Antonio Turiel

The Twilight of Petroleum

 In this post, Antonio Turiel examines the perspectives of oil production in light of some often neglected parameters: the energy density, the energy yield (EROEI), and realistic estimates of new discoveries. As expected, the result are far from supporting the optimism that seems to be prevalent today.

No miracles in science: The story of the "energy catalyzer"

A few weeks ago some readers asked me to comment on an invention devised by two Italians, Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi. We are talking about the device known as "E-Cat" (Energy Catalyzer) which is supposed to produce energy from nickel, water and an unrevealed catalyzer...if the device were really to produce a significant amount of energy from a low temperature nuclear reaction, we would be …

Peak oil narratives

So, people tend to be attracted more by pleasant fables rather than by inconvenient truths. That doesn't mean that truth needs to be unpleasant, negative, or apocalyptic. However, if we want to pass our message to the public, data alone are not enough; scientific results must be presented in ways that take into account the human side of the problems. How to succeed in this task is an open …