Category Archives: Electric Grid & Fast Collapse

The grid powers the pumps at service stations, the financial system, lighting, and more which we’ve grown as dependent on as fossil fuels. It can’t stay up without natural gas, which is finite (see posts in Energy Storage for details on that)

Fusion is already running out of fuel

Posted on March 29, 2024 by

Source: Khan A (2021) Nuclear fusion: building a star on Earth is hard, which is why we need better materials. The Conversation. Preface.  Of all the hundreds of obstacles fusion has yet to overcome, its death knell could be as … Continue reading →

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What is the plan for an electric grid outage that lasts for months?

Posted on January 4, 2024 by

Preface. There are three posts on Ted Koppel’s book “Lights out”: Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A Nation Unprepared. Surviving the Aftermath What is the plan for an electric grid outage that lasts for months? Want to survive … Continue reading →

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Want to survive Peak Everything? Become a Mormon

Posted on September 20, 2023 by

Source: Salt Lake Tribune. For Latter-day Saint families, preparing for emergencies is the norm Preface.  Ted Koppel’s book “Lights Out” highlights the many risks to the grid from cyber and physical attacks, electromagnetic pulses from weapons or solar flares, large … Continue reading →

Posted in Blackouts, Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Energy Books, Where to Be or Not to Be | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

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 →

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World Peak Uranium Production

Posted on July 9, 2022 by

Preface.  The World Nuclear Association estimates 90 years are left.  Today  67,500 tonnes of uranium are consumed a year world-wide and production in 2020 was 47,731 tonnes (WNA 2021). Sounds a bit peakish, thank goodness for stockpiles and the infinite … Continue reading →

Posted in An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Battery - Utility Scale, CAES Compressed Air, Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, Gen IV SMR reactors, Natural Gas Energy Storage, Nuclear Power Energy, Nuclear spent fuel fire, Nuclear War, Nuclear Waste, Peak Uranium, Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS) | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on World Peak Uranium Production

Electric Swarm Tractors

Posted on April 21, 2022 by

Preface.  In both my books Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy & When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation, I write that since most “renewables” generate electricity (i.e. wind, solar, nuclear, hydropower, compressed … Continue reading →

Posted in An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, Peak Food, Peak Rare Earth Elements, Trucks: Electric | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Climate change will damage energy infrastructure, costing trillions

Posted on January 28, 2022 by

Preface. Climate change and extreme weather will harm oil and gas exploration and production, electric power generation and increase energy demand due to sea level rise, heat, drought, floods, more storms, and blackouts.  Extreme heat and drought will force electric … Continue reading →

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Will Artificial Intelligence destroy us?

Posted on December 14, 2021 by

Preface. When it comes to artificial intelligence, most articles assume it will happen, so discussions range around when and how it will happen. Often speculation that a general AI may use its ability to find patterns in data will allow … Continue reading →

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Wanted: Math geniuses and power engineers to make a renewable grid possible

Posted on November 1, 2021 by

Figure 1. OPF solution of original seven-bus system with generator at bus 4 Preface. The U.S. electric grid produced 64% of electricity in 2019 with finite fossil fuels, and another 20% from nuclear power. Since fossil fuels and uranium are … Continue reading →

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The Next Big Thing: Distributed Generation & Microgrids

Posted on July 14, 2021 by

  Preface. Last updated 2022-9-5   The first article below explains what microgrids will look like in the future.  But first a brief look at what a microgrid is, as Angwin explains in her book  “Shorting the Grid. The Hidden Fragility … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Blackouts Electric Grid, Distributed Generation, Electric Grid & Fast Collapse, Grid instability, Photovoltaic Solar, Wind | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment