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Tag Archives: energy skeptic
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 […]
Walter Youngquist: Geodestinies
Walter Youngquist: Geodestinies Preface. I was fortunate enough to know Walter for 15 years. He became a friend and mentor, helping me learn to become a better science writer, and sending me material I might be interested in, and delightful pictures of him sitting in a lawn chair and feeding wild deer who weren’t afraid […]
Lifespan of infrastructure, transportation, and buildings
Lifespan of infrastructure, transportation, and buildings Preface. What follows is from the International Energy Agency 2020 report “Energy technology perspectives” on how to transition to net zero emissions by 2050. This might require the replacement of just about everything, since power plants, steel blast furnaces, cement kilns, buildings, trucks, cars, buses and more that run […]
Utility scale energy storage limited by minerals and geography
Utility scale energy storage limited by minerals and geography Preface. Natural gas is finite, but aside from (pumped) hydropower, natural gas is the main way wind and solar are balanced now. Therefore, a tremendous amount of energy storage will be needed in the future as natural gas declines. The current total energy storage capacity of […]
54 Reasons why wind power can not replace fossil fuels
54 Reasons why wind power can not replace fossil fuels Source: Leonard, T. 2012. Broken down and rusting, is this the future of Britain’s ‘wind rush’? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2116877/Is-future-Britains-wind-rush.html Preface. Electricity simply doesn’t substitute for all the uses of fossil fuels, so windmills will never be able to reproduce themselves from the energy they generate — they […]
Extreme flooding from slow hurricanes a danger to farms
Extreme flooding from slow hurricanes a danger to farms Preface. Yet another danger from climate change for agriculture will be slow hurricanes and cyclones dumping a foot or more of rain over a few days such as the recent hurricanes Harvey (2017), Florence (2018), and Dorian (2019). Journal reference: Zhang G, et al. 2020. Tropical cyclone […]
Offshore wind turbines: Expensive, risky, and last just 15 years
Offshore wind turbines: Expensive, risky, and last just 15 years Blade Damage During Land Transport Preface: The Department of Energy high wind penetration plans require a lot of offshore wind. But is it possible, affordable, or wise to do this? Corrosion leads to a short lifespan of just 15 years. To reduce […]
Renewables must help pay for transmission and their energy storage backup of fossil power plants
Renewables must help pay for transmission and their energy storage backup of fossil power plants Preface. Wind and solar advocates don’t include transmission and backup costs in their net energy calculations. But without fossil backup, the electric grid will come down due to lack of storage. There is almost nowhere left to put pumped hydro […]
The Invisible oiliness of everything
The Invisible oiliness of everything Preface. Even a simple object like a pencil requires dozens of actions to make and dozens of objects that took energy to make. This is why it is unlikely wind, solar, or any other contraption that make electricity, have a positive return of energy, or energy returned on energy invested. […]
Nuclear waste disposal drilled deep into earth’s crust
Nuclear waste disposal drilled deep into earth’s crust Preface. One the greatest tragedies of the decline of oil will be all the nuclear waste left to harm future generations for up to a million years. We owe it to them to clean up our mess while we still have the fossil energy to do it, […]
Scientists’ warning to humanity on insect extinctions
Scientists’ warning to humanity on insect extinctions Preface. Below are excerpts from Cardoso, P., et al. 2020. Scientists’ warning to humanity on insect extinctions. Biological Conservation. *** Highlights: We are pushing many ecosystems beyond recovery, resulting in insect extinctions. Causes are habitat loss, pollution, invasives, climate change, and over exploitation. We lose biomass, diversity, unique histories, functions, […]
How much oil left in America? Not much
How much oil left in America? Not much Preface. If you think we have no worries because we can get arctic oil, think again. We can’t because icebergs mow drilling platforms down in the ocean. On land, massive amounts of expensive new drilling rigs, roads, rail lines, platforms, buildings and other infrastructure need to be built, […]
Escape to Mars after we’ve trashed the Earth?
Escape to Mars after we’ve trashed the Earth? The idea that we can go to Mars is touted by NASA, Elon Musk, and so many others that this dream seems just around the corner. If we destroy our planet with climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, aquifer depletion and more, no problem! We can […]
Heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell trucks a waste of energy and money
Heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell trucks a waste of energy and money Preface. Hydrogen fuel cell trucks are incredibly inefficient. Turning hydrogen back into electricity with a fuel cell is only 24.7 % efficient (.84 * .67 * .54 * .84 * .97) as shown in figure 1. There are multiple stages where energy is lost due to […]
