tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post319450799482219680..comments2024-02-20T13:32:06.704-05:00Comments on Resource Insights: The coolest book I've ever read on energyKurt Cobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-88574425311578319222018-06-06T14:49:17.606-04:002018-06-06T14:49:17.606-04:00I like the book as well. Though I was bit dismaye...I like the book as well. Though I was bit dismayed when in a chapter near the back when talking about future energy supplies, the authors showed a possible lack of understanding for eroi (and NET energy) and its importance to maintaining the overall complexity of human society (ie. the minimal eroi to maintain a technological society capable of making and maintaining renewable energy technology), the unrelenting depletion of minerals and the difference between technology and energy. They very quickly glossed over the transition to "renewable energy", or rather what I call "non-renewable machines that attempt convert a low density energy source into concentrated energy with resultant unavoidable waste at every step" whereas this could have been a meaty topic for them to delve into but it seems that this hope for an easy transition and a belief in technology as a religion has also infected the so called experts on thermodynamics. Perhaps I'm being a bit unfair.<br /><br />By the way, I come back to your site now and then to reread your articles on NET energy decline and problems with economy as a way to cleanse my palate after reading other more mainstream articles on economy, money and the future. Sometimes after reading the various streams of non-energy literate authors, I almost lose my mental footing and start thinking like they do...Thanks for your input and grounding of my worldview in the real/physical world.<br /><br />robAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-51094085175242508722011-05-26T17:19:44.506-04:002011-05-26T17:19:44.506-04:00In case you missed it:
http://www.theoildrum.com/...In case you missed it:<br /><br />http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7924<br /><br />Enjoying the book...thanks!michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11604609582833262388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-15095058492360547742011-04-13T21:45:36.624-04:002011-04-13T21:45:36.624-04:00yeah - it's right at the top of my list as wel...yeah - it's right at the top of my list as well, as it reframes the entire humanities debate. Rather than being subjects of expression, they become expressions of entropy. A culture that produces more "culture" is seen as superior, but all cultural artefacts are simply embodied entropy, so superior cultures are those that flatten the gradient...<br /><br />It also reframes Tainter. Rome's method of energy acquisition (imperialism) met the law of diminishing returns, or:it simply reduced the local gradient to an angle incompatible with its technical and cultural capacities for reducing said gradient. If the Romans had coal, we'd all be speaking Latin...Henry Warwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16051313050545406852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-87631722528607372132011-04-10T23:36:26.493-04:002011-04-10T23:36:26.493-04:00I should have gotten to it sooner. An absolutely ...I should have gotten to it sooner. An absolutely fabulous book as you promised. My mind was working overtime trying to digest the implications of it all.Kurt Cobbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-12532639754279586262011-04-10T23:33:08.847-04:002011-04-10T23:33:08.847-04:00i told you to read that book how long ago?
;-)i told you to read that book how long ago?<br /><br />;-)Henry Warwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16051313050545406852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-7785475080865998712011-04-10T22:21:15.182-04:002011-04-10T22:21:15.182-04:00some of us dissipate more than otherssome of us dissipate more than othersnathannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-44201469164727840172011-04-10T18:30:46.629-04:002011-04-10T18:30:46.629-04:00Kurt,
What a cool post.. this book sounds really ...Kurt,<br /><br />What a cool post.. this book sounds really really fascinating. Been reading its website. <br /><br />Thanks for the post! Really great!Andrea Muhrrteynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13455575591213217060noreply@blogger.com