energy crisis
Preface. When fossil fuels are gone, there aren’t many ways to balance the unreliable, intermittent, and often absent for weeks at a time power from wind and solar. Biofuels and burning biomass is one solution, it’s dispatchable and can kick … Continue reading
Black starting the grid after a power outage
Black starts Large blackouts can be quite devastating and it isn’t easy to restart the electric grid again. This is typically done by designated black start units of natural gas, coal, hydro, or nuclear power plants that can restart themselves … Continue reading