Tetraethyl lead, the scandal that never erupted
Modern history is full of stories of new chemicals sold on a large scale and afterwards causing problems. Sometimes, this causes a major upheaval. But by far the largest poisoning in history, that by tetraethyl lead, never ended in a scandal. It just faded away, even though oil and motor car companies neglected well-known dangers,
A common sense energy scenario. Part 1: global energy consumption
Two factors are underrated again and again in energy policy: the potential of better energy efficiency (check here) and that of renewable energy. In Paris, world leaders have affirmed their intention to restrict global warming to 2 oC or less. In order for this to become true, global energy consumption needs to level off and
Energy neutral instead of shale gas free
Some communities declare themselves ‘shale gas free’. Pure symbolism. They know very well that they do not have a say in this. Apparently, they have the (naïve) idea that such a declaration will prevent environmental problems from shale gas recovery, and will speed up the arrival of sustainable energy. But for quite a while we
Peak gas
Worldwide, peak gas is not yet an issue; but the Netherlands have now crossed The Hill. Europe’s largest gas field, discovered some 50 years ago, has been depleted for two thirds. The Dutch will not be able to deplete the remaining third at the same speed, as earthquakes and soil subsidence are becoming a heavy
Gaia, and James Lovelock’s gentle revenge
In his book The Revenge of Gaia (2006) James Lovelock reasserts his idea that the earth, living and mineral, is a self-regulating system. A system that is now put to an extreme test by mankind by the vast amounts of CO2 we pump into the atmosphere. Lovelock argues with great mastery of his subject; but
on: 2 October 2016