Author Archives: energyskeptic

Peter Turchin: violence and social unrest in the U.S. and Europe likely by 2020

Preface. Peter Turchin, an expert on the cycles of history and the rise and fall of civilizations, has used mathematical models of complex systems to predict political instability. Debora MacKenzie at NewScientist interviewed him about his upcoming book “Ultrasociety” in … Continue reading →

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Climate change impacts on transportation 2008 U.S. Senate hearing

Senate  110-1199. June 24, 2008. Climate change impacts on the transportation sector. U.S. Senate Hearing. Excerpts from this 135 page document follow. DANIEL K. INOUYE, U.S. SENATOR FROM HAWAII The transportation sector is a major indicator of the overall economic … Continue reading →

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How much net energy return required to prevent collapse?

Preface. Charles Hall, one of the founders of EROI methodology, initially thought an EROI of 3 was enough to run modern civilization, which is like investing $1 and getting $3 back. But after decades of research, Hall concluded an EROI … Continue reading →

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Will perovskite solar cells ever work out?

Van Noorden, R. September 24, 2014. Cheap solar cells tempt businesses. Nature #513 470-471. [Excerpts. Of interest because rarely do obstacles get mentioned in the news. Most are optimistic hype making it sound like a solution to the energy crisis … Continue reading →

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Oil shocks and the potential for crisis U.S. House 2007

Preface. There have been two oil shockwave “oil crisis stimulations”, summaries of both from 2005 and 2007 are below.  Oil Shockwaves confront a mock U.S. cabinet with highly plausible geopolitical crises that trigger sharp increases in oil prices. Participants must … Continue reading →

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Methane hydrates are still decades away. U.S. House hearing 2009.

[ The U.S. Department of Energy says: “At today’s gas prices, there are no economically recoverable deposits…and the commercialization of methane hydrates is likely to be several decades away….Although the size of the global methane hydrate resource is estimated to … Continue reading →

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Is there enough natural gas for everyone for everything?

[ Is there enough natural gas for products, utilities, AND transportation?  Alice Friedemann  www.energyskeptic.com] Senate 113-1. February 12, 2013. Natural gas resources S. Hrg. 113-1. U.S. Senate. ANDREW N. LIVERIS, CHAIRMAN & CEO, DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY. Dow is a major … Continue reading →

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Achieving U.S. energy independence with our “neighbors” oil

[ The main U.S. interest becoming more energy independent by getting oil from our “neighbors” Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Canada, while at the same time minimizing growing Chinese and Russian attempts to get their oil and other natural resources. … Continue reading →

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Human conflict arising from natural resources

[ There are links as well as excerpts from several articles below. Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, 2015, Springer and “Crunch! Whole Grain Artisan Chips and Crackers”. Podcasts: Practical Prepping, … Continue reading →

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Schlesinger predicts investments in 2006 will cause oil glut and denial of peak oil in future

Energy Security and Oil Dependence. Two Senate hearings from 2006. In these two 2006 hearings (excerpts below), there is a constant refrain of our dependence on oil,  yet now, many congressional hearings are about our energy independence.  Apparently congress has … Continue reading →

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