Category Archives: Transportation

97% of vehicles and trains run on oil which peaked in world-wide production in 2005 — the tractors to plant and harvest, the trucks to deliver food all depend on combustion engines that burn oil

Automated vehicles: more driving, energy wasted, & congestion

  Preface. My main post on this is: “Why self-driving cars may not be in your future“. Alice Friedemann  www.energyskeptic.com  Author of Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy; When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future … Continue reading

Posted in Automobiles, Efficiency | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Quartermaster Meigs was essential to winning the Civil War

Preface. This is a book review of Robert O’Harrow’s 2016 book “The Quartermaster.Montgomery C. Meigs. Lincolns general, master builder of the Union army”. I can’t believe I never heard of him, but he is as much responsible for the North … Continue reading

Posted in Railroads, Ships and Barges, War Books | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Threats to America’s oil pipeline grid

Preface. At some point of energy decline there will be Americans who tap into pipelines to get scarce oil for themselves and to sell it on black markets. Just look at the massive amount of oil being stolen in Nigeria … Continue reading

Posted in Fuel Distribution, Oil & Gas, Terrorism | Tagged | 1 Comment

Saving fuel: making combat vehicles lighter

Preface. The military would like to lightweight equipment to save on fuel. Although Peak Oil isn’t mentioned, no other department of the U.S. government is more aware of future energy shortages, and the implications that has for their ability to … Continue reading

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The coming crash in 2020 from high diesel prices for cleaner emission of oceangoing ships

Preface.  Ships made globalization possible, and play an essential role in our high standard of living, carrying 90% of global goods traded. But the need for a new, cleaner fuel may cause the next economic crisis.  Currently ships can burn … Continue reading

Posted in By People, Crash Coming Soon, Peak Oil, Ships and Barges | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Robert Rapier: Oil demand is growing, not shrinking. There is no peak oil demand in sight.

[ Yes, this article was published 10 months ago, but with all the attention to fake news today, I thought it would be worthwhile pointing out that peak demand is propaganda, not based on facts. Since the goal of fake … Continue reading

Posted in Dependence on Oil, Electric Vehicles, Other Experts, Peak Oil, Transportation | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

U.S. Senate 2014 Freight rail service: improving the performance of America’s rail system

Preface. This Senate hearing is mainly full of oil and grain industry leaders bashing the rail industry and asking Senators to do something about it. But the railroad industry is four times more energy efficient than trucks, and not guilty … Continue reading

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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

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

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 & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Energy Infrastructure, Exponential Growth, Exports decline to ZERO, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Transportation, Transportation Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments