Category Archives: Infrastructure

New USPS Delivery Network: Radically Cutting Rural Service, Headcount; Likely to Further Slow Delivery

The gutting of USPS is accelerating. A step backwards for what passes as American civilization.

The U.S. Power Grid Can’t Support Its Climate Pledges

Will a smart grid alleviate US power woes?

Is Wood the Climate-Friendly Urban Building Material of the Future?

Experts claim there will be a large need for additional construction through 2050. Is wood the answer?

The Economic Case for ‘Blue Hydrogen’ Is Getting Worse. Cue the Lobbyists.

DeSmog has mapped the fossil fuel interests lobbying for gas-derived hydrogen and threatening to derail the momentum of green hydrogen.

The Fervent Debate Over the Best Way to Confront Global Warming

Supporters of cutting carbon emissions to tackle global warming have long struggled against advocates of climate-change adaptation strategies

Truss and Sunak’s Reheated Thatcherism Is the Last Thing the UK Needs

Truss and Sunak treat the Iron Lady as their muse, while Labour touts another flavor of neoliberalism, that of Tony Blair.

Groundhog Day For America’s Energy Grid

More energy woes coming to some parts of the US due to the failure to address known infrastructure problems.

Mobile Internet Access and the Desire to Emigrate

Internet access may be boosting the desire to emigrate while reducing the costs of finding information on opportunities abroad

The EU Needs More Than $1 Trillion for Plan to Ditch Russian Oil and Gas

The EU will have to make very large expenditures to end its depencence on Russian energy. But does it also have the organizational chops?

Trade’s Resilience to COVID-19

Future resilience requires smart diversification and exploitation of working-from-home production.

Outdated Energy Grid Poses Existential Threat to the Renewable Revolution

Green energy skeptics cite batteries as a potential constraint on greater EV use. The electrical grid is another possible choke point.

China – A Sub-Imperial Ally of the West?

IMichael Hudson and Patrick Bond debate the trade posture of China, such as whether its Belt and Road initiative is capitalist or socialist

Limits to Green Energy Are Becoming Much Clearer

Gail Tverberg throws cold water on green energy optimism.

Resource Limits to American Capitalism & The Predator State Today

James K. Galbraith discusses the shift of the US from industrialism to his so-called predator state: finance-led, military-centered corporatism

The Romance of Shipping Container Lashing

The material realities of the ocean and the workers lashing down the containers.