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Recent Posts
- ‘The oil we eat’. Following the food chain back to iraq
- Vanishing open spaces: population growth and sprawl in America
- Admiral Rickover 1957: Energy Resources & Our Future
- The Green New Deal is not a solution for the real problem: Overshoot
- A transition from fossil fuels to renewables could take a century – if it ever happens
- 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
Category Archives: Renewables
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
Comments Off on Walter Youngquist: Geodestinies dams and hydropower
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
Why no single or combination of alternative energy resources can replace fossil fuels
Preface. This 2002 paper is still true today. There simply are no renewable replacements for the fossil fuels that power our civilization. If only scientists could violate the laws of thermodynamics and physics the way capitalistic crooks cheat, like Bernie … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Biomass, Fusion, Hydrogen, Nuclear Power Energy, Orbiting Solar, Peak Oil, Photovoltaic Solar, Wind
Tagged fusion, hydrogen, nuclear, peak everything, solar, wind
6 Comments
Energy storage doesn’t scale up: limits to minerals and geography
Preface. Natural gas is finite, but aside from (pumped) hydropower, natural gas is the main way wind and solar are balanced now. Therefore, a tremendous amount of energy storage will be needed in the future as natural gas declines. And … Continue reading
Not enough rare metals to scale up solar power
Preface. Sunshine may be free, but the materials to make solar contraptions sure aren’t. Since sunshine arrives in a diluted form, vast expanses of solar photovoltaic panels will be needed to produce the world’s 24,000 Terawatt hours of electrical … Continue reading
Posted in Photovoltaic Solar
Tagged gallium, indium, photovoltaic, PV, rare earth, Ruthenium, solar, tellurium
5 Comments
Batteries use rare, declining, critical, & imported elements from unstable countries
Preface. Since oil and other fossils are finite and emit carbon, the plan is to electrify society with batteries. But doh! Minerals used in batteries are finite too. And dependent on fossil-fuels entirely in their life cycle, from mining trucks … Continue reading
Offshore wind turbines: Expensive, risky, and last just 15 years
Preface: The Department of Energy high wind penetration plans require a lot of offshore wind. But is it possible, affordable, or wise to do this? Corrosion leads to a short lifespan of just 15 years. To reduce maintenance, offshore windmills … Continue reading
Renewable costs don’t include transmission & energy storage backup from Nat Gas & Coal plants
Preface. Wind and solar advocates don’t include transmission and backup costs in their net energy and cost calculations. But without fossil backup, the electric grid will come down due to lack of storage. There is almost nowhere left to put … Continue reading
Posted in Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Energy Storage, Solar, Solar EROI, Wind, Wind EROI
Tagged energy storage, fossil fuel backup, renewable, solar, wind
2 Comments
The Invisible oiliness of everything
Preface. Even a simple object like a pencil takes hundreds of actions and objects requiring fossil energy to do and make. Not electricity. This is on of many reasons why wind, solar, or other contraption that make electricity can’t replace … Continue reading