Category Archives: Energy

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

Tilting at Windmills, Spain’s disastrous attempt to replace fossil fuels with Solar PV, Part 1

Book review by Alice Friedemann at energyskeptic of “Spain’s Photovoltaic Revolution. The Energy Return on Investment”, by Pedro Prieto and Charles A.S. Hall. 2013. Springer. Conclusion: the EROI of solar photovoltaic is only 2.45, very low despite Spain’s ideal sunny … Continue reading

Posted in Alternative Energy, Charles A. S. Hall, Debt, Electric Grid, Energy Books, EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Pedro Prieto, Photovoltaic Solar, Solar, Solar EROI | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Dmitry Orlov: How Russians survived the collapse of the Soviet Union

[ A great post by Dmitry Orlov about what collapse may be like, the best strategies to survive, and why the Russian way of life and culture prepared them far better for hard times than will be the case in … Continue reading

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When will the Alaska pipeline turn into an 800-mile-long Popsicle?

[Below are excerpts on the Alaskan pipeline from Rust: The Longest War by Jonathan Waldman.  This is a great book, yet leaves so many possible rust stories uncovered, that I hope Waldman writes Rust II (or any other topic — … Continue reading

Posted in Flow Rate, Threats to oil supply | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

A review of life cycle assessments on wind energy systems by Simon Davidsson 2012

[below is a very short excerpt of this 22 page paper, I was interested in how much recycling can contribute to a high EROI but there are many other important points made in this paper] Davidsson, S., Höök, M., Wall, … Continue reading

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The crude oil export ban: Helpful or hurtful 2015 House hearing

House 114-22. April 14, 2015. The Crude oil export ban: Helpful or hurtful? House of Representatives. [ Excerpts from the 73-page transcript of the hearing follow ] Ted Poe, Texas. The United States is now the largest crude oil producer … Continue reading

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Rising oil prices and dependence on hostile regimes — the urgent case for Canadian oil

Preface. Sullivan has an interesting overview of the instability in the Middle East, which could lead to an oil shock quickly along with the economic and sky-high prices that entails. He also mentions “peak oil” and its implications, a term … Continue reading

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Former President Carter on U.S. energy security & policy now and in the past

                    [Former President Carter and General Wald both say the American public need to be better informed about the energy crisis to motivate them to stop buying gas-guzzling vehicles, since that’s … Continue reading

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Drinking the Kool-Aid. The U.S. Senate believes we are energy independent.

Preface. Some of the interesting parts of this session are $95 billion dollars of new manufacturing, transport, & utilities that are growing to take advantage of the cheap NG here, which will exponentially increase the use of energy. Even if … Continue reading

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Economic peak shale natural gas and oil from yet another bank & Wall Street scam

[ “Shale drillers companies are struggling to pay $235 billion of high-yield, high-risk debt taken on during the past 3 years of the U.S. shale boom. Shale drillers have consistently spent money faster than they’ve made it, even when oil … Continue reading

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Implications of declining EROI on oil production 2013 by David J. Murphy

[ To “see” declining EROI and the end of cheap energy, check out these photos of The Tallest structure ever moved by Mankind, a Norwegian natural gas offshore platform ] Murphy, David J. December 2, 2013. The implications of the … Continue reading

Posted in EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Other Experts | 1 Comment