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Recent Posts
- Peak Menhaden
- Hemp for paper, textiles, the war on drugs, and more
- Why towns have a hard time adding EV, solar, heat pumps
- Building a national super grid in America
- The Mayflower from the book The Barbarous Years
- Deep Sea Oil
- Book review of “Livewired. The inside story of the ever-changing brain”
- The conveyor belt may be slowing down — Yikes!
- Battery Energy storage batteries (BESS) too complex to ever be commercial
- New war and energy alliances over next resource wars
- Book review of “Siege: Trump Under fire”
- Why do people vote for Trump?
- Book review of “Pandemic Politics: The Deadly Toll of Partisanship in the Age of COVID”
- The evolution of the Republican party from 1960 to 2024: from moderate democracy to extreme authoritarianism
- Why some people are conservative and others liberal
Category Archives: Ships and Barges
Hydrogen: The dumbest & most impossible renewable
Preface. This post originally appeared in Skeptic Magazine in 2008 as “The Hydrogen Economy. Savior of Humanity or an Economic Black Hole?” I’ve updated it quite a bit since then. Hydrogen is the dumbest, most ridiculous energy alternative. It is … Continue reading →
Posted in Alternative Energy, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Energy, Hydrogen, Pipeline, Ships and Barges, Trucks
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Tagged alternative energy, electric truck, fuel cell, hydrogen
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5 Comments
Why methanol cannot replace petroleum as a transportation fuel
Preface. Methanol, or CH₃OH, is primarily used to make chemicals for plastics, paints, and cosmetics. It is made from coal or natural gas. “Green” methanol is made from biomass or biogas from landfills or sewage plants. Or it can be … Continue reading →
Posted in Methanol, Ships and Barges
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Tagged M85, methanol, ships, vehicle modifications
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Climate change will damage energy infrastructure, costing trillions
Preface. Climate change and extreme weather will harm oil and gas exploration and production, electric power generation and increase energy demand due to sea level rise, heat, drought, floods, more storms, and blackouts. Extreme heat and drought will force electric … Continue reading →
Posted in Blackouts Electric Grid, Cascading Failure, Climate Change, Electric Grid, Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, Energy Production, Hydropower, Peak Water, Ships and Barges
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Tagged barge, drought, extreme storms, flood, heat, peak water, sea level rise, wildfire
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How to fix our inland waterway system
Preface. As you can see in Table 1 below, water transport is far more energy efficient than land transport, especially once we’re back to muscle power after fossil fuels are gone. Kilojoules of energy used to carry one ton of … Continue reading →
Posted in Ships and Barges, Transportation What To Do
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Tagged barge, canal, inland waterway, ship
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The latest monster ships could be a disaster
Preface. The article below makes the case for the hazards of one of these enormous ships running aground or sinking, blocking a major shipping line, leaking oil, and possibly impossible to salvage. In 2020, the largest container ship is the … Continue reading →
Electrify ships with batteries?
Preface. You’d need 100,000 metric tons of batteries taking 40% of cargo space to go from Asia to Europe in 31 days on an 18,000 TEU container ship, and it is hard to imagine how or how long it would … Continue reading →
Posted in Ships and Barges, Transportation What To Do
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Tagged battery, container, electric, electrify, ship, smil
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6 Comments
Oil consumption of containerships
Preface. Since 90% of international goods move by ships, I was curious about how much fuel they burned. It’s a lot: The very large container ship CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin above, which can carry 18,000 20-foot containers, carries approximately 4.5 … Continue reading →
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
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Tagged railroads, ships, supply chains, war
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1 Comment
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
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Tagged 2020, financial crash, ocean ships, peak diesel
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3 Comments
The Dark side of Cruise ships. Garbage. Sewage. And more.
[ I detest cruise ships which destroy the ambiance of small towns in Alaska and everywhere else they go. While cruise ships disgorged their sewage and garbage in Alaska’s Skagway harbor, passengers disgorged into shops owned by the cruise ships … Continue reading →
Posted in Ships and Barges
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Tagged cruise ships, pollution, rape, tourism
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