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- “Star Wars” missile defense won’t stop incoming nukes
- Lab-grown meat is energy intensive – and up to 25 times worse for the climate than beef
- The Biblical Revelations, critical thinking, and how this affects us today
- Why the U.S. is ignoring nuclear winter in nuclear policies & strategies
- Oil choke points vulnerable to war, chaos, terrorism, accidents, & piracy
- Nuclear weapons must be reduced or we risk nuclear winter
- Fusion is already running out of fuel
- Peak Oil is Officially Here! World oil production peaked November of 2018
- Wood, the fuel of preindustrial societies, is half of EU renewable energy
- Rare Earth updates: recent research on why complex & intelligent life are rare in the Universe
- Book review of “Chip War” and the Fragility of microchips
- The tremendous material and energy toll of the digital economy
- Nuclear attack on U.S. could kill 90% of Americans
- What percent of Americans are rational?
- Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A Nation Unprepared. Surviving the Aftermath
Search Results for: Biomass
Will Congress ever create a new independent agency to store nuclear waste permanently?
Preface. The lack of permanent geological storage of nuclear waste will be yet another nightmare for those living after fossils have declined and civilizations go back to biomass fuels and muscle power. They will already be dealing with heat making … Continue reading
Posted in Nuclear Waste, U.S. Congress Energy Policy
Tagged energy policy, nuclear power, nuclear waste, Nuclear Waste Administration Act, S. 1240, senate hearing, Yucca mountain
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Why biofuels can not scale up to replace petroleum
Preface. This is my favorite paper on why we can’t replace crude oil with biofuels. Of course, oil is a biofuel. But alas, not renewable, since it took over 100 million years to make them. Every year we burn fossil … Continue reading
Posted in Biofuels, Oil, Peak Biofuels
Tagged peak biofuels, peak oil
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Deforestation in the news
Preface. I wrote in “Life after fossil fuels” that as energy declined, it would be hard to cut down distant forests with limited oil supplies. I thought this because even in Britain, so denuded of trees people turned to filthy … Continue reading
Posted in Deforestation, Pollution, Wood
Tagged climate change, collapse, deforestion, global warming, mercury, wildfire, wood
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Most plastic isn’t recycled, burns in fires at recycling centers
Preface. Plastics are just one of 500,000 products made out of oil and gas, but very important to just about every aspect of society, from making vehicles lighter so go further using less energy, to clothes, food storage, bags, toothbrushes, … Continue reading
The nine boundaries we must not cross or we may go extinct
Preface. This post has excerpts from the famous paper by Rockström et al (2009) as well as a more recent proposal by Running (2012) on an easier measure of how close we’re coming to rendering the planet uninhabitable. The media … Continue reading
Posted in Acidification, Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Extinction, Planetary Boundaries, Pollution, Sea Level Rise, Water, World's Best Scientists
Tagged atmospheric aerosol loading, biogeochemical nitrogen cycle, biological diversity, boundaries, chemical pollution, climate change, Earth, extinction, global freshwater use, global warming, IPCC, land system change, ocean acidification, ozone hole, peak oil, phosphorus cycle, stratospheric ozone, sustainability
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Hydrogen hopium: green hydrogen from water
Additional energy consuming steps not shown: pumping water to the electrolyzer, purifying the water, compressing or liquefying to -423 F, pumping into storage container, the trucks to deliver H to stations costing $75 million each, since pipelines are super expensive … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Production, Hopium, Hydrogen, Peak Water
Tagged electrolyzer, energy storage, hopium, hydrogen, utah, water
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Highlights of the Denver Peak Oil 2005 conference
Preface. I just added the category “Peak Oil History” because I believe the coming oil crisis will be a complete surprise to the vast majority of the public who are unaware of the role fossil fuels play in our civilization, … Continue reading
David Fridley, LBNL scientist, on why alternative energy won’t save us
Preface. I’ve sought out David Fridley’s insights since I first met him in the Oakland Peak Oil group that formed in 2004. That group eventually dissolved, but David’s expertise is still sought out by many of us following energy decline. … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, An Overview, EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Net Energy Cliff
Tagged alternative energy, David Fridley, EROI, renewables
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