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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: Renewables
Aging nuclear power plants should be shut down
Preface. Below are my notes from the Greenpeace 146-page “Lifetime extension of ageing nuclear power plants”. Even if you don’t understand all the terms, read on anyhow, since it certainly conveys why nuclear plants grow more dangerous with age. Imagine … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Infrastructure, Nuclear Power Energy
Tagged corrosion, degradation, embrittlement, lifetime extension, nuclear power
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The Next Big Thing: Distributed Generation & Microgrids
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
The orbiting solar power fantasy
Preface. This 2020 article “Solar Power Beamed Down To Earth From Space Moves Forward” will leave you all warm, fuzzy, and unworried about the future. The Scientists Will Come Up With Something. But that’s because you know little to nothing … Continue reading
Negative energy return of solar PV in Northern Europe
Preface. I once yanked this paper after huge blow back, almost as bad as nuclear proponents, but in the past few years, I have no reason to doubt Ferroni and Hopkirks methods, boundaries, or conclusions, so I’m putting this post … Continue reading
Posted in Photovoltaic Solar, Solar EROI
Tagged energy return, EROEI, photovoltaic, solar
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Updates to Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy
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
Compressed air energy storage (CAES)
Preface. Besides pumped hydro storage (PHS), which provides 99% of energy storage today, CAES is the only other commercially proven energy storage technology that can provide large-scale (over 100 MW) energy storage. But there are just two CAES plants in … Continue reading
Posted in CAES Compressed Air
Tagged aquifer, bedded salt, bulk energy storage, CAES, compressed air energy storage
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Tree planting is not a simple solution but sure beats Carbon Capture!
Preface. The article from Science below lists both negative and positive outcomes depending on where trees are planted. The unintended negative effects could be a reduced water supply, the destruction of native grasslands and spread of invasive tree species, or … Continue reading
Posted in Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS), Plant Trees
Tagged carbon capture and storage, CCS, forests
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How safe and cheap are Gen IV Advanced Nuclear Reactors?
Preface. Peak conventional oil, which supplies over 95% of our oil, may have peaked in 2008 (IEA 2018) or 2018 (EIA 2020). We are running out of time. And is it really worth building these small modular reactors (SMR) given … Continue reading
Walter Youngquist: Geodestinies dams and hydropower
Preface. I was fortunate enough to know Walter for 15 years. He became a friend and mentor, helping me learn to become a better science writer, and sending me material I might be interested in, and delightful pictures of him … Continue reading
Posted in Hydropower, Walter Youngquist
Tagged dams, hydropower, Youngquist
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Disposal of nuclear waste in municipal landfills
Preface. The pandemic is probably going to enable a lot of bad legislation to be snuck in while attention is focused elsewhere. This proposal is for low-level waste in landfills. But the big problem is that nothing at all is … Continue reading