I first read about EESTOR in MIT Technology Review several months ago under the headline "Too Good to Be True"? They claim to have an "ultracapacitor" technology that will make batteries obsolete.
A less exotic but still exciting battery breakthrough is from Firefly Energy.
They claim to have swapped out most of the lead in lead-acid batteries for
a carbon foam, which is of course much, much lighter.
It seems that either one of these could make electric cars practical, at last.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
The Peak Oil Bibliography
Here's a selection of some books I've read on the Peak Oil hypothesis.
The common thread in these books is that soon if not already we will,
instead of pumping more and more oil, "peak" and start pumping less.
The predictions on the ramifications of this vary all over the map, from
moderate but annoying economic dislocation to the collapse of
industrial society.
My personal view is that it's going to be somewhere between these
extremes, but that we will be poorer as a society for the period between
the oil peak and whatever time the next energy breakthrough(s) come
online (fusion, ultracheap solar, or more likely some combination of various
technologies along with extreme efficiency improvements).
The books (and a couple of videsos):
The Empty Tank by Jeremy Leggett -- if you want to read only one book
on this issue, I'd suggest this one. All of these books tell similar stories on the
geology, but this one spins what looks to me to be the most likely economic
scenario: market panic. His suggestions on "What Can We Do About It?" run
toward the hopeful, also.
Other books and videos, from restrained to hysterical:
Out of Gas by David Goodstein
The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler -- Kunstler is a critic of suburbia and suggests that peak oil is going to make the suburbs "the new slums."
Robert Newman's History of Oil (A comedy routine with a real bite on YouTube)
Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World by Richard Heinberg -- Heinberg especially seems to be looking forward to the collapse of society, for some reason.
http://www.dieoff.org
If you're getting too cheerful, for some reason, try this one.
The common thread in these books is that soon if not already we will,
instead of pumping more and more oil, "peak" and start pumping less.
The predictions on the ramifications of this vary all over the map, from
moderate but annoying economic dislocation to the collapse of
industrial society.
My personal view is that it's going to be somewhere between these
extremes, but that we will be poorer as a society for the period between
the oil peak and whatever time the next energy breakthrough(s) come
online (fusion, ultracheap solar, or more likely some combination of various
technologies along with extreme efficiency improvements).
The books (and a couple of videsos):
The Empty Tank by Jeremy Leggett -- if you want to read only one book
on this issue, I'd suggest this one. All of these books tell similar stories on the
geology, but this one spins what looks to me to be the most likely economic
scenario: market panic. His suggestions on "What Can We Do About It?" run
toward the hopeful, also.
Other books and videos, from restrained to hysterical:
Out of Gas by David Goodstein
The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler -- Kunstler is a critic of suburbia and suggests that peak oil is going to make the suburbs "the new slums."
Robert Newman's History of Oil (A comedy routine with a real bite on YouTube)
Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World by Richard Heinberg -- Heinberg especially seems to be looking forward to the collapse of society, for some reason.
http://www.dieoff.org
If you're getting too cheerful, for some reason, try this one.
Since I keep emailing this stuff ...
I must have emailed my peak oil bibliography and bridge links 15 or 20 times, so I am posting them here now for quick reference and updating.
I have resisted blogging up until this point since I didn't get to doing this until it seems that everybody and his dog now have a blog. But one too many "here's the peak oil and bridge email again" has pushed me over the edge!
Just to clarify: I don't think we'll have 'zero oil', just that the energy markets are set to become
considerably more expensive and chaotic than they are now, and as I write oil sits at $81/barrel.
As for 'one club', that refers to my preferred bidding system in contract bridge, typically referred to as Precision.
I have other interests (computer science, literature, golf ...) that may also appear here as I
think of things.
I will update the content here not necessarily frequently, but as new news items on the subjects here come up.
I have resisted blogging up until this point since I didn't get to doing this until it seems that everybody and his dog now have a blog. But one too many "here's the peak oil and bridge email again" has pushed me over the edge!
Just to clarify: I don't think we'll have 'zero oil', just that the energy markets are set to become
considerably more expensive and chaotic than they are now, and as I write oil sits at $81/barrel.
As for 'one club', that refers to my preferred bidding system in contract bridge, typically referred to as Precision.
I have other interests (computer science, literature, golf ...) that may also appear here as I
think of things.
I will update the content here not necessarily frequently, but as new news items on the subjects here come up.
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