https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201818900016
Energy intensitites, EROI (energy returned on invested), for electric energy sources
Institut für Festkörper-Kernphysik gGmbH - Leistikowstr. 2, 14050 Berlin, Germany
Instytut Fizyki, Wydzial Matematyczno-Fizyczny, Uniwersytet Szczeciński ul. Wielkopolska 15, 70-451, Szczecin, Poland
Fachhochschule Dortmund - Sonnenstraße 96, 44139 Dortmund, Germany
Department of Physics, University of Northern British Columbia 3333 University Way, Prince George, BC, V6P 3S6, Canada
Published online: 2 October 2018
The EROI (Energy Returned On Invested) has been calculated for various systems, especially power plants, applying several different methodologies. This quantity is often used as an argument in discussions about economics to emphasize the performance of a certain technology. Contrary to that, the publications often answer different questions, e.g. analyses of emissions or material flows, rendering the EROI unphysical. The present work introduces a physical approach based on exergy flows for EROI calculation to pinpoint and compare the efficiency of different power plant technologies.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2018
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
