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Recent Posts
- The staggering destruction of knowledge by Christians in the Roman Empire
- The staggering cost of Net Zero in Britain
- 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
- Why did everyone stop talking about Population & Immigration?
- What would happen if trucks stopped running?
- How to survive a nuclear winter
- The insect apocalypse will kill billions more people than climate change
- The war on drugs. A book review of “Chasing the scream”
- Peak crude oil did not happen in 2018. But we are running out of time
- Sheriffs have too much power
- Book review “They poisoned the world: Life & death in the age of Forever Chemicals”
- John Howe on one child per woman: still too high to stay under limits to growth curves
- Ted Trainer: The radical implications of a zero growth economy
Tag Archives: energy
A Century from Now Concrete Will be Nothing But Rubble
Photo: road abandoned since 1984 in the Florida Keys Preface. Much of the material that follows is based on Robert Courland’s 2011 book Concrete Planet, which explains why concrete is an essential part of our infrastructure. And it’s all falling … Continue reading
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
Far out power #1: human fat, playgrounds, solar wind towers, perpetual motion, thermal depolymerization
Preface. Plans for hydrogen, wind, solar, wave and all the other re-buildable contraptions that use fossil fuels in every single step of their short 15-25 year life cycle and hence are non-renewable, are just as silly as the ideas below, … Continue reading
William Rees: Memo from a Climate Crisis Realist: The Choice before Us
Preface. I’m going to put Rees’ conclusion of 11 things to do first (rather than the Green New Deal, which can’t possibly work), followed by his arguments for why this needs to be done (if you haven’t read part 1 … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Expert Advice, Experts
Tagged climate change, degrowth, energy, green new deal
5 Comments
William E. Rees: Don’t Call Me a Pessimist on Climate Change. I Am a Realist
Preface. William E. Rees is professor emeritus of human ecology and ecological economics at the University of British Columbia. He’s one of my favorite ecological writers and has written about energy, limits to growth, overshoot, sustainability and other ecological topics … Continue reading
Book review of Vaclav Smil’s “Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects”
Preface. In my extract of the 178 pages in the book below, Smil explains why renewables can’t possibly replace fossil fuels, and appears to be exasperated that people believe this can be done when he writes “Common expectations of energy … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Energy Books, Vaclav Smil
Tagged biofuels, coal, energy, geothermal, hydropower, kinetic, LNG, muscle power, nuclear, solar, vaclav smil, wind
13 Comments
Why it is futile to think that Wind could ever make a significant contribution to energy supplies
Matt Ridley. May 15, 2017. Wind turbines are neither clean nor green and they provide zero global energy. Even after 30 years of huge subsidies, it provides about zero energy. The Spectator. The Global Wind Energy Council recently released its … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Wind
Tagged alternative energy, energy, wind
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Booklist: Travel, Psychology, World history, Food, Anthropology, (Auto)biography, Cults, Religion
More booklists Travel & Science A Wulf. The Invention of Nature: The adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the lost hero of science. R Conniff. The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth R Sapolsky. A … Continue reading
Posted in Book List
Tagged anthropology, autobiography, biography, cults, energy, food, psychology, religion, travel, world history
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Conventional economic theory ignores the laws of physics
Preface. It’s the energy stupid! These figures clearly show a link between energy and the economy. Conventional economic theory has to ignore energy or that would prove that there are Limits to Growth. What follows is from Nafeez Ahmed’s 2017 … Continue reading
Posted in Limits To Growth
Tagged economists, energy, GDP, laws of physics, limits to growth, money
3 Comments