Category Archives: 1) Decline

Decline will be death by a thousand cuts as too many problems occur and overwhelm societies ability to fix them (i.e. Tainter’s “complexity”). Already our infrastructure (oil and gas pipelines, electric grid, roads, bridges, etc) has a Report Card of D from the American Society of Civil Engineers. All 18 components of essential infrastructure, from the electric grid to the financial system are vulnerable to cyber-attack, The end of growth means bankruptcy for cities, pensions, families, and businesses, and no credit for energy companies to borrow for new projects to obtain oil, coal, and natural gas, the real drivers of the economy (just try putting dollar bills in your gas tank)

Biogas from cow manure is not a solution for the energy crisis

Preface. Smil’s article about biogas sums up why it won’t contribute to energy shortages as fossils decline. Biogass doesn’t scale and is easy to muck up. Hayes (2015) also makes this case, pointing out that even if every ounce of … Continue reading

Posted in Biofuels, Biomass EROI, Peak Biofuels, Pollution | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Next Big Thing: Distributed Generation & Microgrids

  Preface. Last updated 2022-9-5   The first article below explains what microgrids will look like in the future.  But first a brief look at what a microgrid is, as Angwin explains in her book  “Shorting the Grid. The Hidden Fragility … Continue reading

Posted in Alternative Energy, Blackouts Electric Grid, Distributed Generation, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Grid instability, Photovoltaic Solar, Wind | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

There are over 300,000 contaminated groundwater sites in the U.S.

Preface.  If peak oil did indeed happen in 2018 as the EIA world production data shows, then let’s use the oil we still have, before it is rationed, to clean up the 126,000+ sites that threaten to pollute groundwater for … Continue reading

Posted in Chemicals, Hazardous Waste, National Academies of Sciences, Water Pollution | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

A Century from Now Concrete Will be Nothing But Rubble

Photo: road abandoned since 1984 in the Florida Keys Preface. Much of the material that follows is based on Robert Courland’s 2011 book Concrete Planet, which explains why concrete is an essential part of our infrastructure. And it’s all falling … Continue reading

Posted in Concrete, Infrastructure & Collapse, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat, Peak Sand, Roads | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Population explosion to destroy 11% of remaining ecosystems and biodiversity

Preface. According to a recent paper in Nature Sustainability (Williams et al 2020), we are on the verge of destroying 11% of earth’s remaining ecosystems by 2050 to grow more food. We already are using 75% of Earth’s land. What … Continue reading

Posted in Chemicals, Deforestation, Food production, Overpopulation | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Blackouts, firestorms, and energy use

Preface. Blackouts are more and more likely in the future from fires, hurricanes, natural gas shortages and more. Below is an account from a friend who had to evacuate due to a wildfire. Blackouts in the news: 2024: Half a … Continue reading

Posted in Blackouts Electric Grid, Wildfire | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Reforestation for the return to biomass after fossil fuels

Preface. Below are excerpts from a New York Times article about forests. My book “Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy” explains why the myriad ways we use fossil fuels can’t be electrified (or hydrogenized or anything … Continue reading

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Updates to Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy

Updates to “Life After Fossil Fuels” Last updated 28 April 2024. Other posts related to this book here. My book is about our many dependencies on fossil fuels, quickly depicted in these very short videos:  Life without Petroleum  A Day … Continue reading

Posted in Biofuels, Fusion, Groundwater, How Much Left, Hydrogen, Life After Fossil Fuels, Peak Water | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Forests make the wind that carries the rain across continents

Preface. This is a controversial theory that if true, “could help explain why, despite their distance from the oceans, the remote interiors of forested continents receive as much rain as the coasts—and why the interiors of unforested continents tend to … Continue reading

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Australian Senate hearings on Peak Oil & Transportation 2006

Preface.  This post has a summary of two of the nine senate hearings on Peak Oil in Australia in 2006. Someday historians may want to know which politicians knew about the energy crisis and when they knew it, probably to … Continue reading

Posted in Energy Policy & Politicians, GOVERNMENT, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment