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The Future is Electric
A techno-optimistic view of our increasingly automated, urban, clean and low-carbon future
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Pumped Hydro Isn’t Improved By Heavy, Expensive Liquid
Pumped Hydro Isn’t Improved By Heavy, Expensive Liquid
Dense fluid pumped hydro tries to make something simple and effective more complex with the usual results
Michael Barnard
Oct 14
Electrification Is The Answer For Industrial Heat & It’s Already Here
Electrification Is The Answer For Industrial Heat & It’s Already Here
Heavy industry’s heating is not hard to abate, every technology and process exists, it’s just economics and recalcitrance
Michael Barnard
Oct 13
Carbon Capture May Have A Role In Cement If Little Else
Carbon Capture May Have A Role In Cement If Little Else
While vastly overhyped as a magic carbon vacuum that will allow us to not change our profligate ways, CCS has niches with merit
Michael Barnard
Oct 12
AI Isn’t Eating All Electricity & Emitting Massive Carbon
AI Isn’t Eating All Electricity & Emitting Massive Carbon
Every few years another hysteria about data center energy use and emissions arises
Michael Barnard
Oct 11
Steel & Climate Entangled With Equity, But It’s Not A Gordian Knot
Steel & Climate Entangled With Equity, But It’s Not A Gordian Knot
The developing world can have a first world standard of living without the profligate waste of steel of the first world
Michael Barnard
Oct 10
Economics Matter With Cement & Concrete Replacements
Economics Matter With Cement & Concrete Replacements
We build with concrete because it’s cheap and works, and have to drive the economics to favor low-carbon solutions
Michael Barnard
Oct 9
Steel Is Hidden Strength & Weakness In Concrete
Steel Is Hidden Strength & Weakness In Concrete
Reinforced concrete holds up our world, but in addition to the cement, steel reinforcement comes with a big carbon debt
Michael Barnard
Oct 8
Gravity Storage Without Water & Height Is A Waste Of Time & Money
Gravity Storage Without Water & Height Is A Waste Of Time & Money
Blocks, sand, viscous liquids, water towers and the like are only good for moving money between pockets, not storing energy
Michael Barnard
Oct 7
With Concrete, Distance And Cost Are King
With Concrete, Distance And Cost Are King
What is available locally is what is used in construction, be it blast furnace slag, sand or old volcanoes
Michael Barnard
Oct 6
Can Industrial Waste Replace High-emissions Cement?
Can Industrial Waste Replace High-emissions Cement?
Geopolymers turn high-volume industrial wastes like those from the aluminum process into a cement replacement
Michael Barnard
Oct 5
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