IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v7y2014i1p150-172d31889.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Output Variability from Renewable Electricity Generation on Net Energy Calculations

Author

Listed:
  • Hannes Kunz

    (Institute for Integrated Economic Research, P.O. Box 506, Meilen CH-8706, Switzerland)

  • Nathan John Hagens

    (Institute for Integrated Economic Research, P.O. Box 44, Bay City, WI 54723, USA)

  • Stephen B. Balogh

    (College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, 301 Illick Hall, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA)

Abstract

One key approach to analyzing the feasibility of energy extraction and generation technologies is to understand the net energy they contribute to society. These analyses most commonly focus on a simple comparison of a source’s expected energy outputs to the required energy inputs, measured in the form of energy return on investment (EROI). What is not typically factored into net energy analysis is the influence of output variability. This omission ignores a key attribute of biological organisms and societies alike: the preference for stable returns with low dispersion versus equivalent returns that are intermittent or variable. This biologic predilection for stability, observed and refined in academic financial literature, has a direct relationship to many new energy technologies whose outputs are much more variable than traditional energy sources. We investigate the impact of variability on net energy metrics and develop a theoretical framework to evaluate energy systems based on existing financial and biological risk models. We then illustrate the impact of variability on nominal energy return using representative technologies in electricity generation, with a more detailed analysis on wind power, where intermittence and stochastic availability of hard-to-store electricity will be factored into theoretical returns.

Suggested Citation

  • Hannes Kunz & Nathan John Hagens & Stephen B. Balogh, 2014. "The Influence of Output Variability from Renewable Electricity Generation on Net Energy Calculations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-23, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:7:y:2014:i:1:p:150-172:d:31889
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/7/1/150/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/7/1/150/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lenzen, Manfred & Munksgaard, Jesper, 2002. "Energy and CO2 life-cycle analyses of wind turbines—review and applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 339-362.
    2. Nathan Gagnon & Charles A.S. Hall & Lysle Brinker, 2009. "A Preliminary Investigation of Energy Return on Energy Investment for Global Oil and Gas Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Lambert, Jessica G. & Hall, Charles A.S. & Balogh, Stephen & Gupta, Ajay & Arnold, Michelle, 2014. "Energy, EROI and quality of life," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 153-167.
    4. Kubiszewski, Ida & Cleveland, Cutler J. & Endres, Peter K., 2010. "Meta-analysis of net energy return for wind power systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 218-225.
    5. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Cleveland, Cutler J., 2005. "Net energy from the extraction of oil and gas in the United States," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 769-782.
    7. World Bank, 2011. "World Development Indicators 2011," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2315.
    8. Battisti, Riccardo & Corrado, Annalisa, 2005. "Evaluation of technical improvements of photovoltaic systems through life cycle assessment methodology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 952-967.
    9. Cleveland, Cutler J., 1992. "Energy quality and energy surplus in the extraction of fossil fuels in the U.S," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 139-162, October.
    10. World Bank, 2010. "World Development Indicators 2010," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4373.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joanna Šukasiewicz & Bartłomiej Bajan, 2024. "Farm Gate Energy Intensity of Food Production in Poland - Considering the Physical and Economic Aspects of Production," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(4), pages 216-225, July.
    2. Madeleine McPherson & Theofilos Sotiropoulos-Michalakakos & LD Danny Harvey & Bryan Karney, 2017. "An Open-Access Web-Based Tool to Access Global, Hourly Wind and Solar PV Generation Time-Series Derived from the MERRA Reanalysis Dataset," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Dam Kim & Hungyu Kwon & Mun-Kyeom Kim & Jong-Keun Park & Hyeongon Park, 2017. "Determining the Flexible Ramping Capacity of Electric Vehicles to Enhance Locational Flexibility," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-18, December.
    4. Bartłomiej Bajan & Joanna Łukasiewicz & Agnieszka Poczta-Wajda & Walenty Poczta, 2021. "Edible Energy Production and Energy Return on Investment—Long-Term Analysis of Global Changes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-16, February.
    5. Jinwoo Jeong & Heewon Shin & Hwachang Song & Byongjun Lee, 2018. "A Countermeasure for Preventing Flexibility Deficit under High-Level Penetration of Renewable Energies: A Robust Optimization Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-16, November.
    6. Hongshuo Yan & Lianyong Feng & Jianliang Wang & Yuanying Chi & Yue Ma, 2021. "A Comprehensive Net Energy Analysis and Outlook of Energy System in China," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 1-14, December.
    7. Dupont, Elise & Koppelaar, Rembrandt & Jeanmart, Hervé, 2020. "Global available solar energy under physical and energy return on investment constraints," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dupont, Elise & Koppelaar, Rembrandt & Jeanmart, Hervé, 2018. "Global available wind energy with physical and energy return on investment constraints," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 322-338.
    2. Lina I. Brand-Correa & Paul E. Brockway & Claire L. Copeland & Timothy J. Foxon & Anne Owen & Peter G. Taylor, 2017. "Developing an Input-Output Based Method to Estimate a National-Level Energy Return on Investment (EROI)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, April.
    3. Marco Vittorio Ecclesia & João Santos & Paul E. Brockway & Tiago Domingos, 2022. "A Comprehensive Societal Energy Return on Investment Study of Portugal Reveals a Low but Stable Value," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, May.
    4. Raugei, Marco & Fullana-i-Palmer, Pere & Fthenakis, Vasilis, 2012. "The energy return on energy investment (EROI) of photovoltaics: Methodology and comparisons with fossil fuel life cycles," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 576-582.
    5. Salehi, Mohammad & Khajehpour, Hossein & Saboohi, Yadollah, 2020. "Extended Energy Return on Investment of multiproduct energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    6. Temis G. Taylor & Joseph A. Tainter, 2016. "The Nexus of Population, Energy, Innovation, and Complexity," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 1005-1043, September.
    7. Weißbach, D. & Ruprecht, G. & Huke, A. & Czerski, K. & Gottlieb, S. & Hussein, A., 2013. "Energy intensities, EROIs (energy returned on invested), and energy payback times of electricity generating power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 210-221.
    8. Macías, Arturo & Matilla-García, Mariano, 2015. "Net energy analysis in a Ramsey–Hotelling growth model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 562-573.
    9. Jackson, Andrew & Jackson, Tim, 2021. "Modelling energy transition risk: The impact of declining energy return on investment (EROI)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    10. 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.
    11. Carlos de Castro & Iñigo Capellán-Pérez, 2020. "Standard, Point of Use, and Extended Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI) from Comprehensive Material Requirements of Present Global Wind, Solar, and Hydro Power Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-43, June.
    12. Court, Victor & Fizaine, Florian, 2017. "Long-Term Estimates of the Energy-Return-on-Investment (EROI) of Coal, Oil, and Gas Global Productions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 145-159.
    13. Hall, Charles A.S. & Lambert, Jessica G. & Balogh, Stephen B., 2014. "EROI of different fuels and the implications for society," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 141-152.
    14. Brandt, Adam R. & Yeskoo, Tim & Vafi, Kourosh, 2015. "Net energy analysis of Bakken crude oil production using a well-level engineering-based model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P2), pages 2191-2198.
    15. Brandt, Adam R. & Dale, Michael & Barnhart, Charles J., 2013. "Calculating systems-scale energy efficiency and net energy returns: A bottom-up matrix-based approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 235-247.
    16. 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.
    17. Fizaine, Florian & Court, Victor, 2015. "Renewable electricity producing technologies and metal depletion: A sensitivity analysis using the EROI," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 106-118.
    18. 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.
    19. Ajay K. Gupta & Charles A.S. Hall, 2011. "A Review of the Past and Current State of EROI Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(10), pages 1-14, October.
    20. David Grassian & Daniel Olsen, 2019. "Lifecycle Energy Accounting of Three Small Offshore Oil Fields," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-23, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:7:y:2014:i:1:p:150-172:d:31889. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.