Categories
-
Recent Posts
- How to survive a nuclear winter
- The insect apocalypse will kill billions more people than climate change
- The war on drugs. A book review of “Chasing the scream”
- Peak crude oil did not happen in 2018. But we are still running out of time
- Sheriffs have too much power
- Book review “They poisoned the world: Life & death in the age of Forever Chemicals”
- John Howe on one child per woman: still too high to stay under limits to growth curves
- Ted Trainer: The radical implications of a zero growth economy
- Part 5 Raven Rock. Hidey holes for government and military officials to carry on democracy after nuclear war destroys the planet
- Become a Bison rancher
- Part 4 Raven Rock. The government abandons plans to aid the public, only the government to survive
- Prisoners are treated worse than slaves in America
- Part 3 Raven Rock. The government’s plans for after a nuclear holocaust
- Part 2 Raven Rock. The U.S. government’s plans to save civilians from nuclear war
- Legal & Illegal Immigration numbers must drop to carrying capacity
Author Archives: energyskeptic
Saving fuel: making combat vehicles lighter
Preface. The military would like to lightweight equipment to save on fuel. Although Peak Oil isn’t mentioned, no other department of the U.S. government is more aware of future energy shortages, and the implications that has for their ability to … Continue reading
Posted in Military, Transportation
Tagged army, fuel, lightweight, tank
Comments Off on Saving fuel: making combat vehicles lighter
Book review of Underbug: an obsessive tale of termites and technology
Preface. I read this book mainly to find out where “grassoline” stood. Scientists thought 10 years ago that we could recreate the termite biota system of digesting biomass to create biofuels. But this appears to be far in the future … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Wood
Tagged ethanol, grassoline, superorganism, termite
Comments Off on Book review of Underbug: an obsessive tale of termites and technology
Booklist: Natural history & Science, Evolution, Critical thinking, Health, Resource allocation, Climate change, Fire
Preface. My goal since college has been to read as much as I could across as many fields as possible for a Big Picture View and understand the world as it really is rather than how I’d like it to … Continue reading
Can Zinc batteries save the electric grid?
Preface: Right now, and as long as natural gas lasts, the electric grid will stay up since it is the main storage and way to balance unreliable wind and solar power. Hydropower can also play a major role in the … Continue reading
Posted in Batteries, Energy Storage, Lithium-ion
Tagged air, battery, lithium, reserves, zinc
1 Comment
Earthquakes in California could cost over $200 billion dollars
Preface. The figures below don’t do justice to the harm an earthquake would do. There is $1.9 trillion dollars of property at risk from earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay Area, where a catastrophic earthquake on the Hayward Fault would … Continue reading
Posted in Earthquakes, U.S. Congress Infrastructure
Tagged california, cost, earthquake, map
4 Comments
The U.S. Military on Peak Oil and Climate Change
Preface. Of all the branches of government, the military is the most realistic about the implications of Peak Oil and Climate Change. The Department of Defense is also the largest consumer of energy in the federal government, spending about $20 … Continue reading
From Horsepower to Horse Power. When Trucks stop, Horses start.
Preface. Before the industrial revolution there were only four sources of mechanical power of any economic significance. They were human labor, animal labor, water power (near flowing streams) and wind power. Work done by animals, especially on farms, was still … Continue reading
Muscle Power
Preface. Below is a review of “Prime Mover: A Natural History of Muscle: from Natural History Magazine. Since both my books explain why we will be returning to biomass and muscle power, here’s yet another preparation opportunity: breed horses and … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Energy Books, Life Before Oil, Muscle Power, What to do
Tagged muscle power, treadmill
3 Comments
Challenges to the Integration of Renewable Resources at High System Penetration
Preface. This overview of challenges for wind and solar written in 2010 is still true today. We are far from being able to reach even a 50% renewable grid (excluding hydropower from the total) given the lack of storage, the … Continue reading
Posted in Electric Grid, Solar, Wind
Tagged electric grid, energy storage, forecasting, intermittence, smart grid, solar, wind
Comments Off on Challenges to the Integration of Renewable Resources at High System Penetration
Vaclav Smil. Making the modern world: materials and dematerialization
Preface. I can’t believe I read this book, it is just a long litany of the gigantic amounts of materials we exploit, with no analysis, implications, or the meaning of what impact this will have on the planet. I certainly … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure Books, Life Before Oil, Limits To Growth, Peak Resources, Vaclav Smil
Tagged materials, recycling, vaclav smil
9 Comments