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- NIMBY Hydrogen production
- Can Geothermal power replace declining fossil fuels?
- Telling others about peak oil and limits to growth
- Why coal was only created once
- Failed Nations
- We already have a date for the zenith of civilization: 2025-2026
- Escape to Mars after we’ve trashed the Earth?
- Spermageddon: Sperm is declining around the world
- Thorium nuclear bombs and reactors have too many challenges
- Who Killed the Electric Car & more importantly, the Electric Truck?
- President Carter’s energy solutions 1977
- 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
Category Archives: Energy
Pentagon report: collapse within 20 years from climate change
Preface. The report that the article by Ahmed below is based on is: Brosig, M., et al. 2019. Implications of climate change for the U.S. Army. United States Army War College. It was written in 2019, before covid-19 and so … Continue reading
Posted in Arctic, Blackouts, Climate Change, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Military, Over Oil
Tagged climate change, collapse, military
2 Comments
Updates to Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy
Updates to “Life After Fossil Fuels” Last updated 28 April 2024. Other posts related to this book here. My book is about our many dependencies on fossil fuels, quickly depicted in these very short videos: Life without Petroleum A Day … Continue reading
Why fusion power is Forever Away
Preface. When my husband Jeffery Kahn was a science writer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, we became friends with several astrophysicists who used to joke about how fusion was 30 years away and always would be. If world peak oil … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Energy, Fusion
Tagged corrosion, electricity, fusion, ITER, plasma, power
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Compressed air energy storage (CAES)
Preface. Besides pumped hydro storage (PHS), which provides 99% of energy storage today, CAES is the only other commercially proven energy storage technology that can provide large-scale (over 100 MW) energy storage. But there are just two CAES plants in … Continue reading
Posted in CAES Compressed Air
Tagged aquifer, bedded salt, bulk energy storage, CAES, compressed air energy storage
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Book Review: The Age of Wood: Our Most Useful Material & the Construction of Civilization
Preface. This is a book review, mainly with excerpts, of Ennos’s book “The Age of Wood. Our Most Useful Material and the Construction of Civilization”. If you know anything about woodworking, you will enjoy the detailed descriptions of how and … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Books, Jobs and Skills, Life After Fossil Fuels, Wood
Tagged evolution, forests, infrastructure, Life After Fossil Fuels, tools, wood
1 Comment
Tree planting is not a simple solution but sure beats Carbon Capture!
Preface. The article from Science below lists both negative and positive outcomes depending on where trees are planted. The unintended negative effects could be a reduced water supply, the destruction of native grasslands and spread of invasive tree species, or … Continue reading
Posted in Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS), Plant Trees
Tagged carbon capture and storage, CCS, forests
4 Comments
How safe and cheap are Gen IV Advanced Nuclear Reactors?
Preface. Peak conventional oil, which supplies over 95% of our oil, may have peaked in 2008 (IEA 2018) or 2018 (EIA 2020). We are running out of time. And is it really worth building these small modular reactors (SMR) given … Continue reading
Walter Youngquist: Geodestinies dams and hydropower
Preface. I was fortunate enough to know Walter for 15 years. He became a friend and mentor, helping me learn to become a better science writer, and sending me material I might be interested in, and delightful pictures of him … Continue reading
Posted in Hydropower, Walter Youngquist
Tagged dams, hydropower, Youngquist
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Walter Youngquist: Geodestinies Coal
Preface. Before the excerpt from Geodestinies, I thought an introduction to how coal is formed would be worthwhile, especially since I still thought it was the “once-popular explanation” below (Cottier 2021 How Ancient Forests Formed Coal and Fueled Life as … Continue reading
Posted in Coal, Walter Youngquist
Tagged Geodestinies
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Youngquist: the extraordinary geodestiny of Saudi Arabia and other gulf nations
Preface. I was fortunate enough to know Walter for 15 years. He became a friend and mentor, helping me learn to become a better science writer, and sending me material I might be interested in, and delightful pictures of him … Continue reading
Posted in Oil, Walter Youngquist
Tagged Geodestinies, oil, saudi arabia, Youngquist
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