The EROI of global food production
Glaub and Hall have an interesting analysis of the EROI of hunter-gatherers. Despite humans being generally smaller, slower, and weaker than most large mammals, humans were successful hunters long before the invention of sophisticated weaponry. This was...
Electricity generation will be modular
The delivery of Elon Musk’s battery is a triumph of modularity. Musk promised the South Australian Government that he would deliver the battery in 100 days and completed ahead of the deadline. Furthermore, wind and solar projects are regularly being delivered...
The allegory of Flinder's Island
In 2008 US dollars, the Apollo program cost $98 billion, encompassed 17 missions and included six lunar landings. Nobody believes that successfully landing a man on the moon proved that colonising the moon was in any way socially, economic or technically viable. It...
Storage, markets and blockchain
I recently attended a presentation of the proposed Cultana Pumped Hydro Project in the Spencer Gulf South Australia, using sea water. Specifications are 225 MW power, 1,770 MWh storage capacity. It is conceptually similar to the Japanese Okinawa project. The...
The future of mobility
Last year, I posted on the penetration of electric vehicles in Australia. After reading Benedict Evans excellent piece on Cars and Second Order Consequences, I thought an update was timely. Benedict explores the higher order consequences of a shift to EV’s and full...