Category Archives: Energy

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

U.S. taxpayers lose billions from Powder River Basin bad lease deals and undervalued coal

According to the Center for American Progress: For decades the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has run a fundamentally noncompetitive leasing program, which has been a boon to industry. Since 1990, 96 of the 107 coal-lease sales held by the … Continue reading

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New Alaskan strip coal mine for China, there go the salmon

McGrath, M. 2015-11-25. The Alaska fishing village taking on ‘Godzilla’. BBC News Image copyright Pete Niesen [See original article for details, what follows is reduced and most pictures removed] Alaska is a vast wilderness of natural beauty. But it also … Continue reading

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Why U.S. Is Running Out of Gas (Time magazine 2003)

Donald L. Barlett & James B. Steele. July 21, 2003.  Why U.S. Is Running Out of Gas. Time Magazine. Inflated oil prices and natural gas shortages are wiping out jobs and savings, thanks to three decades of bungled energy policy. … Continue reading

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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

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

Utility, large-scale battery energy storage

Hodson, H. July 25, 2015. Power to the people. NewScientist. Demand for electricity varies every second, minute, hour, day, and season.  Production is easy to provide from always-ready natural gas and coal. But as we move towards a 100% renewable … Continue reading

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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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Ohio run-of-the-river hydroelectric power 4 projects totaling 300 MW for $1.7 billion

[There are limited places on rivers to put these so this a really tiny silver bullet, and there is often opposition from environmentalists, but if you’re lucky enough to have a river nearby that flows constantly it’s more reliable than … 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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