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- 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
- The Mayflower from the book The Barbarous Years
Category Archives: Energy
Cheddar Power
Preface. Oh how I love cheddar. When I hear that someone is a vegan I stare in disbelief. A life without cheese is a life not worth living, especially a life without cheddar. As a perpetually hungry child, if Mom … Continue reading
Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS)
Preface. This is the only commercial way to store energy now (CAES hardly counts with just one plant and salt domes to put more in existing in only 5 states). Though of course hydropower is only in a few states … Continue reading
Posted in Dams, Energy Production, Hydropower, Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS)
Tagged dams, energy storage, hydroelectric, NIMBY, PHS, Pumped hydro storage
15 Comments
Can concentrated solar power be used to generate industrial process heat?
Preface. The bright future of solar thermal powered factories, makes some important points about using concentrated solar power to generate heat: “…A large share of energy consumed worldwide is by heat. Cooking, space heating and water heating dominate domestic energy … Continue reading
Why “fracked” shale oil and gas will not save us
Preface. As early as 2011 experts were questioning how large fracked natural gas reserves were. The latest IEA 2018 report predicts shale oil/gas could start to decline by 2025, and all global oil as soon as 2023. Shale oil and … Continue reading
Posted in Natural Gas, Oil & Gas Fracked, Peak Natural Gas, Peak Oil
Tagged fracked gas, peak natural gas, shale gas, shale oil, will not save us
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Challenges to making California’s grid renewable
What follows is a report from the California Energy Commission. But in less bureaucratic language, this may summarize it better (Petersen 2019): “I’ve always been amazed at a strange mental disconnect that’s common among renewable power advocates. On one hand, … Continue reading
Posted in Grid instability
Tagged california, grid, instability, intermittency, renewable, smart grid, solar, wind
1 Comment
Climate change risks could cause an American “Fukushima”
Preface. Nuclear power plants need a constant supply of electric power to pump cool water into a reactor’s core. Ninety percent of them, 54 plants, have at least one flood risk exceeding their design. If flooding stops the power supply … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Nuclear Waste
Tagged climate change, Fukushima, meltdown, nuclear waste
2 Comments
Germany’s renewable energy program, Energiewende, is a big, expensive failure
Preface. After reading this post, or better yet the original 44-page document, you’ll understand why the Green New Deal isn’t working out despite being crazy expensive. The goal of Energiewende was to make Germany independent of fossil fuels. But it … Continue reading
Let’s harness the muscle power of 54 million fitness center members to generate electricity
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
Decommissioning a nuclear reactor
Preface. Below are excerpts of articles about the costs and challenges of dismantling nuclear power plants. This is at the top of my “Energy Descent To Do List” given the consequences for future generations for up to a million years, … Continue reading
Posted in Nuclear Waste
Tagged decommission, nuclear
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