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Recent Posts
- Book review of “Livewired. The inside story of the ever-changing brain”
- The conveyor belt may be slowing down — Yikes!
- 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
Category Archives: Manufacturing & Industrial Heat
The Green New Deal is not a solution for the real problem: Overshoot
Preface. Seibert & Rees’ paper is very important. And also well-written, unlike the usual scientific jargon perfect for putting you to sleep at night. It’s short too. In just 13 pages Siebert and Rees cover the most important issues we … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Limits To Growth, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat, Overpopulation, Overshoot, Peak Critical Elements, Politics
Tagged biocapacity, climate change, ecological limits, energy transition, overshoot, renewable energy, social justice, sustainability
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How will 500,000 products made with fossils as feedstock & process energy be created post fossil fuels?
Preface. It is quite likely that after fossils are gone, plastics will no longer be made, since they are incredibly complex – PhDs in numerous fields make them possible – and most kinds have been around for only 50 years … Continue reading
Posted in Biomass, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat, Oil
Tagged biomass, chemical, crude oil, distillation, feedstock, petrochemical, plastic
1 Comment
Interdependencies & supply chain failures in the News
Preface. Joseph Tainter, explains in his famous book “The collapse of complex societies” how complexity causes civilizations to collapse. Fossil fuels have created the most complex society that has ever, or will ever exist, using fossil energy that can’t be … Continue reading
Posted in Interdependencies, Microchips and computers, Supply Chains
Tagged autos, electric grid, ford, interdependency, microchip, plastic, supply chain
2 Comments
A Century from Now Concrete Will be Nothing But Rubble
Photo: road abandoned since 1984 in the Florida Keys Preface. Much of the material that follows is based on Robert Courland’s 2011 book Concrete Planet, which explains why concrete is an essential part of our infrastructure. And it’s all falling … Continue reading
Life After Fossil Fuels: manufacturing will be less precise
Preface. This is a book review and excerpts of Winchester’s “The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers created the modern world”. The book describes how the industrial revolution was made possible with ever more precision. First came the steam engine, possible to … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure & Collapse, Jobs and Skills, Life After Fossil Fuels, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat
Tagged cannons, guns, machine tools, manufacturing, precision, steam engine
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Book review of “Bright Green Lies”
This is a book review of “Bright Green Lies. How the Environmental Movement Lost its Way and What We can Do About It” by Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Max Wilbert. This is a timely book. The Biden administration is … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Books, Mining
Tagged bright green lies, derrick jensen, Lierre Keith, Max Wilbert, mining, solar
15 Comments
Walter Youngquist: Geodestinies Minerals
Preface. I was fortunate enough to know Walter for 15 years. He became a friend and mentor, helping me learn to become a better science writer, and sending me material I might be interested in, and delightful pictures of him … Continue reading
Posted in Mining, Walter Youngquist
Tagged minerals
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Walter Youngquist: Geodestinies Metals
Preface. I was fortunate enough to know Walter for 15 years. He became a friend and mentor, helping me learn to become a better science writer, and sending me material I might be interested in, and delightful pictures of him … Continue reading
Utility scale energy storage doesn’t scale up: limits to minerals and geography
Preface. Natural gas is finite, but aside from (pumped) hydropower, natural gas is the main way wind and solar are balanced now. Therefore, a tremendous amount of energy storage will be needed in the future as natural gas declines. And … Continue reading