Category Archives: Energy

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

The French Energy Sobriety Plan

Posted on October 7, 2022 by

Preface.  Below is the announcement of the French Energy Sobriety Plan by Prime Minister Borne. The energy crisis is coming to all nations, and we should all be implementing their action plan (and family planning, birth control, abortion, limited immigration). … Continue reading →

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How the grid works, why a distributed grid won’t work

Posted on September 23, 2022 by

Preface. This is a book review of Angwin’s 2020 “Shorting the Grid. The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid”. It is a good primer on how the grid works, especially why Volt-Ampere Reactives (VARs) are important and why renewables don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Blackouts, Distributed Generation, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Electricity Infrastructure, Energy Books, Grid instability | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on How the grid works, why a distributed grid won’t work

Understanding peak oil theory 2005 U.S. House

Posted on August 5, 2022 by

Preface. With world oil production likely having peaked in 2018 (as documented in chapter 2 of Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy), this seemed like a good time to go revisit peak oil history. What follows … Continue reading →

Posted in Peak Oil, Peak Oil History, U.S. Congress Energy Policy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Why Canadian oilsands will not help solve the energy crisis

Posted on July 16, 2022 by

Preface. I posted this back in 2011, but it is all still true, plus a lot more in my additional posts here. The Canadian oil sands are reputed to be the 3rd largest oil reserve (10%), and have a very … Continue reading →

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David Fridley, LBNL scientist, on why alternative energy won’t save us

Posted on June 24, 2022 by

Preface.  I’ve sought out David Fridley’s insights since I first met him in the Oakland Peak Oil group that formed in 2004.  That group eventually dissolved, but David’s expertise is still sought out by many of us following energy decline. … Continue reading →

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2008 National Academy of Sciences meeting on America’s Energy Future

Posted on June 17, 2022 by

Preface.  Hundreds of top scientists gathered in 2008 to discuss the future of energy in America at a time when oil prices were reaching record highs. And here we are again with record breaking prices and no reduction of our … Continue reading →

Posted in National Academies of Sciences, Oil Shocks | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

North Korea: what happened when the oil was cut off?

Posted on May 30, 2022 by

Preface. All nations will eventually run low and then out of petroleum, so it is worthwhile to see what happened to those countries where oil was scarce first to get glimpses of our own fate and perhaps try to mitigate … Continue reading →

Posted in North Korea, Oil shock collapse | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Is the USA energy independent?

Posted on May 21, 2022 by

Preface. Below are excerpts from U.S. House & Senate hearings where various speakers made the case that due to tight fracked gas & oil the United States had 100 or 200 or even 250 years of Energy Independence ahead.  For … Continue reading →

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Can we eat enough fried food for biodiesel to keep trucks running?

Posted on April 15, 2022 by

Fatberg from London sewer If the U.S. can’t make enough biodiesel from plants, then the question becomes: Can we step up our fast-food game? Can we eat more French fries?  Biodiesel is already made from used cooking oil (11.5% of … Continue reading →

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Why it is hard to replace diesel with biodiesel

Posted on April 12, 2022 by

Biodiesel is the great hope, our main hope, the only renewable fuel of all the many options, and the closest to the diesel essential for rail, trucks, and ships to do the actual work of civilization. The U.S. produces over … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiesel, Food production, Oil, Peak Biofuels, Peak Food, Transportation, Water | Tagged , , | 1 Comment