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)

Just 16,000 catenary trucks (out of 5.6 million) would use 1% of California’s electricity generation

Posted on August 22, 2015 by

Preface. We must electrify trucks since fuel from oil, coal, and natural gas is finite, and biomass doesn’t scale up.  Without transportation, electricity contraptions like wind turbines, solar facilities, and nuclear power plants can’t be built. A wind turbine, for … Continue reading →

Posted in Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Trucks: Electric | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Congressional hearings on Rail

Posted on June 24, 2015 by

June 10, 2008. S. HRG. 110–1165 Keeping America Moving: A review of national strategies for efficient freight movement. 74 pages. Hearing before the subcommittee on SURFACE TRANSPORTATION & MERCHANT MARINE INFRASTRUCTURE, SAFETY, & SECURITY of the committee on COMMERCE, SCIENCE, … Continue reading →

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The electric grid, critical interdependencies, vulnerabilities: U.S. House hearing 2003

Posted on June 20, 2015 by

[ Related articles: Russian hackers suspected in attack that blacked out parts of Ukraine How the weapon works (pdf): CRASHOVERRIDE Analyzing the Threat to Electric Grid Operations The EMP Commission estimates a nationwide blackout lasting one year could kill up … Continue reading →

Posted in Blackouts, Cascading Failure, Congressional Record U.S., CyberAttacks, EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Interdependencies | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on The electric grid, critical interdependencies, vulnerabilities: U.S. House hearing 2003

Barges are more energy efficient than rail and truck

Posted on June 16, 2015 by

  [After reading two congressional hearings, one in 2008, and another in 2013, about how the inland waterway system was falling apart, and had been for 30 years, I was curious to know why such an important asset would be … Continue reading →

Posted in Ships and Barges | 2 Comments

Trucking and Fracking

Posted on June 16, 2015 by

September 18, 2013. The Transportation Needs and Impacts of Fracking-Based Energy Extraction. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration               May 16, 2012. Jack Olson. Impacts of Heavy of Oversize Truck Shipments on the … Continue reading →

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Oil Infrastructure – pipelines, refineries, terminals

Posted on June 10, 2015 by

Sider, A. and Friedman, N. November 2, 2016. More than half of U.S. Pipelines are at least 46 years old. Building new systems has become harder amid opposition from landowners and environmental groups. Wall Street Journal. More than 60% of … Continue reading →

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Energy generation water consumption

Posted on June 7, 2015 by

[ Notice how much water biofuels use, especially soybeans for biodiesel Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, 2015, Springer] Notes from “Working Document of the NPC Future Transportation Fuels Study. Topic … Continue reading →

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Climate-water impacts on electricity sector capacity expansion NREL 2014

Posted on June 5, 2015 by

NREL. 2014. Modeling climate-water impacts on electricity sector capacity expansion. To be presented at the ASME 2014 Power Conference Baltimore, Maryland July 28–31, 2014. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. 12 pages. Excerpts follow: ABSTRACT Climate change has the potential to exacerbate … Continue reading →

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Expanding rail infrastructure to accommodate growth in agriculture and other sectors

Posted on June 5, 2015 by

Excerpts from 103 page: Keith, K. Jan 2013. Maintaining a track record of success. Expanding rail infrastructure to accommodate growth in agriculture and other sectors. TRC Consulting. [I’m working on a book about the distribution of food when declining oil … Continue reading →

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Reducing fuel consumption of medium & heavy-duty vehicles 2014 National Research Council

Posted on June 4, 2015 by

Look at the enormous waste of fuel when JIT supply chain trucks ramped up in the late 70s  (page 63). Excerpts from the 117 page: NRC. 2014. Reducing the Fuel Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles, … Continue reading →

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