Author Archives: energyskeptic

Humans driving species to extinction 1,000 times the natural rate

[ According to a paper published in Science the current rates of extinction are 1000 times the background rate. This estimate is higher than previous estimates is due to a more sophisticated analysis. Other extinction news: 2017-1-18 World’s primates facing … Continue reading →

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Tokyo earthquake will cost somewhere from $1 to $4 trillion and likely soon

If a disaster is capable of crashing the world financial system, an earthquake in Tokyo is surely one of them. Tokyo, with over 33 million people, is the epicenter of finance and politics in Japan. In geologist Peter Hadfield’s 1995 … Continue reading →

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Cascadia subduction zone 9.0 earthquake will cost hundreds of billions of dollars and many lives

[ Would a several hundred billion dollar earthquake shake the global financial system enough to bring on a world-wide depression?  It’s not just the costs of repair, but the indirect costs, such as destruction of the Ports of Seattle and … Continue reading →

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Vines are taking over forests

Laurance, W. October 5, 2013. Planet of the vines: Climbing plants are taking over. NewScientist. Giant vines are beginning to strangle Earth’s tropical forests, and it’s not just due to climate change. Gaze out over a tropical rainforest and the … Continue reading →

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Large animals driven extinct by human hunters still affect ecosystems today

Below is an excerpt/paraphrased of Michael Marshall’s 14 August 2013 NewScientist Ecosystems still feel the pain of ancient extinctions, the abstract of the original Nature Geoscience article, and future losses of large animals will affect tropical forests in the future. … Continue reading →

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National security implications of international energy and climate change policies, Senate hearing

[This is an excerpt of a very interesting senate hearing that looks at how war can be caused by climate change (i.e. drought, hunger, rising sea levels) and how climate change will affect infrastructure. The European emissions trading scheme and … Continue reading →

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Emerging threats of resource wars. U.S. House hearing

Goh Chun Teck, Lim Xian You, Sum Qing Wei, Tong Huu Khiem. 2011. Resource Wars. Players compete with each other for territories that generate resources such as coal, water, gold and gas. A Player can sell resources for money, which … Continue reading →

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House of Representatives hearing 113-2 Feb 13, 2013: American Energy Outlook: Technology market and policy drivers.

House 113-2. February 13, 2013. American Energy Outlook: Technology market and policy drivers. House of Representatives hearing. [ Excerpts from the 119 page transcript of this hearing ] Chairwoman Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming. It is difficult to overstate the importance of … Continue reading →

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Hybrid electric trucks are very different from HEV cars

Preface. The National Research Council paper I review in this post explains why it is hard to transfer auto hybrid technology to trucks.  They are entirely different animals — medium-duty trucks weigh up to 10 times more, have up to … Continue reading →

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The Dark side of Cruise ships. Garbage. Sewage. And more.

[ I detest cruise ships which destroy the ambiance of small towns in Alaska and everywhere else they go.  While cruise ships disgorged their sewage and garbage in Alaska’s Skagway harbor, passengers disgorged into shops owned by the cruise ships … Continue reading →

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