Category Archives: Energy

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

Book review of “Livewired. The inside story of the ever-changing brain”

Posted on November 19, 2024 by

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 →

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Battery Energy storage batteries (BESS) too complex to ever be commercial

Posted on November 5, 2024 by

Source: RWE connects its first utility-scale battery storage project to the California grid Preface.  In 2024 if all of the BESS battery storage time were added up, they could store 8 of the 8,760 hours of annual electricity generated in … Continue reading →

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Net Energy Cliff & the Collapse of Civilization

Posted on September 6, 2024 by

figure 1. The remaining oil is poor quality, and the energy to get this often remote oil so great that more and more energy (blue) goes into oil production itself, leaving far less — the grey area — available to … Continue reading →

Posted in 2) Collapse, 3) Fast Crash, An Overview, Energy, EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Net Energy Cliff, Stages of | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Giant oil field decline rates, peak oil, & reserves

Posted on August 30, 2024 by

Preface. Of the roughly 47,500 oil fields in the world, 507 of them, about 1%, are giant oil fields holding nearly two-thirds of all the oil that has ever been, or ever will be produced, with the largest 100 giants, … Continue reading →

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Hydrogen. The dumbest renewable

Posted on August 16, 2024 by

Preface. This post originally appeared in Skeptic Magazine in 2008 as “The Hydrogen Economy. Savior of Humanity or an Economic Black Hole?” I’ve updated it quite a bit since then. Hydrogen is the stupidest, most ridiculous, and most impossible energy … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Energy, Hydrogen, Pipeline, Ships and Barges, Trucks | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

67 Reasons why wind turbines cannot replace fossil fuels

Posted on July 26, 2024 by

Source: Leonard, T. 2012. Broken down and rusting, is this the future of Britain’s ‘wind rush’? Preface   Last updated 2023-10-20 The most important problem to be solved is electrifying transportation, otherwise how can you deliver the 30,000 parts of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Energy, Wind | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fill ‘er up with kelp?

Posted on July 12, 2024 by

Preface. Here are just a few of the dozens of reasons why seaweed can’t make a dent in energy supplies: A negative return on investment like corn ethanol No commercial biofuels are being made from it. Kelp is mainly used … Continue reading →

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European Power plants are burning American forests

Posted on July 5, 2024 by

Preface. More than half of Europe’s “green” energy comes from burning wood, a lot of it imported from America.  Now Denmark would like to import methanol made from pinyon pines and junipers from hundreds of thousands of acres in the … Continue reading →

Posted in CO2 and Methane, Deforestation, Wood | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Permafrost & lack of gravel will limit arctic natural gas, oil, and coal extraction

Posted on June 21, 2024 by

Preface. For many people, it’s comforting to know that about 25% of remaining oil and gas reserves (we have the know-how and economics to get it) and resources (beyond our technical and/or monetary capability) are in the arctic. They assume … Continue reading →

Posted in Arctic, EROEI remaining oil too low, How Much Left, Peak Natural Gas, Peak Oil, Reserves Lower than stated, Roads, Transportation Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Permafrost & lack of gravel will limit arctic natural gas, oil, and coal extraction

The pillaging of Native American coal, water, uranium and more

Posted on May 24, 2024 by

Preface. This is a book review of: “Unreal City: Las Vegas, Black Mesa, and the Fate of the West” by Judith Nies.  This book is about how stealing the resources of native Americans lands was made legal, despite enormous Native … Continue reading →

Posted in An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Biodiversity Loss, Coal, Energy Books, Energy Infrastructure, Global Warming, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Mass migrations, Peak Resources, Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS), U.S. Congress Energy Policy, Water Pollution | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The pillaging of Native American coal, water, uranium and more