Jevons Paradox
This article has been updated at moved to Jevons' Paradox.
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Articles and blog posts to do with Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions. Describes the types of technology available, and how these programs may affect the process industries.
The 300 Year Party
Published: August 2021
Imagine taking a magic carpet ride through northern Europe from east to west in Biblical. The area is circled on the map shown below — an area that Ugo Bardi rather unkindly refers to as a "vast regions of fog and swamps, inhabited by hairy Barbarians . . . the area we call today "Western Europe".
Net Zero by 2050: Scale Up
Although Net Zero goals are commendable and deserve our support it is vital that they be evaluated realistically. This article is one in a series to do with difficulties that might be encountered as companies implement these programs. Other articles on this theme are:
Alice, the Red Queen and ERoEI
Faster! Faster!
In Lewis Carroll’s famous story Through the Looking-Glass the protagonist, Alice, meets the Red Queen. Suddenly they start running.
Alice never could quite make out, in thinking it over afterwards, how it was that they began: all she remembers is, that they were running hand in hand, and the Queen went so fast that it was all she could do to keep up with her: and still the Queen kept crying ‘Faster! Faster!’
Alice and the Queen run faster and faster until,
Net Zero by 2050 in the Energy and Process Industries
This article provides an introduction to the concept of Net Zero by 2050, and how it could affect the energy and process industries.
The Shape of Net Zero (1): No Substitute
The central theme of Net Zero programs is that our use of fossil fuels must cease within the next two or three decades. This leads to the question as to whether there any other alternative energy sources that can replace the fossil fuels while allowing us to maintain our current, energy-profligate way of living. In this article we identify the features of fossil fuels, particularly oil, that make them so attractive, and that makes it unlikely that we will find an equivalent replacement.
Greenhouse Gas Emission Scopes
The matching YouTube for this article is located at the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Scopes video.
Many companies in the energy and process industries have committed to a Net Zero program. Their aim is to cease net emissions of greenhouse gases by a specific year, often 2050. In order to properly define their goal these companies need to identify the emissions for which they are responsible.
Nine Pounds of Gold and Peak Oil
What this NOAA article is saying is that it is not the absolute amount of a resource that matters — it is our ability to extract it economically. In the case of gold, it is highly unlikely that it will ever make sense to extract if from the sea. It is simply too dilute. So much for this “get rich quick” scheme.
The Net Zero Professional
When discussing Net Zero programs a question that people in the energy and process industries frequently ask is, “How will it affect my career? What do I need to do to stay employed?” Professionals in those industries are rightly concerned that their skills and experience will be uncalled for in a rapidly changing world, particularly in a world where oil companies have stated that they intend to leave the oil business.
A Kodak Moment for the Oil Companies
The term “Kodak Moment” originally referred to a rare or special occasion that was captured on (Kodak) film. The term has also come to describe a situation in which a company fails to foresee structural changes in its industry such that the company eventually falls into bankruptcy.