Tag Archives: oil

Our Energy Predicament in Charts

Posted on March 11, 2013 by

A friend asked me to put together a presentation on our energy predicament. I am not certain all of the charts in this post will go into it, but I thought others might be interested in a not-so-difficult version of … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternatives to Oil, Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , , , , | 183 Comments

Why Malthus Got His Forecast Wrong

Posted on December 12, 2012 by

Most of us have heard that Thomas Malthus made a forecast in 1798 that the world would run short of food. He expected that this would happen because in a world with limited agricultural land, food supply would fail to rise … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications, Food issues | Tagged , , , , , , , | 160 Comments

Energy Leveraging: An Explanation for China’s Success and the World’s Unemployment

Posted on December 6, 2012 by

If an employer wants to maximize profits, it will want to leverage its use of high-priced energy sources.  From an employer’s point of view, there are basically three kinds of energy, from most to least expensive: Human energy Petroleum energy Everything … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy policy, Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , , , , | 116 Comments

Why Natural Gas isn’t Likely to be the World’s Energy Savior

Posted on October 17, 2012 by

We keep hearing about the many benefits of natural gas–how burning it releases less CO2 than oil or coal, and how it burns with few impurities, so does not have the pollution problems of coal. We also hear about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternatives to Oil | Tagged , , , , | 91 Comments

The Long-Term Tie Between Energy Supply, Population, and the Economy

Posted on August 29, 2012 by

The tie between energy supply, population, and the economy goes back to the hunter-gatherer period. Hunter-gatherers managed to multiply their population at least 4-fold, and perhaps by as much as 25-fold, by using energy techniques which allowed them to expand … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternatives to Oil, Book draft, Food issues, Introductory Post | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 158 Comments