Category Archives: Infrastructure & Collapse

90% of why we live past 50 due is clean water (and food) from water treatment facilities and sewage treatment plants that are all falling apart. Oil & gas pipes essential to heating and cooking are rusting apart. Dams, bridges, roads — all built when the EROEI of oil was 100:1 need replacing at a time when the EROEI has fallen below 15:1

Cascading failure + Liebig’s Law + Supply Chain Breakdown = Collapse of civilization

Declining supplies of high-quality, easy-to-get fossil fuels with no alternatives ready to replace them — ever — is the #1 issue. As long as we have oil, all problems can be solved, unless oil lasts long enough to deplete every … Continue reading

Posted in 3) Fast Crash, Alternative Energy, Cascading Failure, Electricity Infrastructure, Infrastructure & Collapse, Oil & Gas, Predictions, Supply Chains | 2 Comments

Oil and Gas infrastructure are falling apart

Beneath Cities, a Decaying Tangle of Gas Pipes March 23, 2014. Patrick McGeehan et al. New York Times It is a danger hidden beneath the streets of New York City, unseen and rarely noticed: 6,302 miles of pipes transporting natural … Continue reading

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Why is modern concrete falling apart?

Here’s more information from Courland’s book “Concrete Planet” and other information I found on the web since I wrote Enough energy after Peak Oil to rebuild and repair concrete infrastructure? Lawrence Berkeley National laboratory has been trying to figure out … Continue reading

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How long will concrete last if it isn’t maintained?

As energy grows scarcer and is devoted to growing food and other life-support services, our infrastructure will crumble. Bob Holmes. 12 Oct 2006. Imagine Earth without people. NewScientist.com Lack of maintenance will spell an early demise for buildings, roads, bridges … Continue reading

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China Water issues

China is one of a few and often only place making products from computers to furniture, as well as the components of most products, so if China collapses, the ripple effects will be felt elsewhere. On the other hand, if … Continue reading

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Solar Infrastructure: Materials, Land, and Energy required

To replace just one year of world oil use (1 cubic mile) you’d need to mine, fabricate, deliver, and build 91,250,000 Solar panels every year for 50 years (Goldstein). A PV plant that could produce 5.5 TWh of power (what … Continue reading

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Oil Built Our Infrastructure Back When it was Cheap & Abundant

Most of our infrastructure was built many decades ago, when the energy returned on energy invested (EROEI) of oil was 100:1, and now it’s down to roughly 30:1 in the gulf, and much less elsewhere (at 10:1 civilization collapses). What … Continue reading

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Hurricane Vulnerable Gulf area Supplies Over Half our oil, One-third of our Natural Gas

Energy infrastructure is very vulnerable to hurricanes in the gulf region, which: Produce or imports 60% of the country’s supply of crude oil Supplies a third of U.S. natural gas supplies Generates half of the United States refined products supplies … Continue reading

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Climate Change and Infrastructure

Matthew Wald. 25 July 2012. Weather Extremes Leave Parts of U.S. Grid Buckling. New York Times. From highways in Texas to nuclear power plants in Illinois, the concrete, steel and sophisticated engineering that undergird the nation’s infrastructure are being taxed … Continue reading

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Water Infrastructure Falling Apart Nation-wide

Water statistics: 2.5% of all water is fresh (drinkable), 69% of fresh water is locked up in glaciers and ice caps, in the USA 37% (of 127 trillion gallons) is used for irrigation, 1,847 gallons to produce 1 lb beef, … Continue reading

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