Search Results for: bio fuels

Government plans to reduce dependency on fossil fuels won’t work

Preface. Yikes!  These government plans from 2009 won’t help the energy crisis much!  I do like these ideas though: Get Yucca mountain ready to take nuclear waste. We need to sequester nuclear wastes while there is still energy to do … Continue reading

Posted in Government on what to do, U.S. Congress Energy Dependence | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

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

Posted in Biofuels, Fusion, Groundwater, How Much Left, Hydrogen, Life After Fossil Fuels, Peak Water | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Life After Fossil Fuels: manufacturing will be less precise

Preface. This is a book review and excerpts of Winchester’s “The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers created the modern world”. The book describes how the industrial revolution was made possible with ever more precision.  First came the steam engine, possible to … Continue reading

Posted in Infrastructure & Collapse, Jobs and Skills, Life After Fossil Fuels, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Life After Fossil Fuels: manufacturing will be less precise

How to make biomass last longer

Preface. Before fossil fuels, societies were able to make their forests last longer than today. Felling tall trees and killing them was rare except for special needs such as making bridges or ships. For firewood and other needs, trees were … Continue reading

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Table of Contents for Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy

Preface. Most of what is in “Life After Fossil Fuels” is also posted here at energyskeptic (especially Peak Soil). And also in my other book “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation“. The advantage of books over … Continue reading

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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 , , , , , | 6 Comments

Many steps using fossil fuels to make cans & potato chips

Preface.  I am gobsmacked by how much energy goes into making beverage cans and potato chips, look at all the steps, each one using energy!  Why haven’t we run of oil yet? Especially when you look at everything else out … Continue reading

Posted in EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Manufacturing & Industrial Heat | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

328 Million Americans use 3.2 million pounds of minerals, metals, and fuels in their lifetime

Preface. Even if you go off the grid, civilization is using up minerals at an exponential rate to maintain the non-negotiable American lifestyle, which in 2006, required 3.7 million pounds of minerals, metals, and fuels in each person’s lifetime, or … Continue reading

Posted in Mining, Peak Critical Elements, Recycle, Recycling | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Can Geothermal power replace declining fossil fuels?

Preface. Today the electric grid stays up because of months of backup power from natural gas, coal, and uranium.  Most of all natural gas because it can quickly balance wind and solar as they suddenly appear or die out. Natural … Continue reading

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How a pandemic or bioweapon could take civilization down

Preface.  I just listened to a 3.5 hour podcast on pandemics and bioweapons with the best up-to-date coverage I know of, and more interesting to listen to than reading a book or article.  Just one of many scary problems: synthetic … Continue reading

Posted in 3) Fast Crash, Biowarfare, Interdependencies, Pandemic Fast Crash | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments