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Recent Posts
- The Biblical Revelations, critical thinking, and how this affects us today
- Why the U.S. is ignoring nuclear winter in nuclear policies & strategies
- Oil choke points vulnerable to war, chaos, terrorism, accidents, & piracy
- Nuclear weapons must be reduced or we risk nuclear winter
- Fusion is already running out of fuel
- Peak Oil is Officially Here! World oil production peaked November of 2018
- Wood, the fuel of preindustrial societies, is half of EU renewable energy
- Rare Earth updates: recent research on why complex & intelligent life are rare in the Universe
- Book review of “Chip War” and the Fragility of microchips
- The tremendous material and energy toll of the digital economy
- Nuclear attack on U.S. could kill 90% of Americans
- What percent of Americans are rational?
- Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A Nation Unprepared. Surviving the Aftermath
- Off-Road vehicles & equipment need diesel fuel
- Book review of “Prime Movers of Globalization: the History & Impact of Diesel Engines & Gas Turbines”
Category Archives: Energy Books
Review of “The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World” by Steve LeVine
Preface. This is a book review of Steve Levine’s 2015 “The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World”. If you ever wondered why batteries are still not even close to powerful enough to replace fossil fuels, … Continue reading
Posted in Automobiles, Batteries, Energy Books
Tagged battery, electric car
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How burning biomass made us human
[ This is a book review of Wrangham’s “Catching Fire: How cooking made us human”. Fire enabled us to have larger brains from the increased calories in cooked food, held carnivores at bay, killed bacteria, and gave us many other … Continue reading
Book review of Door to Door and the amazing world of transportation
Edward Humes. 2016. Door to Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation. HarperCollins. A book review by Alice Friedemann at www.energyskeptic.com author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation, 2015, Springer] I was in the … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Books, Transportation, Travel
Tagged supply chains, transportation, trucks
3 Comments
Tilting at Windmills, Spain’s disastrous attempt to replace fossil fuels with Solar PV, Part 1
Book review by Alice Friedemann at energyskeptic of “Spain’s Photovoltaic Revolution. The Energy Return on Investment”, by Pedro Prieto and Charles A.S. Hall. 2013. Springer. Conclusion: the EROI of solar photovoltaic is only 2.45, very low despite Spain’s ideal sunny … Continue reading
Who lives, who dies in a never-ending energy crisis. Book review of Nothing to Envy. Ordinary Lives in North Korea
Preface. Much of this post comes from Barbara Demick’s 2010 “Nothing to Envy. Ordinary lives in North Korea”. But first I summarize why and how energy shortages led to the hardships chronicled in this book. Related Posts: North Korea collapse … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Energy Books, North Korea, Oil shock collapse
Tagged collapse, North Korea
1 Comment
Catton on overshoot “Bottleneck: Humanity’s Impending Impasse”
Preface. This post has two articles about overshoot, the actual crisis, not climate change which is just one of about a dozen symptoms (biodiversity loss, topsoil erosion, fresh water depletion, etc) that we’ve exceeded Earth’s carrying capacity. Yet all of … Continue reading
Posted in Collapse of Civilizations, Energy Books
Tagged bottleneck, catton, collapse
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Matt Simmons “Twilight in the Desert” Saudi Arabia oil: how much left?
Once the large fields peak in Saudi Arabia oil shocks will reverberate throughout the world Best up-to-date status of oil fields in Saudi Arabia. Ghawar is in decline, but 2 new fields filled in, once they’re in decline, there are … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Books, Flow Rate, How Much Left, Oil Shocks, Reserves Lower than stated
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Review of “The Bet: Paul Erlich, Julian Simon, and our Gamble over Earth’s Future”
Alice Friedemann book review of “The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble over Earth’s Future” by Paul Sabin Kind of scary that Bill Gates recommends this book. But then again, to get really good at something, you don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Books
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