net energy
end of the coal age
Regardless of the consequences of peaking oil extraction rates, coal is the often overlooked driver of global economic growth. Coal provides the majority of the electricity responsible for our way of life and for consistent industrial production, around 49% of the electricity generated in the US comes from coal. When I worked for a coal-based [...]
confronting collapse
I first learned of Mike Ruppert through a chilling trailer for his then upcoming movie, Collapse. Ruppert has a long history as an investigative journalist that began when he broke away from the mainstream after his excellence in the LA police led him to be actively recruited by the CIA for running cocaine through South-Central [...]
what I struggle with when I consider a career in clean energy technologies…
…is Jevons’ Paradox. From a recent post on The Oil Drum, In his 1865 book “The Coal Question: An Inquiry Concerning the Progress of the Nation, and the Probable Exhaustion of our Coal-Mines,” English economist William Stanley Jevons made the observation “Of the Economy of Fuel” that when improvements in technology make it possible to [...]
Renewable Energy Won’t Save Us
Renewable energy is often touted as the future because it has lower CO2 emissions or “can solve our energy scarcity problems because it will replace oil”. Unfortunately, renewable energy is far from solving those massive problems. Solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, etc… all require tremendous amounts of oil to get their infrastructure up and running, emitting [...]
net energy and relocalization
Chris Martenson has been working to raise awareness of the coming economic transition for a while now through videos like his Crash Course series, which explains fundamentals of money creation, net energy and environmental depletion. This is a great ten minute summary of net energy and the crisis we are about to face. All the [...]
