Categories
-
Recent Posts
- Electrifying freight trains in the U.S. is a bad idea
- Why Nuclear Power can’t replace fossil fuels
- Energy, Water, & Climate Change are interdependent
- Why fusion power is Forever Away
- Climate Change dominates news coverage at expense of other existential planetary boundaries
- Excerpt from “The Geopolitics of Resource Wars”
- Homes & Buildings
- Book Review “The Outlawed Ocean” by Ian Urbina
- Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future
- Motherboards: too complicated to make after oil
- “More and More and More” one of the best books on energy ever written
- The staggering destruction of knowledge by Christians in the Roman Empire
- Why the R/P Reserves to Production ratio does not show when oil will run out
- Catton on Collapse “Bottleneck: Humanity’s Impending Impasse”
- Book Review of Grain Brain: Extraordinary claim not backed up by evidence
Category Archives: Infrastructure
Fruit and nut crops decline as climate change melts fog
Fimrite, P. May 22, 2014. As Central Valley fog disappears, fruit, nut crops decline. San Francisco Chronicle. California produces 95% of U.S. fruit and nut crops that depend on disappearing Tule fog. The soupy thick tule fog that regularly blanketed … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Peak Food
Tagged agriculture, fog, food, fruit, nuts
Comments Off on Fruit and nut crops decline as climate change melts fog
Why is passenger rail so damned inefficient?
[ This is about passenger rail, not freight rail, which is incredibly efficient. Freight rail is efficient because to reduce aerodynamic drag and diesel fuel use (USDOT 2008), they travel on average only 23 miles per hour (to reduce aerodynamic … Continue reading
Posted in Mass Transit, Railroads, Transportation
Tagged auto, bus, mass transit, passenger, rail
4 Comments
Why the demise of civilization is inevitable
MacKenzie, D. April 2, 2008. Why the demise of civilisation may be inevitable. NewScientist. Every civilization in history has collapsed. Why should ours be any different? Homer-Dixon doubts we can stave off collapse completely. He points to what he calls … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure, Interdependencies
Tagged civilization, collapse, homer-dixon, tainter
1 Comment
Effects of biodiesel on diesel engines: John Deere
[ Since petroleum is finite, the most important focus of U.S. energy research ought to be keeping trucks operating, since civilization ends when trucks stop running. Ideally this would be done with a “drop-in” fuel that can be burned in … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiesel, Trucks
Tagged biodiesel, diesel engine, John Deere
Comments Off on Effects of biodiesel on diesel engines: John Deere
Natural gas is a stupid transportation fuel
[ My comment: The only reason natural gas has come up as a transportation fuel at all is the false belief that there is 100 years of natural gas (even this article does, but natural gas may last far less … Continue reading
Posted in Automobiles, Natural Gas Vehicles, Transportation
Tagged cars, natural gas, transportation
Comments Off on Natural gas is a stupid transportation fuel
Ecological cost of new roads in Africa
[ What follows are excerpts from the January 8 2014 issue of Newscientist’s “Africa’s road-building frenzy will transform continent” by Andy Coghlan. ] China is funding most of the new roads to get the minerals they’ve mined, and transport food … Continue reading
Posted in Roads, Transportation Infrastructure
Comments Off on Ecological cost of new roads in Africa
Why the world is headed the way of Easter island
Petros Sekeris. 19 November 2014. Violence ahead as tragedies of the commons spread. NewScientist. The world risks heading the way of Easter Island – a spiral into conflict as depleted natural resources are plundered. There is a growing feeling that … Continue reading
Promoting soil health in agriculture at U.S. House hearing 2014
Preface. At last, many years after I first published “Peak soil: Why biofuels destroy ecosystems and civilizations” in 2007, Congress had a hearing to educate House members on why preserving topsoil is so essential for food production for future generations. … Continue reading
Posted in Biomass, Peak Topsoil, Pesticides, Soil, U.S. Congress Infrastructure, Water Pollution
Tagged agriculture, cover crop, erosion, no-till, peak soil, soil health, U.S. House of representatives
Comments Off on Promoting soil health in agriculture at U.S. House hearing 2014
Plants are sucking streams dry thanks to more CO2
Slezak, M. October 24, 2015. Carbon emissions make Earth greener but are also drying it out. NewScientist. Source: Ukkola, A. M., et al. October 19, 2015 Reduced streamflow in water-stressed climates consistent with CO2 effects on vegetation. Nature Climate Change 6, … Continue reading
Posted in CO2 and Methane, Peak Water, Water
Tagged carbon dioxide, climate change, streams, water
Comments Off on Plants are sucking streams dry thanks to more CO2
Water-borne diseases will increase as energy declines
Preface. Drinking water and sewage treatment plants are the main reason lifespans nearly doubled. Read Laurie Garrett’s “Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health” for details. As energy declines, the ability of towns and cities to treat water … Continue reading
Posted in Sewage treatment, Water Infrastructure, Where to Be or Not to Be
Comments Off on Water-borne diseases will increase as energy declines