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Recent Posts
- ‘The oil we eat’. Following the food chain back to iraq
- Vanishing open spaces: population growth and sprawl in America
- Admiral Rickover 1957: Energy Resources & Our Future
- The Green New Deal is not a solution for the real problem: Overshoot
- A transition from fossil fuels to renewables could take a century – if it ever happens
- Electrifying freight trains in the U.S. is a bad idea
- Why Nuclear Power can’t replace fossil fuels
- Energy, Water, & Climate Change are interdependent
- Why fusion power is Forever Away
- Climate Change dominates news coverage at expense of other existential planetary boundaries
- Excerpt from “The Geopolitics of Resource Wars”
- Homes & Buildings
- Book Review “The Outlawed Ocean” by Ian Urbina
- Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future
- Motherboards: too complicated to make after oil
Category Archives: Energy
How different nations have coped with oil shortages
Preface. In this article, Friedrichs shows how differently Cuba, North Korea, and Japan coped after a sudden loss of most of their oil. I first became aware of how essential oil was for nations when I read Daniel Yergin’s 1991 … Continue reading
Posted in Cuba, North Korea, Oil shock collapse, Peak Oil
Tagged china, collapse, cuba, Europe, North Korea, oil crisis, oil shortage, peak oil, united states
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Hydrocarbon liquids, drop-in fuels, oil refining, oil distribution, GTL, CTL
Notes from 41 page: National Petroleum Council. 2012. Chapter 11: Hydrocarbon Liquids. Hydrocarbon liquids have properties that make them high-quality transportation fuels and allow the supply chain to operate … Continue reading
Posted in Coal to Liquids (CTL), GTL Gas-To-Liquids, Oil
Tagged CTL, GTL, natural gas, oil, pipelines, refinery capacity
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Capacity value of solar is low as penetration increases which could suppress investment
Notes from 33 page: NREL. 2014. Representation of Solar Capacity Value in the ReEDS Capacity Expansion. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Technical Report NREL/TP-6A20-61182 March 2014 Comparison of Capacity Value at High Penetration. Several researchers have conducted modeling efforts to quantify … Continue reading
Posted in Renewable Integration, Solar
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The potential role of concentrating solar power
Preface. The word “water” appears nowhere in this document, even though that’s a major limiting factor for CSP with thermal storage. Dry cooling is possible, but it lowers the EROI and raises the already way-too-high capital cost. An electric grid … Continue reading
Posted in Concentrated Solar Power, Renewable Integration
Tagged concentrated solar power, CSP, electric grid, thermal energy storage
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Commercial scale cellulosic ethanol still not happening in 2016 – why?
Here’s Rapier’s latest column on cellulosic ethanol explaining why it still isn’t commercial yet, despite attempts since the 1900’s. He points out that we have been able to create cellulosic ethanol since 1900, but not economically. February 13, 2016. Cellulosic … Continue reading
Posted in Biofuels
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Wind, solar, and storage impact on the California grid
California Energy commission. June 2010. Research evaluation of wind generation, solar generation, and storage impact on the California Grid. 131 pages. Excerpts: This report analyzes the effect of increasing renewable energy generation on California’s electricity system and assesses and quantifies … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Storage, Renewable Integration
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Eastern Wind Integration & Transmission study 2011 National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Excerpts from the 242 page Eastern Wind Integration & Transmission study, 2011, EnerNex corporation for National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Key Findings Building transmission capacity takes much longer than installing wind plants. It is already starting to limit wind growth in … Continue reading
Posted in Renewable Integration, Wind
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Demand reduction of electricity to balance the electric grid
Demand reduction of electricity to balance the electric grid by Alice Friedemann By the time a smart grid is integrated into all the existing computer systems, wasting electricity with each round-trip of information, (rolling) blackouts are likely to be occurring … Continue reading
Posted in Demand Reduction
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Peak Coal in China likely to be around 2024
Mohr, S. H., et al. February 1, 2015. Projection of world fossil fuels by country. Fuel volume 141: 120-135. We model world fossil fuel production by country including unconventional sources. Scenarios suggest coal production peaks before 2025 due to China. … Continue reading
Mined Oil sands EROI 5, in-situ 2.9, or 1 if refinement, transportation, & environmental costs included
Nuwer, R. Feb 19, 2013. Oil Sands Mining Uses Up Almost as Much Energy as It Produces. InsideClimate News. EROI SURFACE MINED oil sands (20% of reserves) EROI 5 according to J. David Hughes research released Tuesday. EROI 5.5 to … Continue reading
Posted in EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Tar Sands (Oil Sands)
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