Declining production from conventional oil resources has initiated a global transition to unconventional oil, such as tar sands. Unconventional oil is generally harder to extract than conventional oil and is expected to have a (much) lower energy return on (energy) investment (EROI). Recently, there has been a surge in publications estimating the EROI of a number of different sources of oil, and others relating EROI to long-term economic growth, profitability and oil prices. The following points seem clear from a review of the literature: (i) the EROI of global oil production is roughly 17 and declining, while that for the USA is 11 and declining; (ii) the EROI of ultra-deep-water oil and oil sands is below 10; (iii) the relation between the EROI and the price of oil is inverse and exponential; (iv) as EROI declines below 10, a point is reached when the relation between EROI and price becomes highly nonlinear; and (v) the minimum oil price needed to increase the oil supply in the near term is at levels consistent with levels that have induced past economic recessions. From these points, I conclude that, as the EROI of the average barrel of oil declines, long-term economic growth will become harder to achieve and come at an increasingly higher financial, energetic and environmental cost.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2013.0126

The implications of the declining energy return on investment of oil production.

How do we know which energy technologies or resources are worth pursuing and which aren’t? One way to answer that question is to compare the energy return of a certain technology—i.e., how much energy is remaining after accounting for the amount of energy expended in the production and delivery process. Such energy return ratios (the most famous of which is energy return on investment (EROI)) fall within the field of net energy analysis (NEA), and provide an easy way to determine which technology is “better”; i.e., higher Energy Return Ratios (ERRs) are, certeris paribus, better than lower ERRs. Although useful as a broad measure of energy profitability, comparisons can also be misleading, particularly if the units being compared are different. For example, the energy content of electricity produced from a photovoltaic cell is different than the energy content of coal at the mine-mouth, yet these are often compared directly within the literature. These types of inconsistencies are common within the NEA literature. In this paper, we offer life cycle assessment (LCA) and the LCA methodology as a possible solution to the persistent methodological issues within the NEA community, and urge all NEA practitioners to adopt this methodology in the future.

Comparing Apples to Apples: Why the Net Energy Analysis Community Needs to Adopt the Life-Cycle Analysis Framework

World science can be characterized as the product of one scientist or nation — knowledge or published papers — used or consumed by other scientists or nations. In this sense, science can be viewed as an input-output system, analogous to the models used in economics. An input-output model of the citation patters of the 18 leading countries in international science was constructed. These countries produce most of the world's science. The large role of the United States in both producing and consuming scientific information is evident in the results. The models also show the role of other countries with respect to each other. For example, the multinational nature of science in countries like the Netherlands and Switzerland is evident. The model can be used to show which countries interact with others, and which do not. Both types of information are useful in discussing trans-national interactions in science.

World science as an input-output system

https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1033&context=marketing-faculty-publications

Making energy metrics relevant to service firms: from energy conservation to energy productivity

This paper examines the power bases used by the most influential person in the buying centre established for the selection of the services of an advertising agency. Findings suggest that expert power and referent power are important determinants of manifest influence. Kohli's (1989) measure of information power is found to be inadequate, and may require a new scale to measure possession and use of information, as opposed to the process of obtaining information.

Christian Estrup

Papers

Energy consumption analysis by application of national input-output tables

The planning of a petrochemical complex