Category Archives: ! PEAK EVERYTHING

Food, topsoil, aquifers, phosphorus, rare metals essential to microchip fabrication, windmills, solar, and other products; sand; oil; natural gas

Why mining to make renewables will destroy the planet

Posted on August 26, 2022 by

Figure 1 Landscape of earth after 37% is mined to build renewables Preface. As I wrote in Life After fossil fuels: “Mining spews out acid rain, wastewater, and heavy metals onto land, water, and air (PEBI 2016). One-fifth of China’s arable … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Batteries, Climate Change, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Electric Grid, Energy Books, Peak Critical Elements, Peak Platinum Group Elements, Peak Precious Elements, Peak Rare Earth Elements, Recycle, Recycling | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Peak Rubber

Posted on August 12, 2022 by

Rubber trees can’t be grown anywhere. They require 100 inches (250 cm) of rain year round. Dry seasons not allowed. The average monthly temperature should be 77 to 82 Fahrenheit (25-28 C), with 6 hours a day of bright sunshine, … Continue reading →

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Understanding peak oil theory 2005 U.S. House

Posted on August 5, 2022 by

Preface. With world oil production likely having peaked in 2018 (as documented in chapter 2 of Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy), this seemed like a good time to go revisit peak oil history. What follows … Continue reading →

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Peak lithium makes transportation & electricity storage pointless

Posted on July 29, 2022 by

Preface.  The lithium batteries in cars need electricity to recharge, but the electric grid can’t stay up with just wind and solar, that’s why natural gas is the energy storage today. Nor do pumped hydro or compressed air energy storage … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Battery - Utility Scale, Electrification, Peak Lithium, Recycle, Recycling | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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

Is the USA energy independent?

Posted on May 21, 2022 by

Preface. Below are excerpts from U.S. House & Senate hearings where various speakers made the case that due to tight fracked gas & oil the United States had 100 or 200 or even 250 years of Energy Independence ahead.  For … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural Gas, Oil & Gas Fracked, Peak Natural Gas, U.S. Congress Energy Independence | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Is the USA energy independent?

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

Why it is hard to replace diesel with biodiesel

Posted on April 12, 2022 by

Biodiesel is the great hope, our main hope, the only renewable fuel of all the many options, and the closest to the diesel essential for rail, trucks, and ships to do the actual work of civilization. The U.S. produces over … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiesel, Food production, Oil, Peak Biofuels, Peak Food, Transportation, Water | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Corn for ethanol & soy for biodiesel tremendously destructive

Posted on April 9, 2022 by

In the news: Cullen A (2024) Corn Belt fertilizer is killing the Gulf of Mexico. Washington Post. About 30 percent of the nitrogen applied for raising corn is lost to water, and much of it right now is draining off … Continue reading →

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Limits to Growth: Natural gas fertilizer that feeds 4 billion of us

Posted on March 30, 2022 by

Preface.  In chapter 4 of my book “Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy“, I explain how it came to be that fertilizer is made out of natural gas, using the energy of natural gas, and why … Continue reading →

Posted in Life After Fossil Fuels, Limits To Growth, Natural Gas, Peak Food, Starvation | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment