On this blog and in my videos I often discuss the concept of energy returned on energy invested. What does this mean? Quite simply the amount of energy produced from energy put into a system designed to produce energy.
I also discuss energy densities and the fact that it has been apparent, at least to me, that as man has progressively used denser forms of energy i.e. more energy per pound of a fuel we have been able to gradually become wealthier.
I want to bring to your attention a book I have recently read by Charles Hall called “Energy Return On Energy Invested”. Professor Hall is the guy that came up with the concept of EROI and his views on this along with energy density and how to understand the concepts of thermodynamics will give you a better understanding of how energy works and why I have the views I hold to.
This is basically a textbook for one of his classes but I highly recommend it if you are interested in energy and energy investing. It will clear up some confusion and misunderstandings that are prevalent in our rhetoric and politics-based energy policies.
You can check it out at the link below>
Here is a description of the book from Amazon:
This authoritative but highly accessible book presents the reader with a powerful framework for understanding the critical role of the energy return on investment (EROI) in the survival and well-being of individuals, ecosystems, businesses, economies and nations. Growth and development are fundamental and ubiquitous processes at all scales, from individuals to food crops to national economies. While we are all familiar with the concepts of economic growth and living standards as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), we often take for granted the energy use that underpins GDP and our expectations for year-on-year growth. In this book, you will learn how these measures of “progress” are completely dependent on the balance that can be achieved between energy costs (inputs) and gains. Nothing is made or moved without an energy surplus, and it is the EROI of available energy sources more than any other single factor that determines the shape of civilization.
Nearly all politics and economics assume that policy and market forces are the levers upon which future outcomes will hinge. However, this book presents many examples of historical and current events that can be explained much more clearly from an energetic perspective. In addition, a future scenario is developed that gives a central place to EROI in assessing the potential of governmental and private initiatives to substitute so-called renewable energy sources for diminishing stocks of fossil fuels. When cheap fossil fuels are no longer available in the abundance needed to mask economic problems and power business as usual, it will be EROI more than the plethora of “green” technologies that creates the boundary conditions for a sustainable future.