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Synthesis to Special Issue on New Studies in EROI (Energy Return on Investment)

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  • Charles A.S. Hall

    (Departments of Environmental and Forest Biology and Environmental Studies, Graduate Program on Environmental Science College of Environmental Science, Forestry State University of New York Syracuse, New York, NY 13210, USA)

Abstract

This paper is a synthesis of a series of twenty papers on the topic of EROI, or energy return on investment. EROI is simply the energy gained from an energy-obtaining effort divided by the energy used to get that energy. For example, one barrel of oil invested into getting oil out of the ground might return fifty, thirty, ten or one barrel, depending when and where the process is taking place. It is meant to be read in conjunction with the first paper in this special issue and also a number of the papers themselves. As such I try to summarize what general trends we might conclude from these varied and often highly technical papers. About half of the papers are reports on empirical analyses of various energy sources such as Norwegian or Gulf of Mexico oil, Pennsylvania gas and so on. About a quarter of the papers are methodological: how do we go about undertaking these analyses, what problems are there, what are the proper boundaries and so on. The final quarter are in a sense philosophical: since it appears that we will be living indefinitely in a world of decreasing EROIs, what are the economic, social and psychological implications? The rest of this paper summarizes the results of these studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles A.S. Hall, 2011. "Synthesis to Special Issue on New Studies in EROI (Energy Return on Investment)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(12), pages 1-4, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:3:y:2011:i:12:p:2496-2499:d:15227
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Shinuo Deng & George R. Tynan, 2011. "Implications of Energy Return on Energy Invested on Future Total Energy Demand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(12), pages 1-10, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ilaria Perissi & Alessandro Lavacchi & Ugo Bardi, 2021. "The Role of Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI) in Complex Adaptive Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Tello, E. & Galán, E. & Sacristán, V. & Cunfer, G. & Guzmán, G.I. & González de Molina, M. & Krausmann, F. & Gingrich, S. & Padró, R. & Marco, I. & Moreno-Delgado, D., 2016. "Opening the black box of energy throughputs in farm systems: A decomposition analysis between the energy returns to external inputs, internal biomass reuses and total inputs consumed (the Vallès Count," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 160-174.
    3. Carlos E. Gómez-Camacho & Bernardo Ruggeri, 2019. "Energy Sustainability Analysis (ESA) of Energy-Producing Processes: A Case Study on Distributed H 2 Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-23, September.
    4. Claudio Cattaneo & Joan Marull & Enric Tello, 2018. "Landscape Agroecology. The Dysfunctionalities of Industrial Agriculture and the Loss of the Circular Bioeconomy in the Barcelona Region, 1956–2009," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, December.

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