Category Archives: Muscle Power

Horses will be essential to wars in the future

Posted on January 2, 2023 by

Source: De Decker K (2008) Bring back the horses. Low-Tech Magazine. Preface. Horses will not only play a key role in agriculture in the future after oil decline, they’ll replace the dozens of kinds of trucks that exist today, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Muscle Power | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Energy Slaves: every American has 200 to 8,000 energy slaves

Posted on April 5, 2020 by

Preface.  To give you an idea of what energy slaves are, consider what it would take to use human power instead of electricity: An Olympic bicycling medalist pedals to power a 700 W toaster over 1 minute going 50 kilometers … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy Slaves | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Let’s harness the muscle power of 54 million fitness center members to generate electricity

Posted on July 5, 2019 by

Preface. This is a short summary of a 10-page research paper by Carbajales-Dale. Alice Friedemann www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, 2015, Springer, Barriers to Making Algal Biofuels, and “Crunch! Whole Grain Artisan … Continue reading →

Posted in Far Out, Muscle Power | Tagged , | 5 Comments

We evolved to exercise and need high levels of physical activity to be healthy

Posted on June 23, 2019 by

Preface. This is a summary of Herman Pontzer’s 2019 “Humans evolved to exercise. Unlike our ape cousins, humans require high levels of physical activity to be healthy” in Scientific American. As fossils decline, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll use more muscle … Continue reading →

Posted in Health What to do, Muscle Power | Tagged | 2 Comments

Replacing diesel tractors with horses or oxen – what will that be like?

Posted on April 27, 2019 by

Preface. Since fossil fuels are finite, at some point increasing numbers of farmers with diesel vehicles and equipment will want to replace them with horses, which can do the work of six people.  Below is what  energy expert Vaclav Smil … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming & Ranching, Life Before Oil, Muscle Power, Peak Food, Vaclav Smil | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

From Horsepower to Horse Power. When Trucks stop, Horses start.

Posted on February 8, 2019 by

Preface. Before the industrial revolution there were only four sources of mechanical power of any economic significance. They were human labor, animal labor, water power (near flowing streams) and wind power.   Work done by animals, especially on farms, was still … Continue reading →

Posted in Life Before Oil, Muscle Power | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Muscle Power

Posted on February 5, 2019 by

Preface. Below is a review of “Prime Mover: A Natural History of Muscle: from Natural History Magazine. Since both my books explain why we will be returning to biomass and muscle power, here’s yet another preparation opportunity: breed horses and … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Energy Books, Life Before Oil, Muscle Power, What to do | Tagged , | 3 Comments

How horses changed native cultures after 1492

Posted on April 2, 2018 by

[ This is a very brief overview of Peter Mitchel’s “Horse Nations”.  As oil and other fossils decline, will we will almost certainly return to using more horse “muscle power” as we did in the past. Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Farming & Ranching, Muscle Power | Tagged , , | Comments Off on How horses changed native cultures after 1492

Admiral Rickover 1957: Energy Resources & Our Future

Posted on June 16, 2015 by

Preface. I’ve shortened and reworded this speech. All of Admiral Rickover’s speech is prescient and important, a few paragraphs: “We live in what historians may some day call the Fossil Fuel Age. Today coal, oil, and natural gas supply 93% … Continue reading →

Posted in An Overview, By People, Dependence on Oil, Energy Slaves, Limits To Growth, Military, Nuclear Waste, Other Experts, Overpopulation, Overshoot, Peak Oil | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments