Tag Archives: infrastructure

Corrosion eats $552 billion of infrastructure a year (6% of GDP)

Preface. United States infrastructure was built when the EROI of oil was very high and minerals and metals were cheap due to high ore concentrations. This study was done in 2002, since then, things have gotten much worse (see ASCE … Continue reading

Posted in Bridges, Oil & Gas, Rail, Transportation Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

We’ll all be Flint Michigan someday: U.S. water infrastructure is falling apart

NRC. 2006. Drinking Water Distribution Systems: Assessing and Reducing Risks Committee on Public Water Supply Distribution Systems: Assessing and Reducing Risks.  National Research Council, National Academies Press. [ According to this Free National Research Council report, most water systems and … Continue reading

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Will we go out with a whimper instead of a bang? Cyberwar more likely than nuclear war

Preface.  This is a book review of Clarke & Knake’s “Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About IT”. The ransom cyber attack on the colonial pipeline forced the shutdown of a vital pipeline delivering … Continue reading

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Homeland Security and Dept of Energy: Dams and Energy Sectors Interdependency Study

[Below are excerpts from this 45 page document. Dams not only provide power but also water for agriculture, drinking water, cooling water for thermal power plants, ecosystem health, fisheries, and so on.  All dams have a finite lifespan of 50 … Continue reading

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Why You Should Love Trains

Why You Should Love Trains by Alice Friedemann    November 13, 2014 Trains rock! Trains are over 4 times more fuel efficient than trucks. On average it takes just 1 gallon to move a ton 473 miles, using just 2% of … Continue reading

Posted in Rail, Railroads, Transportation Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Almost half of Rail Freight is Energy, increasingly Crude Oil

Source: American Association of Railroads. 46% of all tonnage hauled by freight trains is Energy: In 2014, crude oil will likely be 650,000 carloads — 2% of all carloads, 2.2% of tonnage.  In addition 2.6% of rail tonnage was refined … Continue reading

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$46 Trillion Infrastructure in USA, $6 Trillion is Transportation

James Howard Kunstler has written that Suburbia will be the largest waste of money and physical assets in human history. The end of the age of oil means that just about everything will be useless too.  Below is just the … Continue reading

Posted in Transportation Infrastructure | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Expressways & Interstates are only designed to last for 20 years

Preface. I make the case that civilization would end in a week if trucks stopped running in my first book, and though I had in mind that they would be running low on diesel fuel on the downside of world … Continue reading

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Oil and Gas infrastructure are falling apart

Beneath Cities, a Decaying Tangle of Gas Pipes March 23, 2014. Patrick McGeehan et al. New York Times It is a danger hidden beneath the streets of New York City, unseen and rarely noticed: 6,302 miles of pipes transporting natural … Continue reading

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Electromagnetic Pulse EMP from solar flares or high-altitude nuclear weapon explosion

[ Related articles: Russian hackers suspected in attack that blacked out parts of Ukraine How the weapon works (pdf): CRASHOVERRIDE Analyzing the Threat to Electric Grid Operations The EMP Commission estimates a nationwide blackout lasting one year could kill up … Continue reading

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