Category Archives: Energy

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

Thorium in the news

[ When trucks stop running, civilization as we know it ends.  Nuclear electricity — or anything that generates electricity — doesn’t matter a rat’s ass if trucks can’t be electrified to run on batteries or overhead wires — especially tractors … Continue reading

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Out of time: 50 years to make a transition, 210 years at the current rate

If transportation is to be electrified, then electric generation and the electric grid must be doubled, or even tripled. So by Cobb’s calculation, that would push back the transition time to renewables 420 to 630 years.  Alice Friedemann. By Kurt … Continue reading

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Two-thirds of coal to power sector delivered by railroads

June 11, 2014  U.S. Energy Information Administration www.eia.gov Railroad deliveries continue to provide the majority of coal shipments to the power sector Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-923, Power Plant Operations Report Note: Sum of components may not equal … Continue reading

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EIA definition of Proved Reserves and Resources

July 17, 2014 Oil and natural gas resource categories reflect varying degrees of certainty Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Note: Resource categories are not drawn to scale relative to the actual size of each resource category. The graphic shown above … Continue reading

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Navy claims that fuel can be made from seawater

It must take more energy to break the bonds of water, extract CO2, and recombine into usable fuel than you will ever get out of fuel so produced.  We’ve known for a long time how to split hydrogen from water. … Continue reading

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Revolutionary understanding of phsics needed to improve batteries – don’t hold your breath

What this Department of Energy document shows is that we can’t make the necessary REVOLUTIONARY breakthroughs to electrify cars until we understand the physics of batteries, and points out that “battery technology has not changed substantially in nearly 200 years.” … Continue reading

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United States Energy: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

United States Energy Information Administration FAQ Coal Does EIA have county-level energy production data? Does EIA have projections for energy production, consumption, and prices for individual states? Does EIA publish coking coal prices? From what country does the U.S. import … Continue reading

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Electricity Energy Information Administration (EIA) Frequently Asked Questions

Energy Information Administration (EIA) Frequently Asked Questions about Electricity n 2013, the United States generated about 4,058 billion kilowatthours of electricity.  About 67% of the electricity generated was from fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, and petroleum), with 39% attributed from … Continue reading

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Patzek: CTL coal-to-liquids from FT Synthesis is NOT likely to happen

This is a liquid fuel crisis – diesel to be exact – to keep tractors, trucks, trains, and ships moving. There’s not enough coal or water to make even a small percent of the FT-CTL diesel fuel we need from … Continue reading

Posted in Coal to Liquids (CTL), Tad Patzek | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

American Physical Society: has the Battery Bubble Burst?

Aug/Sep 2012. Has the Battery Bubble Burst? Fred Schlachter. American Physical Society. APS News Vol 21, number 8. Phys.org Three years ago at a symposium on lithium-air batteries at IBM Almaden there was great optimism. The symposium “Scalable Energy Storage: … Continue reading

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