Category Archives: 3) Fast Crash

The case for a fast, rather than a slow one. Most societies crashed in 20 years or less. There has never been or will be again a crash like ours, where the world of 7 billion people became utterly dependent on a non-renewable source of energy — fossil fuels.

Was the fall of the Roman Empire due to plagues & climate change?

Posted on July 20, 2021 by energyskeptic

Preface. Harper (2017) shows the brutal effects of plagues and climate change on the Roman Empire. McConnell (2020) proposes that a huge volcanic eruption in Alaska was a factor in bringing the Roman Empire and Cleopatra’s Egypt down. In addition, … Continue reading →

Posted in Pandemic Fast Crash, Roman Empire | Tagged climate change, collapse, pandemic, plague, roman empire | 1 Comment

Biogas from cow manure is not a solution for the energy crisis

Posted on July 17, 2021 by energyskeptic

Preface. Smil’s article about biogas sums up why it won’t contribute to energy shortages as fossils decline. Biogass doesn’t scale and is easy to muck up. Hayes (2015) also makes this case, pointing out that even if every ounce of … Continue reading →

Posted in Biofuels, Biomass EROI, Peak Biofuels, Pollution | Tagged bacteria, biofuel, biogas, cow manure, EROI, pollution | 2 Comments

The Next Big Thing: Distributed Generation & Microgrids

Posted on July 14, 2021 by energyskeptic

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 & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Grid instability, Photovoltaic Solar, Wind | Tagged distributed energy, electric grid, generators, instability, microgrid | 1 Comment

Interdependencies & supply chain failures in the News

Posted on July 11, 2021 by energyskeptic

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

Posted on June 26, 2021 by energyskeptic

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 →

Posted in Concrete, Infrastructure & Collapse, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat, Peak Sand, Roads | Tagged CO2, collapse, concrete, Concrete Planet, corrosion, Courland, energy, greenhouse gas, infrastructure, roads, transportation, trucks | 3 Comments

Microchip fabrication plants need electricity 24 x 7 for four months

Posted on June 25, 2021 by energyskeptic

Preface. I explain in both of my books, When Trucks Stop Running and Life After Fossil Fuels, why heavy duty transportation and manufacturing can’t be electrified, as well as why the electric grid can’t stay up without natural gas to … Continue reading →

Posted in Blackouts, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Electricity Infrastructure, Interdependencies, Microchips and computers, Preservation of Knowledge | Tagged cyber attack, electric grid, micro chip, microprocessor, semiconductor | 27 Comments

Population explosion to destroy 11% of remaining ecosystems and biodiversity

Posted on June 19, 2021 by energyskeptic

Preface. According to a recent paper in Nature Sustainability (Williams et al 2020), we are on the verge of destroying 11% of earth’s remaining ecosystems by 2050 to grow more food. We already are using 75% of Earth’s land. What … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemicals, Deforestation, Food production, Overpopulation | Tagged agriculture, birth control, climate change | 4 Comments

Pentagon report: collapse within 20 years from climate change

Posted on May 23, 2021 by energyskeptic

Preface. The report that the article by Ahmed below is based on is: Brosig, M., et al. 2019. Implications of climate change for the U.S. Army. United States Army War College. It was written in 2019, before covid-19 and so … Continue reading →

Posted in Arctic, Blackouts, Climate Change, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Military, Over Oil | Tagged climate change, collapse, military | 2 Comments

Updates to Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy

Posted on May 14, 2021 by energyskeptic

Updates to “Life After Fossil Fuels” Last updated 28 April 2024. Other posts related to this book here. My book is about our many dependencies on fossil fuels, quickly depicted in these very short videos: Life without Petroleum A Day … Continue reading →

Posted in Biofuels, Fusion, Groundwater, How Much Left, Hydrogen, Life After Fossil Fuels, Peak Water | Tagged agriculture, artificial intelligence, bioenergy, biofuels, Life After Fossil Fuels, life without oil, natural gas discoveries, oil discoveries, pesticide, robot | 3 Comments

Life After Fossil Fuels: manufacturing will be less precise

Posted on May 5, 2021 by energyskeptic

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 | Comments Off