Category Archives: Energy

How to Stay Alive in the Coming Ice Age

Posted on 22 February, 2021 by alfin2101

The arctic blasts of cold weather known as polar vortices, are just a foretaste of what is coming, as the long overdue “coming ice age” bears down on human civilization, with a vengeance. When the deep cold finally hits us, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Coming Anarchy, Doom, Electrical Power Grid, Energy, Nuclear Fusion, Nuclear Power, Survival Prepping, TEOTWAWKI | 5 Comments

Texas Power Failures Look Like California!

Posted on 16 February, 2021 by alfin2101

Like California, Texas went all-in for big wind turbine farms. And like California, Texas is beginning to suffer the high prices, low reliability, and blackouts that California has been living with ever since it jumped into the green energy swamp. … Continue reading →

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Effective Power at the Flip of a Switch

Posted on 18 December, 2020 by alfin2101

Unlike intermittent energy schemes based on wind and sun, nuclear fusion offers the promise of useful power when you want it. And unlike the cash guzzling “government fusion” project ITER, private fusion is showing actual promise within a meaningful time … Continue reading →

Posted in Electrical Power Grid, Energy, Nuclear Fusion, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Effective Power at the Flip of a Switch

Asia is Going Gangbusters for Coal!

Posted on 22 February, 2020 by alfin2101

Don’t write the obituary for coal just yet. In many lands near the end of global energy supply lines — China, Japan, Vietnam, Philippines, even India — coal is booming like never before! China and India are home to over … Continue reading →

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Junk Electricity: Don’t Be a Sucker!

Posted on 3 February, 2020 by alfin2101

If the system has more power than it needs at any instant, its frequency will increase. If there is not enough power to meet demand at any time, the system frequency falls. … Sometimes AEMO [Australian Energy Market Operator] detects … Continue reading →

Posted in Electrical Power Grid, Energy | Tagged , | 2 Comments

In California You Must Have Solar Panels

Posted on 28 December, 2019 by alfin2101

As of January 1, 2020, all new houses built in California must incorporate photovoltaic panels in the construction. This government mandate is expected to add between $9,000 and $20,000 to the cost of each new home. Median home prices in … Continue reading →

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Energy, Sun | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Where Electric Power is in Short Supply

Posted on 27 December, 2019 by alfin2101

In sub Saharan Africa, across MENA, and in large parts of Asia, many millions of people must live without reliable access to electric power. For most of these countries the problem is that the humans who live in these countries … Continue reading →

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Stories for Heretics and Social Ruffians

Posted on 17 December, 2019 by alfin2101

Common Biases in Science that Slow Progress to a Crawl A look at some psychological handicaps shared by even the most intelligent scientists, by physicist Sabine Hossenfelder: Take for example loss aversion. This is more commonly known as “throwing good … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Everything You Think You Know Just Ain't So, Knowledge, Science | Tagged | 3 Comments

Oil: For Every Barrel Consumed, Two Are Discovered

Posted on 11 December, 2019 by alfin2101

“For every barrel of oil consumed over the past 35 years, two new barrels have been discovered.” In other words, technology has increased the available oil despite the fact that humans have been using it at an increasing rate for … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Oil Prices, Shale Oil & Gas Revolution | Tagged | 3 Comments

Green Activists and Politicians are Forcing People into Poverty

Posted on 19 November, 2019 by alfin2101

Compare electricity prices with renewable energy penetration for European countries. What might you conclude? Activists and politicians are always pushing energy policies that drive up the cost of energy. This is not a problem for the wealthy, but for lower … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Wind | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Energy News

Posted on 16 November, 2019 by alfin2101

Good News for North American Nuclear Fission Compared to other forms of generating electric power, nuclear fission is safe, reliable, and clean. But for many reasons it costs a lot more to build new fission power plants than competing forms … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Nuclear Fusion, Nuclear Power | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Without Fossil Fuels Modern Civilisation is Impossible

Posted on 4 October, 2019 by alfin2101

80% of Energy Comes from Fossil Fuels With over 80% of energy consumption coming from fossil fuels, pretty much everything we have in our economy today is available thanks to fossil fuels. We wouldn’t have today’s homes, schools or grocery … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Doom, Energy, Peak Oil, Wind | Tagged | 2 Comments

When Elon Musk Screwed the Pooch

Posted on 30 July, 2019 by alfin2101

We are on record saying that Elon Musk has one good company — SpaceX. His other signature company, Tesla, has been bleeding large sums of money for several years now, with no end in sight. Elon is in the process … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Energy, Transportation | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Oil Doomers Frustrated at US Shale Revolution

Posted on 9 July, 2019 by alfin2101

According to the oil doomers, the world’s oil was supposed to be used up by now. The scarce remaining dregs of oil would be beyond the reach of ordinary people, and only the ultra-wealthy would be able to drive the … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Oil Prices Fiscal Breakeven, Shale Oil & Gas Revolution | Tagged | 8 Comments

Make the World Go Away

Posted on 25 June, 2019 by alfin2101

Intelligent readers can see the contradiction in the graph above: In order to achieve the “global decarbonisation” called for by the world green movement, the world as we know it must cease to exist… and an alternate universe must come … Continue reading →

Posted in Electrical Power Grid, Energy, Nuclear Fusion, Nuclear Power, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Wind Power Boom Is Over

Posted on 8 May, 2019 by alfin2101

… the 20-year subsidies granted to wind, solar, and biogas since 2000 will start coming to an end next year. “The wind power boom is over,” Der Spiegel concludes. __ https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/05/06/the-reason-renewables-cant-power-modern-civilization-is-because-they-were-never-meant-to/#2a527dd2ea2b No economy can afford to run its industry and … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Wind | Tagged , | 1 Comment

New Oil Discovery? Get in Line

Posted on 9 February, 2019 by alfin2101

They Keep Discovering Big New Oil Deposits! To the vast annoyance of oil hedgers and peak oil doomers, large new oil fields are being discovered from Guyana to South Africa to Iran to Scotland to Texas to the Gulf of … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Oil Prices, Peak Oil | Tagged | 8 Comments

Coal is Hot! Winter is Cold! Wind is Crap! Climate is Cyclic!

Posted on 31 December, 2018 by alfin2101

US Coal Power Production Beats Out Natural Gas Natural gas prices have been higher lately, giving the stage to lower-priced coal as biggest producer for now. With higher gas prices, “preliminary data suggests a pickup in both coal demand (from … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, coal, Energy, Wind | Tagged | 1 Comment

Coal is Just Getting its “Second Wind”

Posted on 4 December, 2018 by alfin2101

Coal Power Plants Expand Globally … In 2017, after two years of declines, International Energy Agency figures showed global coal demand rising to 5.357 million tonnes of coal equivalent (TCE). __ Coal is King of the World China is building … Continue reading →

Posted in coal, Doom, Electrical Power Grid, Energy | Tagged | 11 Comments

China Retreats from Green Abyss, Re-Embraces Coal Power

Posted on 29 September, 2018 by alfin2101

Renewables and the high electricity rates they ushered in drove individuals into energy poverty and led industry to flee, putting the lie to the claim that wind and solar are the fuels of the future. __ FP China, Germany, Japan, … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Green Quagmire, Wind | Tagged | 2 Comments

Electric Cars Still “Toys for the Rich”

Posted on 21 August, 2018 by alfin2101

Electric car deficiencies are major, including high purchase price, short driving range, small carrying capacity, lack of charging stations, long charging times, and expensive battery packs that need to be replaced during the life of the vehicle. __ Source A … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Technology, Transportation | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Fusion: Far and Near, Slow and Fast

Posted on 9 August, 2018 by alfin2101

Politically Correct Fusion by 2060 or Later … ITER’s workers often liken themselves to stonemasons hewing blocks for a cathedral: They may not get to see the fruits of their efforts in their own lifetimes. To the researchers at fusion … Continue reading →

Posted in Disruptive Technologies, Energy, Future, innovation, Nuclear Fusion | Tagged | 4 Comments

What Does Full Employment Look Like?

Posted on 14 July, 2018 by alfin2101

We can get a good picture of full employment by looking at Midland, Texas, where the unemployment rate hovers near 2%. Finding workers to do ordinary jobs as teachers, restaurant cooks, bus drivers, city workers, prison guards, etc. is getting … Continue reading →

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Vibranium Asteroid Disappears Over Wakanda

Posted on 6 June, 2018 by alfin2101

Warning: The following is a work of plagiaristic satire. Read at your own risk! According to the mainstream narrative, the asteroid “disintegrated” over southern Africa. But our overseas correspondents report that it actually disappeared under mysterious circumstances in tightly controlled … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Energy, satire | Tagged | Comments Off on Vibranium Asteroid Disappears Over Wakanda

Wind Power’s Limits to Growth

Posted on 19 May, 2018 by alfin2101

Every technology contains an innate “economy of scale” for the system within which it operates. As seen in the graph below, grid-scale wind energy is beginning to run into inherent limits of applicability in US power grids: The amount of … Continue reading →

Posted in Electrical Power Grid, Energy | Tagged | Comments Off on Wind Power’s Limits to Growth