Author Archives: energyskeptic

How are energy storage batteries coming along? U.S. House hearing 2015

[ My favorite quotes from this U.S. House of Representatives session: THOMAS MASSIE, KENTUCKY. I want to say this has been a very enlightening hearing, and it confirms my personal experience, which is batteries are not sexy. Buckets of acid … Continue reading

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Energy as a weapon: Implications for U.S. policy U.S. House hearing 2006

[ My favorite quotes from this session: Mr. Lynch: E.F. Schumacher said in 1964: “There is no substitute for energy: the whole edifice of modern life is built upon it. Although energy can be bought and sold like any other … Continue reading

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Tax reform & federal energy policy: incentives to promote energy efficiency. U.S. Senate hearing.

[ By far the best strategy to cope with energy decline is to prepare by making homes, businesses, appliances, vehicles, and so on more energy efficient.  If it turns out that renewable energy has too low an EROI to sustain … Continue reading

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Gail Tverberg: Why peak coal, oil, and natural gas will all happen at the same time

China: Is peak coal part of its problem? by Gail Tverberg,  OurFiniteWorld.com  | Jun 20, 2016 The world’s coal resources are clearly huge. How could China, or the world in total, reach peak coal in a timeframe that makes a … Continue reading

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Why studies come up with different Energy Returned on Invest (EROI) results: can it be fixed?

[ There are many issues with biofuels beyond their trivial to negative energy return on investment (EROI). In Peak Soil I point out that current industrial farming techniques are destroying topsoil about 15 times faster than pre-fossil fuel economies — … Continue reading

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Murphy & Hall 2011 Adjusting the economy to the new energy realities of the second half of the age of oil

[ Below are excerpts from this 5 page paper, slightly rearranged, go here to see all of the text, figures, and tables.   Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation, 2015, Springer] Murphy, … Continue reading

Posted in Charles A. S. Hall, EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, How Much Left | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

U.S. House hearing on how to get Central Asian oil before Russia and China do, 2006

[ Make no mistake: one of the main focuses of the U.S. government is to keep crude oil flowing, because without oil, civilization as we know it collapses. This is because the transportation that matters most – heavy-duty diesel-engine trucks … Continue reading

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The electromagnetic pulse EMP Threat: House of Representatives hearing 2005

[ Related articles: Russian hackers suspected in attack that blacked out parts of Ukraine How the weapon works (pdf): CRASHOVERRIDE Analyzing the Threat to Electric Grid Operations The EMP Commission estimates a nationwide blackout lasting one year could kill up … Continue reading

Posted in Blackouts, Blackouts Electric Grid, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Nuclear spent fuel fire | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Devil’s Scenario – near miss at Fukushima is a warning for U.S.

[ The most likely event to trigger a loss of power long enough to cause a spent fuel pool zirconium fire meltdown and release of radioactive particles into the atmosphere is a nuclear or natural geomagnetic storm electromagnetic pulse (see … Continue reading

Posted in Nuclear Power Collapse, Nuclear spent fuel fire, Nuclear Waste, Scientists Warnings to Humanity | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

After collapse: plunder or feudalism?

  IWW poster “Pyramid of Capitalist System” (c. 1911), depicting an anti-capitalist perspective on statist/capitalist social structures Preface. In this post an anonymous author looks at what will happen if society collapses and we have to suddenly go back to … Continue reading

Posted in Farming & Ranching, Peak Food, Peak Phosphorus, Soil, Where are the rich going | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments