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

How is California’s AB2514 experiment with utility scale battery storage coming along?

Posted on December 3, 2016 by

[ This is an excellent article by Tod Kiefer about tests of sodium-sulfur batteries, which are the only kind of battery for which there is enough material on earth to make. Battery electric storage is meant to “replace nimble, fast-ramping … Continue reading →

Posted in Batteries, Battery - Utility Scale, Electricity Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Dams: last 100-200 years, make floods worse, an environmental disaster, most will soon be past their lifespan

Posted on October 31, 2016 by

Failing Dams in the news: 2017-2-23: America’s Aging Dams Are in Need of Repair. New York Times. 2017-2-20. California Dam Crisis Could Have Been Averted. A dismissed lawsuit to strengthen the dam because of climate change effects predicted catastrophic flooding.  … Continue reading →

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Ecological cost of new roads in Africa

Posted on September 14, 2016 by

[ What follows are excerpts from the January 8 2014 issue of Newscientist’s “Africa’s road-building frenzy will transform continent” by Andy Coghlan.  ] China is funding most of the new roads to get the minerals they’ve mined, and transport food … Continue reading →

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Water-borne diseases will increase as energy declines

Posted on July 21, 2016 by

Preface. Drinking water and sewage treatment plants are the main reason lifespans nearly doubled. Read Laurie Garrett’s  “Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health” for details. As energy declines, the ability of towns and cities to treat water … Continue reading →

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National security implications of international energy and climate change policies, Senate hearing

Posted on June 26, 2016 by

[This is an excerpt of a very interesting senate hearing that looks at how war can be caused by climate change (i.e. drought, hunger, rising sea levels) and how climate change will affect infrastructure. The European emissions trading scheme and … Continue reading →

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

Posted on May 16, 2016 by

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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U.S. Senate hearing on our aging water infrastructure

Posted on April 19, 2016 by

[ Even though conventional oil production has been on a plateau since 2005, there is no sense of alarm or urgency to try to fix infrastructure before oil is rationed and not enough exists to replace or repair it. Some … Continue reading →

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It’s official – the U.S. is energy independent! House Hearing 2013

Posted on April 7, 2016 by

House 113-88. October 29, 2013. North American Energy Infrastructure act. House of Representatives. [Excerpts from the 195 page transcript of this hearing]  ED WHITFIELD, KENTUCKY. Over the last several months, this committee has received compelling testimony detailing how the United … Continue reading →

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Corrosion eats $552 billion of infrastructure a year (6% of GDP)

Posted on March 26, 2016 by

Preface. United States infrastructure was built when the EROI of oil was very high and minerals and metals were cheap due to high ore concentrations. This study was done in 2002, since then, things have gotten much worse (see ASCE … Continue reading →

Posted in Bridges, Oil & Gas, Rail, Transportation Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

We’ll all be Flint Michigan someday: U.S. water infrastructure is falling apart

Posted on January 29, 2016 by

NRC. 2006. Drinking Water Distribution Systems: Assessing and Reducing Risks Committee on Public Water Supply Distribution Systems: Assessing and Reducing Risks.  National Research Council, National Academies Press. [ According to this Free National Research Council report, most water systems and … Continue reading →

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