Author Archives: energyskeptic

Why tight fracked oil and gas is mostly extracted in the US

Source: Smithsonian. May 2013 map of shale oil and gas formation. fource U.S. EIA & USGS. Preface.  Unconventional US (and some Canadian) fracked tight oil was over 90% of how oil production increased after conventional oil peaked in 2008, but … Continue reading

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Fusion: Book review of “Sun in a Bottle”

Preface. I don’t know of a book or article that better explains fusion and why fusion is so difficult and far from being commercial. Or ever commercial for that matter. Except for hydrogen bombs.

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Book Cobalt: The Making of a Mining Superpower

Preface. This book is about the history of the town of Cobalt and would make a great horror movie — the disease, filth, poverty, poor wages, racism, and destruction of the environment — the biodiversity, fresh water and more.

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EV charging not possible when restricted or grid down

Preface.  I have many posts at energyskeptic on the myriad reasons the grid will fail or disrupted in the future. Climate change is causing droughts and reservoirs too low to generate much hydropower, and nuclear plants must shut down if … Continue reading

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The Impact of Climate Change on California: 8th Largest Economy, 40% of U.S. Shipping

Preface. California’s economy and population relies on one of the most extensive and costly infrastructure systems in the world. This includes thousands of miles of roads, highways and railroads, nearly 200 large water reservoirs of varying capacity, miles of canals, … Continue reading

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Fusion at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Source: The target chamber of LLNL’s National Ignition Facility, where 192 laser beams delivered more than 2 million joules of ultraviolet energy to a tiny fuel pellet to create fusion ignition. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Preface. Anyone who thought the … Continue reading

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Fusion: Tokamak Obstacles

Source: Sparkes M (2022) Korean nuclear fusion reactor achieves 100 million°C for 30 seconds. New Scientist. Preface. Hope springs eternally for Fusion.  I’ve come to see press releases about fusion breakthroughs as mostly a way to get more startup investment … Continue reading

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Opposition to mining will prevent a green transition to renewables

Source: Bare (2012) Environmentalists win review of two more plants near Rosemont copper mine. Arizona Capitol times. I could overwhelm you with world-wide trillions of tons of mining waste and how China has rendered 20% of its farmland too toxic … Continue reading

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President George W. Bush energy policy & hurricane Katrina

Preface. After Hurricane Katrina damaged oil and gas infrastructure, oil prices shot up. Below are excerpts from news stories in 2005 when President Bush, an oilman, openly discussed the U.S. energy dependence.

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The electric grid could be down for years if LPTs destroyed

Large Power Transformer Source: ABB Conversations (2013) Preface. This post contains excerpts from two Department of Energy documents and one about large geomagnetic storms and how they would affect Large power transformers (LPT) and the U.S. electric grid. They are … Continue reading

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