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- A conveyor belt of ocean water that loops the planet and regulates global temperatures could be heading for a tipping point
- Battery Energy storage batteries (BESS) too complex to ever be commercial
- New war and energy alliances over next resource wars
- Book review of “Siege: Trump Under fire”
- Why do people vote for Trump?
- Book review of “Pandemic Politics: The Deadly Toll of Partisanship in the Age of COVID”
- The evolution of the Republican party from 1960 to 2024: from moderate democracy to extreme authoritarianism
- Why some people are conservative and others liberal
- Book review: Bring the War Home: The white power movement & paramilitary America
- Book review: How Democracies Die
- Book Review “Conservatives without Conscience” by John Dean
- Book review of “The Power Worshippers. Inside the dangerous rise of religious nationalism”
- Fox news estranges millions of families and instills hate and fear in its cult members
- Book review of “Deer Hunting with Jesus” Best book on why people vote for Trump
- Population growth creates climate crisis, says environmental scientist
Category Archives: Experts
Challenges & opportunities for alternative transportation fuels and vehicles. U.S. House hearing, 2011
Preface. Congress is aware that an energy crisis looms, though they seldom acknowledge or deal with it. Here are a few excerpts from this U.S. House hearing (2011) The American energy initiative part 6: Challenges & opportunities for alternative transportation … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, U.S. Congress Energy Policy, U.S. Congress Transportation
Tagged biodiesel, biofuel, cellulose, energy crisis, energy dependence, natural gas
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The growth of incarceration in the U.S. Causes and consequences. National Research Council 2014
Preface. This National Research Council 465-page report may be the most comprehensive study of the U.S. prison system there is. It will make you cry. I’ve excerpted about one-sixth of it below. It is shocking that the “U.S. penal population … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Drug wars and the prison system, Energy Policy & Politicians, Politics
Tagged jail, prisons, reform
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America’s energy security, jobs & climate challenges
Preface. In this 2010 House of Representatives hearing, General Wesley Clark foresaw in 1973 “that US military forces might have to become engaged to defend or protect oil-producer governments”. Today “we can look back on the continuing failures of American … Continue reading
Can the lights be kept on with distributed generation? 2015 U.S. House hearing on a reliable electric system
Preface. Corporate speakers testify mainly, rather than less biased researchers from universities or national laboratories. Corporations are selling a product, and likely to exaggerate what their product can do. The most interesting testimony is from Dean Kamen, who is “selling” … Continue reading
Posted in Congressional Record U.S., Distributed Generation, Grid instability
Tagged distributed energy, generators, house of representatives
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Richard Heinberg on why low oil prices do not mean there is plenty of oil, EROI, collapse
[ Yet another wise, thoughtful, and wide-ranging essay from my favorite writer of the many facets of a civilization about to decline as it is starved of the fossil fuels that feed it. Although the topics are quite varied, Heinberg … Continue reading
Posted in Oil, Peter Turchin, Richard Heinberg, Social Disorder
Tagged 100% renewable, collapse, EROI, oil, prices, richard heinberg, social instability, violence
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U.S. House 2013 “Exports and the Changing global energy landscape”
[ My excerpts from the house hearing below is another “let’s export Natural Gas to our allies now that we’re energy independent”. The driving force is not making even better friends with Europe and keeping bully Russia away (though that’s … Continue reading
Posted in Military, U.S. Congress Energy Independence
Tagged energy independence, export, natural gas
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Richard Heinberg: Paul Krugman’s Errors and Omissions
Preface. This article by Richard Heinberg at Postcarbon refutes a column by Paul Krugmen called “Errors and Emissions Could Fighting Global Warming Be Cheap and Free?” here. Most of my friends and family think I’m nuts because articles like this … Continue reading
Posted in EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Richard Heinberg, Solar, Wind
Tagged climate change, end of growth, EROEI, paul krugman, richard heinberg, solar, wind
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Vaclav Smil on wood
[ I’ve extracted bits about wood from Smil’s book about materials below, read the book for the larger context. Enormous amounts of wood were used in former civilizations with much smaller populations than today, so it’s clear we can’t go … Continue reading
Civil war coming?
Preface. I read Turchin’s latest book which attempts to show why his past theories about the rise and fall of agrarian nations also applies to our modern civilization. But there was not one mention of fossil fuels, natural resources, or … Continue reading