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Recent Posts
- A transition from fossil fuels to renewables could take a century – if it ever happens
- Electrifying freight trains in the U.S. is a bad idea
- Why Nuclear Power can’t replace fossil fuels
- Energy, Water, & Climate Change are interdependent
- Why fusion power is Forever Away
- Climate Change dominates news coverage at expense of other existential planetary boundaries
- Excerpt from “The Geopolitics of Resource Wars”
- Homes & Buildings
- Book Review “The Outlawed Ocean” by Ian Urbina
- Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future
- Motherboards: too complicated to make after oil
- “More and More and More” one of the best books on energy ever written
- The staggering destruction of knowledge by Christians in the Roman Empire
- Why the R/P Reserves to Production ratio does not show when oil will run out
- Catton on Collapse “Bottleneck: Humanity’s Impending Impasse”
Category Archives: Electric Grid
Electrifying freight trains in the U.S. is a bad idea
Diesel-electric locomotives use electricity to drive forward motion despite the name ‘diesel’. A large diesel engine turns a shaft that drives an AC generator which makes electricity. This electrical energy powers large electric motors at the wheels called ‘traction motors’ … Continue reading
Posted in Electric Grid, Electrification, Railroads
Tagged diesel-electric, electrification, electrify, electrify rail, rail, train, train electrification
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Natural Gas & Coal essential for energy storage
Preface. The U.S. Department of energy has stated a renewable grid is not possible without long-duration energy storage (Colthorpe 2022). Another report explains why around-the-clock renewables and decarbonization will not be possible without it (McKinsey 2022). This post explains why … Continue reading
Refrigeration uses up to 30% of world electricity
Preface. This is a book review of Twilley’s 2024 book Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves. It is a really great book, highly recommended. Refrigeration plays a much larger role in our lives than people realize. … Continue reading
Posted in Electric Grid, Energy Books
Tagged agriculture, air-conditioning, climate change, cold chain, electricity, peak food, refrigeration
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Trump & Project 2025 want to destroy energy efficiency & raise your utility bills
Source: (NYT 2017, LBL 2025) The Department of energy (DOE) under Chris Wright is proposing to get rid of energy efficiency standards that have saved consumers over 1.5 trillion dollars (CFA 2017). The average American home saves $321 a year … Continue reading
Posted in Demand Reduction, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Politics
Tagged art rosenfeld, electricity, energy efficiency, project 2025
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Why towns have a hard time adding EV, solar, heat pumps
Preface. This article from IEEE does a good job of explaining how and why it is incredibly expensive for cities to cope with with L2 chargers, EV, solar, and heat pumps by zeroing in on Palo Alto, where there are … Continue reading
Posted in Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Electric Vehicles
Tagged electric grid, EV, heat pump, solar, transformer
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Building a national super grid in America
Preface. Renewables are not evenly distributed. Just 10 states have 80% of hydropower (Homeland Security 2011), 10 states produce 75% of wind power (EIA 2017), and 10 states produce 79% of solar power (CE 2020). With a national grid, instead … Continue reading
Book review of “Livewired. The inside story of the ever-changing brain”
Preface. This book conveys a sense of wonderment and awe about our brains work and how we become who we are. I think if you read the excerpts below you will understand why Artificial Intelligence will probably never come close … Continue reading
Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Evolution
Tagged artificial intelligence, brain, neurons
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What is the plan for an electric grid outage that lasts for months?
Preface. There are three posts on Ted Koppel’s book “Lights out”: Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A Nation Unprepared. Surviving the Aftermath What is the plan for an electric grid outage that lasts for months? Want to survive … Continue reading
Posted in Blackouts, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Energy Books, Politics
Tagged cyberattack, electric grid, emergency, EMP, FEMA, homeland security, military, preparation
1 Comment
Why is everyone afraid of AI or thinks it will solve all our problems?
I question how useful and existentially threatening AI really is. I am not denying that AI can do marvelous things, especially finding patterns, which is terrifically useful across many fields. It is best when it has very narrow objectives, such … Continue reading
Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Critical Thinking
Tagged AI, artificial intelligence, critical thinking, hallucination
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Want to survive Peak Everything? Become a Mormon
Source: Salt Lake Tribune. For Latter-day Saint families, preparing for emergencies is the norm Preface. Ted Koppel’s book “Lights Out” highlights the many risks to the grid from cyber and physical attacks, electromagnetic pulses from weapons or solar flares, large … Continue reading
Posted in Blackouts, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Energy Books, Where to Be or Not to Be
Tagged Black out, grid crash, LDS, Mormon, survival
1 Comment