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Recent Posts
- Thorium nuclear bombs and reactors have too many challenges
- Who Killed the Electric Car & more importantly, the Electric Truck?
- President Carter’s energy solutions 1977
- Peak Menhaden
- Hemp for paper, textiles, the war on drugs, and more
- Why towns have a hard time adding EV, solar, heat pumps
- Building a national super grid in America
- The Mayflower from the book The Barbarous Years
- Deep Sea Oil
- Book review of “Livewired. The inside story of the ever-changing brain”
- The conveyor belt may be slowing down — Yikes!
- Battery Energy storage batteries (BESS) too complex to ever be commercial
- New war and energy alliances over next resource wars
- Book review of “Siege: Trump Under fire”
- Why do people vote for Trump?
Author Archives: energyskeptic
Fusion is already running out of fuel
Source: Khan A (2021) Nuclear fusion: building a star on Earth is hard, which is why we need better materials. The Conversation. Preface. Of all the hundreds of obstacles fusion has yet to overcome, its death knell could be as … Continue reading
Peak Oil is Officially Here! World oil production peaked November of 2018
Preface. When I first published this post in February of 2022, I said that peak world oil production might have arrived, but it takes 5 years in the rear-view mirror to call it. Now peak “crude oil including lease condensate … Continue reading
Wood, the fuel of preindustrial societies, is half of EU renewable energy
Preface: By far the largest renewable energy resource used in Europe is wood. In its various forms, from sticks to pellets to sawdust, wood (or to use its fashionable name, biomass) accounts forhalf of Europe’s renewable-energy consumption. Although Finland is … Continue reading
Rare Earth updates: recent research on why complex & intelligent life are rare in the Universe
Preface. These are updates to Ward & Brownlee’s book “Rare Earth: Why Complex life is Uncommon in the Universe”. If we are one of the few planets with intelligent life, what a shame it would be if we destroyed ourselves … Continue reading
Posted in Evolution, Human Nature, Planetary Boundaries, Wood
Tagged combustion, complex life, evolution, intelligent life, photosynthesis, rare earth, Theia, venus, water
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The tremendous material and energy toll of the digital economy
One minute on the internet around the world. Source Infographic by @LoriLewas and @officiallyChad, 2020. Preface. This is a book review of Pitron’s “The Dark Cloud”. Of note is the huge amount of electricity and rare earth and other critical … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Microchips and computers, Mining, Peak Critical Elements
Tagged computer chips, data center, electric grid, electricity, internet
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Nuclear attack on U.S. could kill 90% of Americans
A map showing modelling by Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security showing the worst-case scenario effects of a strike on America’s nuclear missile silos. Researchers found as many as 300 million people would be at risk of a … Continue reading
Posted in An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Biodiversity Loss, Nuclear War, War & Violence
Tagged nuclear war, nuclear weapons, war
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What percent of Americans are rational?
Preface. Why does rationality matter — what’s the harm in believing there’s a fat “Santa Claus” God in the sky noting down every time any intelligent creature in the entire universe is naughty or nice on the trillions of inhabited … Continue reading
Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A Nation Unprepared. Surviving the Aftermath
Preface. This is one of three posts based on Ted Koppel’s book Lights out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath. There are three posts on Ted Koppel’s book “Lights out”: Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A … Continue reading
Posted in Cyber, EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Energy Books
Tagged cyberattack, electric grid, EMP, Koppel, lights out, preparation
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Off-Road vehicles & equipment need diesel fuel
Preface. Move over semi-trucks. You are not the most important truck in the world, even though I gave you the starring role in “When Trucks Stop Running”. What really matters are the trucks that grow our fuel: Food. And mining … Continue reading