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Tag Archives: energy skeptic
Over 250 Cognitive biases, fallacies, and errors
Over 250 Cognitive biases, fallacies, and errors Preface. All of us, no matter how much we’ve read about critical thinking, or have a PhD in science, and are even on the lookout for our biases and fallacies can still fall prey to them, after all, we’re only human. But false belief systems get dangerous when […]
Soil salinity and erosion
Soil salinity and erosion Preface. Civilizations fail when their soils are ruined or eroded. One way conquerors made sure that those they enslaved during wars was to salt their land and burn their homes so they had nowhere to escape to. Erosion is an even larger nation killer, since not all soils are prone to […]
Not enough fossil fuels left to trigger another mass extinction
Not enough fossil fuels left to trigger another mass extinction Preface. Since both conventional and unconventional oil peaked in 2018, we clearly won’t be burning fossils at exponentially increasing rates until 2400 as the IPCC expected. Quite the opposite, currently the decline rate of oil is 8% a year, which can be reduced to 4% […]
The Nitrogen Bomb: fossil-fueled fertilizers keep billions of us alive
The Nitrogen Bomb: fossil-fueled fertilizers keep billions of us alive Preface. There are two articles below that explain why natural gas fertilizers are keeping at least 4 billion of us alive today. If you’re interested in this topic, here are a few more to read: Erisman JW, Sutton MA, Galloway J, et al (2008) How […]
Can democracy survive peak oil?
Can democracy survive peak oil? Preface. This is a book review of Howard Bucknell’s Energy and the National Defense. University of Kentucky Press. Bucknell was amazingly prescient as you’ll see in this review, especially about why democracy might not survive the energy crisis. Though it turns out the U.S. may not need an energy crisis to […]
Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future
Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future Preface. This is another “Scientists Warnings to Humanity” by many famous scientists, including Paul & Anne Erlich, John Harte, Peter Raven, and Mathis Wackernagel. Some of the challenges they point to are loss of biodiversity and consequent 6th mass extinction, human population growth which has led to […]
Was the fall of the Roman Empire due to plagues & climate change?
Was the fall of the Roman Empire due to plagues & climate change? Preface. Harper (2017) shows the brutal effects of plagues and climate change on the Roman Empire. McConnell (2020) proposes that a huge volcanic eruption in Alaska was a factor in bringing the Roman Empire and Cleopatra’s Egypt down. In addition, there are other […]
Why methanol is not an option to replace gasoline or diesel
Why methanol is not an option to replace gasoline or diesel Preface. Methanol, or CH₃OH, is primarily used to make chemicals for plastics, paints, and cosmetics. It is made from coal or natural gas. “Green” methanol is made from biomass or biogas from landfills or sewage plants. Or it can be made by combining hydrogen […]
Book review of Fruits of Eden: David Fairchild & Americas Plant Hunters
Book review of Fruits of Eden: David Fairchild & Americas Plant Hunters Preface. Botanist David Fairchild is one of the reasons the average grocery store has 39,500 items. Before he came along, most people ate just a few kinds of food day in day out (though that was partly due to a lack of refrigeration). I have longed […]
Microprocessor Fab Plants need electricity 24 x 7
Microprocessor Fab Plants need electricity 24 x 7 Preface. I explain in both of my books, When Trucks Stop Running and Life After Fossil Fuels why heavy duty transportation and most manufacturing can’t be electrified, as well as why the electric grid can’t stay up without natural gas to balance intermittency and provide baseload and long-term power […]
Book review of Fruits of Eden: David Fairchild & Americas Plant Hunters
Book review of Fruits of Eden: David Fairchild & Americas Plant Hunters Preface. Botanist David Fairchild is one of the reasons the average grocery store has 39,500 items. Before he came along, most people ate just a few kinds of food day in day out (though that was partly due to a lack of refrigeration). I have longed […]
Population explosion to destroy 11% of remaining ecosystems and biodiversity
Population explosion to destroy 11% of remaining ecosystems and biodiversity Preface. According to a recent paper in Nature Sustainability (Williams et al 2020), we are on the verge of destroying 11% of earth’s remaining ecosystems by 2050 to grow more food. We already are using 75% of Earth’s land. What a species! Reminds me of the […]
Pentagon report: collapse within 20 years from climate change
Pentagon report: collapse within 20 years from climate change Preface. The report that the article by Ahmed below is based on is: Brosig, M., et al. 2019. Implications of climate change for the U.S. Army. United States Army War College. It was written in 2019, before covid-19 and so quite prescient: The two most prominent […]
Compressed air energy storage (CAES)
Compressed air energy storage (CAES) Figure 1. Potential salt dome locations for CAES facilities are mainly along the Gulf coast Preface. Besides pumped hydro storage (PHS), which provides 99% of energy storage today, CAES is the only other commercially proven energy storage technology that can provide large-scale (over 100 MW) energy storage. But there are just two […]
Rationing. Book review of “Any way you slice it” by Stan Cox
Rationing. Book review of “Any way you slice it” by Stan Cox Preface. I can’t imagine that there’s a better book on rationing out there, but of course I can’t be sure, I don’t feel the need to find others on this topic after reading this book. As usual, I had to leave quite a […]
