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)

If we really cared about CO2, we’d reduce car size and weight, not make electric cars

Preface. Since my book “When trucks stop running: Energy and the future of transportation makes the case that it’s trucks that need to be electrified to keep civilization going, since biofuels don’t scale up, natural gas and liquefied coal are … Continue reading

Posted in Automobiles, Electrification | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

“World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice”

Preface. I’m sure anyone reading this post knows it is too late to do anything but eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow …  Although this warning was widely published, it was left out of over half of the top … Continue reading

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Deforestation, Fisheries, Scientists Warnings to Humanity | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Given the laws of physics, can the Tesla Semi really go 500 miles, and what will the price be?

Preface: Most people think that electric truck makers need to tell us the specs — the battery kWh, price, performance, and so on — before we can possibly know anything about their truck. But that’s simply not true.  We know … Continue reading

Posted in Efficiency, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Lithium-ion, Trucks: Electric | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Mining: Waste, Pollution, Destruction from Ugo Bardi’s “Extracted”

Preface. I’ve reworded/shortened some of the wording at times from this excellent book. Here are 7 other posts from this great book: Mining: Waste, Pollution, Destruction Ugo Bardi predictions of the future Minerals and War Minerals: Natural gas Minerals: Coal … Continue reading

Posted in Chemicals, Hazardous Waste, Mining, Nuclear Waste, Pollution, Ugo Bardi | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What would happen if trucks stopped running?

Preface. In “Why You Should Love Trucks” I showed that essential supply chains depend on trucks nearly completely.  Because of little inventory and dependence on just-in-time deliveries, our civilization would almost immediately feel the repercussions of trucks stopping. In fact, … Continue reading

Posted in Cascading Failure, Dependence on Oil, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Oil Shocks, Transportation Infrastructure, Transportation Supply chain, Trucks, When Trucks Stop Running | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on What would happen if trucks stopped running?

Of course the reason the U.S. invades other countries for oil

  This post contains information from Nafeez Ahmed’s 2017 book “Failing States, Collapsing Systems BioPhysical Triggers of Political Violence“, Springer. Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, 2015, Springer and “Crunch! Whole … Continue reading

Posted in Middle East, Over Oil, Social Disorder, Terrorism | 1 Comment

Tackling mine wastes

Preface. This barely scratches the problems of mining wastes, but for what it’s worth, here are a few of the articles I’ve run across on this topic.  Like burying nuclear waste deep underground while we still have cheap energy and … Continue reading

Posted in Chemicals, Hazardous Waste, Pollution | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Tackling mine wastes

Peak soil: Industrial agriculture destroys ecosystems and civilizations: Biofuels make it worse

Preface. In 2018 I thought it was time to reorganize this post, as it grew more and more bloated and disorganized with new information. Eventually it turned into my 2021 book Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative … Continue reading

Posted in Alternative Energy, Biofuels, Biomass, Energy, Peak Biofuels, Peak Topsoil, Soil | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Book review of “1493 Uncovering the new world Columbus Created”

[ This book will be included in the “must read” category of my giant booklist when I get around to updating it. This book isn’t just about the past, the implications reverberate into the postcarbon future.  Will slavery return without … Continue reading

Posted in 2) Collapse, Agriculture, Disease, Pesticides, Soil | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Book review of “1493 Uncovering the new world Columbus Created”

Transportation: How long can we adapt before we fall off the Net Energy Cliff?

Preface. There are too many factors besides geological depletion to predict a future timeline of collapse. Plus each region will be more or less affected by each factor, sooner or later as well. This is a unique crash – there … Continue reading

Posted in Cascading Failure, Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, Energy Infrastructure, Exponential Growth, Exports decline to ZERO, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Net Energy Cliff, Transportation, Transportation Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments