by Graham Palmer | May 7, 2018 | Energy, energy security, Oil, oil security
[UPDATE 7 May 2018. I originally posted this in July 2017, but since the Australian Federal Government announced a review, I thought I would repost this.] With the current political debates in Australia around energy and climate policy, it’s easy to neglect the...
by Graham Palmer | Apr 29, 2018 | Bitcoin, Energy
Much commentary has been devoted to bitcoin’s unsustainable proof-of-work algorithm that requires the consumption of a vast quantity of electricity. By some estimates, by February 2020 Bitcoin will use as much electricity as the entire world does today. This post...
by Graham Palmer | Apr 28, 2018 | Energy, Energy efficiency
In my last post, I introduced the biophysical interpretation of the economy by augmenting the standard circular flow model with energy. In this interpretation, energy is only partially substitutable with capital and labour, and there is a lower bound to substitution....
by Graham Palmer | Apr 16, 2018 | Energy, EROI, Maximum power principle
Analysis of the costs and benefits of climate mitigation involve extrapolation into the future. However, the long time horizons of interest extend well beyond the range of standard economic-development scenarios. In order to guide policy makers, `transformation...
by Graham Palmer | Jul 29, 2017 | Energy, EROI, Uncategorized
In June 2017, Nafeez Ahmed published an article 3 ways Clean Energy will make Big Oil extinct in 12 to 32 Years — without subsidies which illicited debate in the sustainability community. In response, Nafeez suggested a symposium titled Pathways to the Post-Carbon...
by Graham Palmer | Apr 10, 2017 | Energy
The decoupling of energy and resources from economic growth is the Holy Grail of sustainable development. The observation that there seems to be a concentration of wealth in Australian localities associated with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services,...
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