Category Archives: Energy

the posts in this category used to be in “Energy in A Nutshell” at my former web site.

A 1-year blackout could kill 90% of Americans

Posted on April 11, 2020 by

Preface. What follows is the 30-page testimony of Dr. Pry at a 2015 U.S. House of Representatives session that I’ve summarized. One of the ways that an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) could be generated is by a solar flare. During the … Continue reading →

Posted in Blackouts, Congressional Record U.S., Electricity Infrastructure, EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Extreme Weather, Nuclear Power Collapse, Nuclear War, U.S. Congress Energy Policy, U.S. Congress Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Energy Slaves: Every American has 200 to 8,000 or more

Posted on April 5, 2020 by

Preface.  The range of 200 to 8,000 comes from the articles below. Perhaps even more. Former Navy Admiral Rickover wrote in 1957 that it takes at least 2,000 men to push an automobile along the road, a locomotive engineer controls … Continue reading →

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

Shale gas is only good for plastics, not transportation fuels

Posted on March 29, 2020 by

Preface. The oil industry is making more plastic because electric cars have cut gasoline use, but because shale “fracked” gas is so light plastic is about the only use. It is not a transportation fuel that can save us from … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural Gas | Tagged | 2 Comments

1688 Tons of material to build just 1 windmill

Posted on March 26, 2020 by

Preface.  There must be many high wind locations that wind turbine blades can’t be transported to, limiting how many could be built even with a trillion dollar budget. Clearly wind turbines aren’t renewable when you consider the vast amounts of … Continue reading →

Posted in Wind | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Hydrogen fuel cell cars are a waste of time and money, and explosive

Posted on March 2, 2020 by

Preface. Below are several articles about hydrogen.  Today in 2019 it is still far from commercial.  A massive amount of infrastructure needs to be in place before people will consider buying hydrogen fuel cell cars, and because of explosions in … Continue reading →

Posted in Hydrogen | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Wind, solar, and natural gas are driving nuclear power out of business

Posted on February 28, 2020 by

Preface. I’m no fan of nuclear power because we may already be at peak uranium, there’s nowhere to store nuclear waste, and a spent nuclear pool fire could harm millions of people. But renewable wind and solar and natural gas … Continue reading →

Posted in Nuclear Power Energy, Solar, Wind | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Getting Arctic oil and natural gas will take decades or more

Posted on February 25, 2020 by

Preface. Only one exploratory well can be drilled in the short arctic summers, and many more need to be drilled to even find and then explore the size of a potential oil field to see if it is worth extracting.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Arctic | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Getting Arctic oil and natural gas will take decades or more

MIT: Why the electric-car revolution may take a lot longer than expected

Posted on February 22, 2020 by

Preface. This study from MIT explains why price parity of electric and gasoline vehicles is likely to take a lot longer than 5 years, and perhaps never if cars continue to depend on lithium-ion batteries. Deeper cost declines beyond 2030 … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Lithium-ion | Tagged | 5 Comments

When wood is again our main energy source, how long will it last?

Posted on January 23, 2020 by

Preface.  Just when civilization is decades from returning to wood as the main energy source (due to peak oil in 2018), climate change is allowing invasive beetles to survive winters and kill trees, with drought and wildfires increasing the damage. … Continue reading →

Posted in BioInvasion, Drought & Collapse, Nate Hagens, Where to Be or Not to Be, Wildfire, Wood | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on When wood is again our main energy source, how long will it last?

Generating electricity with biomass at utility-scale in California limited to direct combustion in small 50 MW plants

Posted on January 20, 2020 by

Preface. It’s obviously much easier and more energy efficient to set logs on fire for heat and electricity than to turn them into ethanol.   Burning biomass can’t do much to solve our energy crisis.  To produce just 10% of … Continue reading →

Posted in Biomass, Electric Grid | Tagged , , | 1 Comment