Net energy

jerry_mcmanus · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 18, 2008 Posts: 21

I've been skimming through Jay Hanson's old die-off site (some real gems there, well worth looking at all 200+ pages if you have the time) and came across this excerpt from ENERGY AND RESOURCE QUALITY by Charles Hall, et. al.

http://dieoff.org/page197.htm

What caught my eye was this graph:

I'm familiar with the general concept of net energy, Cutler Cleveland, one of the co-authors, has a good article here:

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Net_energy_analysis

However, I don't believe I've seen an oil production model quite like this, and the excerpt gives no details about the math or data used. Has anyone seen an analysis with a curve for net energy of oil production like this anywhere else?

I know some models have predicted a "long tail" for oil production, but it would be fascinating to see where in those scenarios we reach the cut-off in net energy and oil switches from energy source to energy sink. Could be closer than we thnk!

Cheers,
Jerry

The_Virginian · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 19, 2004 Posts: 1528

Right now the best substitute we have for Liquid light Petrol products are made from food sources (Corn, Suger, Sunflower, and even hemp is a food source...)

So even with a horrible EROEI, they may still pump out the goodies until we have no solar or windpower to do so...
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