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)

Almost half of Rail Freight is Energy, increasingly Crude Oil

Posted on October 8, 2014 by

Source: American Association of Railroads. 46% of all tonnage hauled by freight trains is Energy: In 2014, crude oil will likely be 650,000 carloads — 2% of all carloads, 2.2% of tonnage.  In addition 2.6% of rail tonnage was refined … Continue reading →

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Super Rust Corrodes hundreds of ships and could sink the oil industry

Posted on October 4, 2014 by

Blame it on super-rust, a virulent form of corrosion that has destroyed hundreds of ships and could sink the oil industry. By Richard Martin, June 2002. Wired Magazine. Key points (see the full article at http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/superrust.html): Ships that cost hundreds … Continue reading →

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Moving oil by ship or barge to refineries

Posted on October 2, 2014 by

Frittelli, J., et al. May 5, 2014. U.S. Rail Transportation of Crude Oil: Background and Issues for Congress. Congressional Research Service. Barge One river barge can hold 10,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil. Two to three river barges are typically … Continue reading →

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Why You Should Love Trucks

Posted on September 27, 2014 by

source: bitsandpieces1.blogspot.com Preface. Before the age of fossil fuels, getting food, water, and shelter was simple. Nine out of ten people were self-sufficient farmers. But now there are global 24/7 just-in-time supply chains that depend on trucks and other modes … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture Infrastructure, Supply Chains, Transportation Infrastructure, Trucks | 4 Comments

Two-thirds of coal to power sector delivered by railroads

Posted on September 22, 2014 by

June 11, 2014  U.S. Energy Information Administration www.eia.gov Railroad deliveries continue to provide the majority of coal shipments to the power sector Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-923, Power Plant Operations Report Note: Sum of components may not equal … Continue reading →

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Fuel economy improvements show diminishing returns in fuel savings

Posted on September 22, 2014 by

This means it’s unlikely we’ll turn over the vehicle fleet fast enough to make a difference in fuel consumption.  Which wouldn’t have happened anyhow due to Jevon’s paradox. July 11, 2014 Fuel economy improvements show diminishing returns in fuel savings … Continue reading →

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Signs of Peakiness, oil companies are running out of cash

Posted on August 29, 2014 by

Andrew Nikiforuk, August 29, 2014. A big summer story you missed: Soaring oil debt. The Tyee.  Over 100 of the world’s largest energy companies are running out of cash. Photo of Keystone pipeline in Nebraska by Shannon Ramos. Creative Commons … Continue reading →

Posted in Debt, Energy Markets, Peak Oil | 1 Comment

Sandra Postel: Wildfires in the Western U.S. Threaten Drinking Water

Posted on June 30, 2014 by

Sandra Postel. May 1, 2014. Wildfires in the Western U.S. Are on the Rise, Posing Threats to Drinking Water When the Las Conchas Fire scorched some 151,000 acres of northern New Mexico in 2011, it wasn’t just the direct fire damage that … Continue reading →

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Biggest Waste of Wealth in All of history: America’s Interstate Highway system

Posted on June 9, 2014 by

A book review by Alice Friedemann of: Swift, Earl. 2012. The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways. Related articles $46 Trillion Infrastructure in USA, $6 Trillion is Transportation Expressways & … Continue reading →

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Expressways & Interstates are only designed to last for 20 years

Posted on May 28, 2014 by

Preface. I make the case that civilization would end in a week if trucks stopped running in my first book, and though I had in mind that they would be running low on diesel fuel on the downside of world … Continue reading →

Posted in Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Roads, Trucks | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments