Fossil Fuels

What is the Minimum EROI that a Sustainable Society Must Have? Part 1: Surplus Energy and Biological Evolution

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EROI theory is rooted in the biological principle that in order to survive each species on earth must procure more energy from its food than it expends attaining that food. From this basic principle the importance of energy surplus became evident, as food sources needed to “pay” not only for metabolism but also for reproduction and storage for leaner times. Part 1 of this three part series presents a brief history of the concept of surplus energy and how it has influenced both biological and human evolution.

Plastics Keep Coming after You: a Comprehensive Report and a Call to Action

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“Coming after You” means both your legacy of non-biodegradable plastics and that they are out to kill you. Now that the hilarious double entendre is out of the way, we can go on to our patient heroines. The nurturing, brave journalists about to be presented are patient as heroines and they succor untold numbers of unknown patients suffering from plastic-caused diseases.

Which Train Is Leaving The Station?

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My busy eating, drinking & breathing schedule prevented me from going down to Houston for CERAWeek this year. It’s funny how that works—something seems to come up every year. So I’ll have to use news reports to get a feel for how this year’s exciting oil & gas Schmooze-Fest went. Tuesday, March 9th was Oil Day.

The curious return of coaldung fuelballs

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While in the hills of western India last week I saw something I haven’t seen since my schooldays. The something is old-fashioned fuel balls. You can hold one of these lightweight balls in your hand, for they are around 8-9 cm in diameter, their colour a slatey grey flecked with brown. You only rarely see them being sold in the small provision shops in these villages, for the fuel balls are made at home. They require two ingredients: cow dung and coal dust.

China to develop new energy source – combustible ice

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More than 100 countries around the world have found deposits of “combustible ice.” “Combustible ice” reserves on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are estimated to equal at least 35 billion tonnes of oil, which could supply energy to China for 90 years. [Provincial Governor] Luo Huining said tapping this new energy resource should be given high priority in China’s energy strategy.

Our energy supply: some basics

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If a person were to listen to Energy Secretary Steven Chu or National Geographic, one might think that our energy problems are fairly minor and distant. We can easily add sufficiently renewable energy to substitute for fossil fuels in a fairly short time frame. But if one looks at the situation more closely, one discovers that the situation is quite different.