Home » Posts tagged 'Alice Friedemann' (Page 4)
Tag Archives: Alice Friedemann
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 […]
Alice Friedemann’s LIFE AFTER FOSSIL FUELS A Reality Check on Alternative Energy
Alice Friedemann’s LIFE AFTER FOSSIL FUELS A Reality Check on Alternative Energy Fossil fuels are the lifeblood of modern industrial society, and they’re steadily being depleted. Eventually, their rates of production will cease to grow and will begin to permanently decline, spelling disaster for a civilization dependent on ever-increasing quantities of ever-cheaper fossil energy. Their […]
Government plans to reduce dependency on fossil fuels won’t work
Government plans to reduce dependency on fossil fuels won’t work Preface. Yikes! These government plans won’t help the energy crisis at all! The only items I like are getting Yucca mountain ready to take nuclear waste – it’s my top priority of “what to do”. We need to sequester nuclear wastes while there is still […]
Negative energy return of solar PV in Northern Europe
Negative energy return of solar PV in Northern Europe Preface. I once yanked this paper after huge blow back, but in the past few years, I have no reason to doubt Ferroni and Hopkirks methods, boundaries, or conclusions, so I’m putting this post back. An ERoEI of less than 1 means there is a net […]
Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy
Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy Image courtesy of the author Preface to “Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy”. You can find the book here. Fellow shareholders in the future of the planet Earth, I am not going to sugarcoat it. We have trouble ahead. In this book, […]
Blackouts, firestorms, and energy use
Blackouts, firestorms, and energy use Preface. Blackouts are more and more likely in the future from fires, hurricanes, natural gas shortages and more. Below is an account from a friend who had to evacuate due to a wildfire. Blackouts in the news: 2021. Texas Was Seconds Away From Going Dark for Months. *** This is a […]
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 […]
Heinberg on what to do at home
Heinberg on what to do at home Preface. A quick summary: Best investment: insulate exterior walls, ceiling, and floors for energy savings. Other good changes were to plant a garden and fruit-and-nut orchard, and buy solar hot water heater, solar food dryer, solar cooker, chickens, energy-efficient appliances Lessons learned: It is expensive, especially energy storage. […]
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 […]
Gen IV SMR nuclear reactors
Gen IV SMR nuclear reactors Preface. Peak conventional oil, which supplies over 95% of our oil, may have peaked in 2008 (IEA 2018) or 2018 (EIA 2020). We are running out of time. And is it really worth building these small modular reactors (SMR) given that peak uranium is coming soon? And until nuclear waste disposal exists, they should […]
