Energy Return on Investment (EROI) of Oil Shale

Cleveland, Cutler J.; O’Connor, Peter

doi:10.3390/su3112307

Cited by 79 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Although the SUNY ESF study did not calculate EROI for wind they were able to use a recent "meta-analysis" study by Cleveland and Kubiszewski [27]. In this study the authors examined 112 turbines from 41 analyses of both conceptual and operational nature.…”

Section: Eroi For Windmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Past and Current State of EROI Data

2011

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This is a review of the literature available on data for the EROI (prior to this special issue) of the following 12 sources of fuel/energy: oil and natural gas, coal, tar sands, shale oil, nuclear, wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, wave/tidal and corn ethanol. Unfortunately, we found that few studies have been undertaken since the 1980s, and such as have been done are often marked more by advocacy than objectivity. The most recent summary of work and data on the EROI of fuels was conducted in the summer of 2007 at SUNY ESF and appeared on The Oil Drum website and in a readable summary by Richard Heinberg. This paper summarizes the findings of that study, and also those preceding and subsequent to it where available. It also summarizes issues raised by some concerning the findings of these studies and with the calculations within. While there are many who believe that such EROI studies are critical to understanding our financial and social future there seems to be very little interest by governments and industries in supporting this research or in using or promulgating such research as has been done. We view this as critical as our main fuels are progressively depleted and as we are faced with making extremely important decisions on a very meager analytical and data base, and with few scientists trained to cut through the reams of insufficiently analyzed energy advocacy saturating our media and the blogosphere.

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Section: Eroi For Windmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Past and Current State of EROI Data

2011

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“…Realistic EROI for oil sands near 3-4 indicate oil prices of 50-160 $2005/BBL: with the mid-range being higher than the economy was able to support running up to the recession started in late 2007 [15]. A review of oil shale in this special issue of Sustainability indicates that oil shale EROI is between 1 and 2.5 with the major energy input being direct energy for heating the shale [41]. Thus, our analysis suggests oil prices The price of a barrel of oil necessary for a firm to make a target profit is heavily dependent upon the EROI of oil production.…”

Section: Calculating Oil Price As a Function Of Eroi And Financial Pamentioning

confidence: 99%

Relating Financial and Energy Return on Investment

King

Hall

2011

Sustainability

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For many reasons, including environmental impacts and the peaking and depletion of the highest grades of fossil energy, it is very important to have sound methods for the evaluation of energy technologies and the profitability of the businesses that utilize them. In this paper we derive relations among the biophysical characteristic of an energy resource in relation to the businesses and technologies that exploit them. These relations include the energy return on energy investment (EROI), the price of energy, and the profit of an energy business. Our analyses show that EROI and the price of energy are inherently inversely related such that as EROI decreases for depleting fossil fuel production, the corresponding energy prices increase dramatically. Using energy and financial data for the oil and gas production sector, we demonstrate that the equations sufficiently describe the fundamental trends between profit, price, and EROI. For example, in 2002 an EROI of 11:1 for US oil and gas translates to an oil price of 24 $2005/barrel at a typical profit of 10%. This work sets the stage for proper EROI and price comparisons of individual fossil and renewable energy businesses as well as the electricity sector as a whole. Additionally, it presents a framework for incorporating EROI into larger economic systems models.

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“…One of the key indicators of such an analysis is the energy return on investment (EROI), defined as the ratio of energy extracted or delivered by a process to the energy used directly and indirectly in that process [31]. In fact, what we are really concerned with is the renewability of biogas production from household biogas system in consideration of the non-renewable energy requirements for such a project over the entire life cycle.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy and GHG Analysis of Rural Household Biogas Systems in China

Zhang

Wang

2014

Energies

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Abstract:The Chinese government has taken great efforts to popularize rural household scale biogas digesters, since they are regarded as an effective approach to address energy shortage issues in rural areas and as a potential way of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Focusing on a typical rural household biogas system, the aim of this study is to systematically quantify its total direct and indirect energy, concentrating on non-renewable energy and the associated GHG emission cost over the entire life cycle to understand its net dynamic benefits. The results show that the total energetic cost for biogas output is 2.19 J/J, of which 0.56 J is from non-renewable energy sources and the GHG emission cost is 4.54 × 10 −5 g CO 2 -equivalent (CO 2 -eq), with respect to its design life cycle of 20 years. Correspondingly, a net non-renewable energy saving of 9.89 × 10 10 J and GHG emission reduction of 50.45 t CO 2 -eq can be obtained considering the coal substitution and manure disposal. However, it must be run for at least 10 and 3 years, to obtain positive net non-renewable energy savings and GHG emission reduction benefits, respectively. These results have policy implications for development orientation, follow-up services, program management and even national financial subsidy methods.

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Energy Return on Investment (EROI) of Oil Shale

Cited by 79 publications

References 13 publications

A Review of the Past and Current State of EROI Data

A Review of the Past and Current State of EROI Data

Relating Financial and Energy Return on Investment

Energy and GHG Analysis of Rural Household Biogas Systems in China

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