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Energy Return on Investment (EROI) of China's conventional fossil fuels: Historical and future trends

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  • Hu, Yan
  • Hall, Charles A.S.
  • Wang, Jianliang
  • Feng, Lianyong
  • Poisson, Alexandre

Abstract

One of useful metrics for analyzing the production of fossil fuels in China is Energy Return on (Energy) Investment (EROI). Various measures of this index are declining. The EROI for China's oil and natural gas production sector fluctuated from 12 to 14:1 in the mid-1990s, and declined to 10:1 in 2007–2010. EROI for the coal production sector has declined from 35:1 in 1995–1997 to about 27:1 in 2010. We used a multi-cyclic generalized Weng model and a linear trend extrapolation method to predict that the EROI of either sector will continue to decline until 2020. We predict that the average EROIstnd for oil and natural gas extraction will be about 10:1 in 2015, 9:1 in 2020, and that for the coal production sector will be about 28:1 in 2015, 24:1 in 2020. EROI for coal extraction are and will continue to be higher than that for oil and natural gas extraction, indicating that coal is likely to continue being the most dominant fossil fuel resource for China in the future, ensuring some degree of energy security.

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  • Hu, Yan & Hall, Charles A.S. & Wang, Jianliang & Feng, Lianyong & Poisson, Alexandre, 2013. "Energy Return on Investment (EROI) of China's conventional fossil fuels: Historical and future trends," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 352-364.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:54:y:2013:i:c:p:352-364
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2013.01.067
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    Cited by:

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    2. Zhaoyang Kong & Xiucheng Dong & Bo Xu & Rui Li & Qiang Yin & Cuifang Song, 2015. "EROI Analysis for Direct Coal Liquefaction without and with CCS: The Case of the Shenhua DCL Project in China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-22, January.
    3. Jingxuan Feng & Lianyong Feng & Jianliang Wang, 2018. "Analysis of Point-of-Use Energy Return on Investment and Net Energy Yields from China’s Conventional Fossil Fuels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, February.
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    7. Kittner, Noah & Gheewala, Shabbir H. & Kammen, Daniel M., 2016. "Energy return on investment (EROI) of mini-hydro and solar PV systems designed for a mini-grid," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 410-419.
    8. Salehi, Mohammad & Khajehpour, Hossein & Saboohi, Yadollah, 2020. "Extended Energy Return on Investment of multiproduct energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    9. Chen, Yingchao & Feng, Lianyong & Wang, Jianliang & Höök, Mikael, 2017. "Emergy-based energy return on investment method for evaluating energy exploitation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 540-549.
    10. Kis, Zoltán & Pandya, Nikul & Koppelaar, Rembrandt H.E.M., 2018. "Electricity generation technologies: Comparison of materials use, energy return on investment, jobs creation and CO2 emissions reduction," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 144-157.
    11. Feng, Jingxuan & Feng, Lianyong & Wang, Jianliang & King, Carey W., 2018. "Modeling the point of use EROI and its implications for economic growth in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 232-242.
    12. Wang, Jianliang & Mohr, Steve & Feng, Lianyong & Liu, Huihui & Tverberg, Gail E., 2016. "Analysis of resource potential for China’s unconventional gas and forecast for its long-term production growth," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 389-401.
    13. Xie, Minghua & Wei, Xiaonan & Chen, Chuanglian & Sun, Chuanwang, 2022. "China's natural gas production peak and energy return on investment (EROI): From the perspective of energy security," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    14. Louis Delannoy & Pierre-Yves Longaretti & David. J. Murphy & Emmanuel Prados, 2021. "Assessing Global Long-Term EROI of Gas: A Net-Energy Perspective on the Energy Transition," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-16, August.
    15. Wang, Jianliang & Liu, Mingming & McLellan, Benjamin C. & Tang, Xu & Feng, Lianyong, 2017. "Environmental impacts of shale gas development in China: A hybrid life cycle analysis," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 38-45.
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