Category Archives: Infrastructure

This site makes the case that collapse will take decades, not centuries. And the worst that ever has been or will be, it is fossil fuels that enabled 8.2 people to exist on the planet

Nuclear powered airplanes, cars, and tanks

Posted on July 3, 2020 by

Preface. If trucks, tractors, ships, locomotives, and airplanes can’t run on electricity or the electric grid stay up without natural gas to balance wind & solar (see When Trucks Stop Running), if cement and steel and other products requiring the … Continue reading →

Posted in Airplanes, Automobiles, Far Out, Nuclear Power Energy | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Oil consumption of containerships

Posted on June 6, 2020 by

Preface.  Since 90% of international goods move by ships, I was curious about how much fuel they burned.  It’s a lot: The very large container ship CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin above, which can carry 18,000 20-foot containers, carries approximately 4.5 … Continue reading →

Posted in Electrification, Ships and Barges | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Life before Cars: When Pedestrians Ruled the Streets

Posted on May 31, 2020 by

Preface.  The past is future after fossil fuels, but minus the horses for a while, since before cars they required about a sixth of U.S. farmland for their feed.  My grandfather, Francis J. Pettijohn, used to fondly reminisce about how … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Transportation What To Do | Tagged | 1 Comment

How sand transformed civilization

Posted on April 29, 2020 by

Preface. No wonder we’re reaching peak sand. We use more of this natural resource than of any other except water. Civilization consumes nearly 50 billion tons of sand & gravel a year, enough to build a concrete wall 88 feet … Continue reading →

Posted in Concrete, Peak Sand | Tagged , , | Comments Off on How sand transformed civilization

How a pandemic or bioweapon could take civilization down

Posted on April 23, 2020 by

Preface.  I just listened to a 3.5 hour podcast on pandemics and bioweapons with the best up-to-date coverage I know of, and more interesting to listen to than reading a book or article.  Just one of many scary problems: synthetic … Continue reading →

Posted in Biowarfare, Infrastructure, Interdependencies, Pandemic | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Nuclear Power problems

Posted on April 17, 2020 by

Preface.  There are half a dozen articles below. Although safety and disposal of nuclear waste ought to be the main reasons why no more plants should be built, what actually stops them today are the high costs: it can take … Continue reading →

Posted in Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Nuclear Power Collapse, Nuclear Power Energy | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Fossil-fueled industrial heat hard to impossible to replace with renewables

Posted on April 14, 2020 by

Preface. Cement, steel, glass, bricks, ceramics, chemicals, and much more depend on fossil-fueled high heat (up to 3200 F) to make. Except for the electric-arc furnace to recycle existing steel, there aren’t any renewable ways to make cement, other metals, … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Peak Phosphorus

Posted on March 20, 2020 by

Sources: Peak phosphorus curve indicating a peak in production by 2033, derived from US Geological Survey and industry data. Cordell, D.; Drangert, J.-O.; White, S. The story of phosphorus: Global food security and food for thought. Glob. Environ. Change 2009, … Continue reading →

Posted in Peak Food | Tagged , | 1 Comment

MIT: Why the electric-car revolution may take a lot longer than expected

Posted on February 22, 2020 by

Preface. This study from MIT explains why price parity of electric and gasoline vehicles is likely to take a lot longer than 5 years, and perhaps never if cars continue to depend on lithium-ion batteries. Deeper cost declines beyond 2030 … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Lithium-ion | Tagged | 5 Comments

Biomass charcoal to create manufacturing high heat

Posted on January 11, 2020 by

Preface.  The following industries need heat of up 1800 to 3275 F: Chemicals, Forest products, Iron and Steel, Plastics & Rubber, Fabricated metals, Transport Equipment, Computers, electronics & equipment, Aluminum, Cement, Glass, Machinery, Foundries. For nearly all of these products, … Continue reading →

Posted in Manufacturing & Industrial Heat, Peak Biofuels, Wood | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments