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America loves the idea of family farms. That’s unfortunate. By Sarah Taber
America loves the idea of family farms. That’s unfortunate. By Sarah Taber Preface. As declining fossil fuels force more and more people back into being farmers, eventually 75 to 90% of the population, it would be much better for this to happen with family farms than gigantic mega-farms with workers who are slaves in all […]
Peak Stainless Steel
Peak Stainless Steel This study shows that there is a significant risk that stainless steel production will reach its maximum capacity around 2055 because of declining nickel production, though recycling, and use of other alloys on a very small scale can compensate somewhat. The model in this study assumes business as usual for metal production […]
Many signs of peak oil and decline
Many signs of peak oil and decline Preface. Recently the IEA 2018 World Energy Outlook predicted an oil crunch could happen as soon as 2023. Oil supermajors are expected to have 10 years of reserve life or more, Shell is down to just 8 years. Political shortages are as big a problem as geological depletion. At […]
Wood, the fuel of preindustrial societies, is half of EU renewable energy
Wood, the fuel of preindustrial societies, is half of EU renewable energy Preface: By far the largest so-called renewable fuel used in Europe is wood. In its various forms, from sticks to pellets to sawdust, wood (or to use its fashionable name, biomass) accounts for about half of Europe’s renewable-energy consumption. Although Finland is the […]
How much oil left in America? Not much
How much oil left in America? Not much If you think no worries because we can get arctic oil, think again. We can’t because icebergs knock the drilling platforms down, and massive amounts of new infrastructure — roads, rail lines, platforms, buildings — are needed to set up drilling in Alaska, since the permafrost soil […]
One million plant & animal species at risk of extinction
One million plant & animal species at risk of extinction As usual, no mention of birth control or carrying capacity. Plumer, B. 2019. Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an ‘Unprecedented’ Pace. New York Times. Extinction rates are tens to hundreds of times higher than they have been in the past 10 […]
Climate change risks could cause an American “Fukushima”
Climate change risks could cause an American “Fukushima” Preface. Nuclear power plants need a constant supply of electric power to pump cool water into a reactor’s core. Ninety percent of them, 54 plants, have at least one flood risk exceeding their design. If flooding stops the power supply long enough, as happened in Fukushima, the […]
Going 100% renewable power means a lot of dirty mining
Going 100% renewable power means a lot of dirty mining Preface. Everyone talks about oil spills, but what about the dirty mining that will have a huge polluting footprint on the earth, and potentially destroy the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery among other side-effects? Renewables aren’t cleaner and greener than fossils, and require a hell […]
Why solar power can’t save us from the coming energy crisis
Why solar power can’t save us from the coming energy crisis Preface. Embedded within the posts below are even more reasons why solar electricity can’t replace fossil fuels. Meanwhile, all solar and wind do is add to the giant fire of burning fossil fuels and contribute a tiny bit more power, about 4% of all […]
Groundwater rise. Yet another climate change threat.
Groundwater rise. Yet another climate change threat. Preface. In coastal areas flooding is likely to be caused from groundwater rise because as sea levels rise, they won’t only move inland, flooding low-lying land near the shore; but also push water up from the saltwater water table, on top of which is a layer of lighter […]
Hydropower can’t help with the energy crisis
Hydropower can’t help with the energy crisis Preface. When fossil fuels are gone, there aren’t many ways to balance the unreliable, intermittent, and often absent for weeks at a time power from wind and solar. Biofuels and burning biomass is one solution, it’s dispatchable and can kick in at any time to make up for […]
45 Reasons why wind power can not replace fossil fuels
45 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 […]
Utility scale energy storage has a long way to go to make renewables possible
Utility scale energy storage has a long way to go to make renewables possible What follows comes from my book “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation” , which is also where you’ll find the references backing up what I’ve written below. I often get letters from people about energy breakthroughs in biofuels, solar, […]
