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

Microchip fabrication plants need electricity 24 x 7 for four months

Preface. I explain in both of my books, When Trucks Stop Running and Life After Fossil Fuels, why heavy duty transportation and manufacturing can’t be electrified, as well as why the electric grid can’t stay up without natural gas to … Continue reading

Posted in Blackouts, Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, Electricity Infrastructure, Interdependencies, Microchips and computers, Preservation of Knowledge | Tagged , , , , | 27 Comments

Life After Fossil Fuels: manufacturing will be less precise

Preface. This is a book review and excerpts of Winchester’s “The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers created the modern world”. The book describes how the industrial revolution was made possible with ever more precision.  First came the steam engine, possible to … Continue reading

Posted in Infrastructure & Collapse, Jobs and Skills, Life After Fossil Fuels, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Life After Fossil Fuels: manufacturing will be less precise

Lifespan of infrastructure, transportation, and buildings

Preface. What follows is from the International Energy Agency 2020 report “Energy technology perspectives” on how to transition to net zero emissions by 2050. This might require the replacement of just about everything, since power plants, steel blast furnaces, cement … Continue reading

Posted in Airplanes, Automobiles, Concrete, Dams, Electricity Infrastructure, Energy Infrastructure, Limits To Growth, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat, Oil & Gas, Transportation Infrastructure, Trucks | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

What can California do about sea level rise?

Projected sea level rise from one meter (dark red) to six meters (light orange) in California’s Bay Area. (Weiss and Overpeck 2011) Preface. Nearly all, if not all, possible solutions to rising sea levels along all the coasts in the … Continue reading

Posted in Energy Infrastructure, Infrastructure & Collapse, Rail, Roads, Sea Level Rise, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on What can California do about sea level rise?

Super heavy trucks ruin roads

Preface. I’m writing a book now which concludes that only biomass and biofuels can replace diesel and other fossil fuels.  But 3 billion people are expected to arrive by 2050, consuming a good chunk of the biomass, plus it will … Continue reading

Posted in Roads, Trucks | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Sewage Treatment

Preface. Before sewage treatment, cities were hell-holes of foul smells from rotting human waste, industrial effluent, and garbage.  Few people lived beyond 50 because of the many waterborne diseases.  In fact, sewage and water treatment systems are the main reason … Continue reading

Posted in Sewage treatment | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Will covid-19 delay peak oil?

Preface. Here is my take on the effect this pandemic will have on oil production. Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, 2015, Springer, Barriers to Making Algal Biofuels, and “Crunch! Whole … Continue reading

Posted in How Much Left, Oil & Gas, Peak Oil | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

A 1-year blackout could kill 90% of Americans

Preface. What follows is the 30-page testimony of Dr. Pry at a 2015 U.S. House of Representatives session that I’ve summarized. One of the ways that an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) could be generated is by a solar flare. During the … Continue reading

Posted in Blackouts, Congressional Record U.S., Electricity Infrastructure, EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Extreme Weather, Nuclear Power Collapse, Nuclear War, U.S. Congress Energy Policy, U.S. Congress Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Himalayan glaciers supplying water to a billion people melting fast, Andes too

Preface. The Himalayan glaciers that supply water to a billion people are melting fast, already 30% has been lost since 1975. Adding to the crisis are the 400 dams under construction or planned for Himalayan rivers in India, Pakistan, Nepal, … Continue reading

Posted in Caused by Scarce Resources, Climate Change, Dams, Peak Water, Planetary Boundaries, Water, Water Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Himalayan glaciers supplying water to a billion people melting fast, Andes too

Peak stainless steel

Steel and nickel aren’t on the critical mineral list, but nickel ought to be, since this study shows that there is a significant risk that stainless steel production will reach its maximum capacity around 2055 because of declining nickel production, … Continue reading

Posted in Infrastructure & Collapse, Mining, Peak Critical Elements | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments