Tag Archives: EROEI

To Be Sustainable, Green Energy Must Generate Adequate Taxable Revenue

Posted on July 15, 2021 by Gail Tverberg

What allows any type of energy to be sustainable? I would argue that one of the requirements for sustainability is adequate production of taxable revenue. Company managements depend upon taxable revenue for many purposes, including funding new investments and paying dividends to shareholders. Governments depend upon taxable income to collect enough taxes to provide infrastructure and programs for their growing populations.

It seems to me that Green Energy sources are held to far too low a standard. Their financial results are published after subsidies, making them look profitable when they really are not. This is one of the things that makes many people from the financial community believe that Green Energy is the solution for the future. Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged biophysical economics, energy profitability, EROEI, net energy | 3,605 Comments

Where Energy Modeling Goes Wrong

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Gail Tverberg

There are a huge number of people doing energy modeling. In my opinion, nearly all of them are going astray in their modeling because they don’t understand how the economy really operates. The modeling that comes closest to being correct … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged complexity, diminishing returns, EROEI, oil price, peak oil | 3,331 Comments

Why a Great Reset Based on Green Energy Isn’t Possible

Posted on July 17, 2020 by Gail Tverberg

It seems like a reset of an economy should work like a reset of your computer: Turn it off and turn it back on again; most problems should be fixed. However, it doesn’t really work that way. Let’s look at … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy policy | Tagged EROEI, EROI, low oil prices, peak oil, solar energy, wind energy | 2,650 Comments

How Renewable Energy Models Can Produce Misleading Indications

Posted on October 24, 2019 by Gail Tverberg

The energy needs of the world’s economy seem to be easy to model. Energy consumption is measured in a variety of different ways including kilowatt hours, barrels of oil equivalent, British thermal units, kilocalories and joules. Two types of energy … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternatives to Oil, Energy policy, Financial Implications | Tagged electricity transmission, EROEI, intermittent renewables, solar, wind energy | 1,605 Comments

Understanding Why the Green New Deal Won’t Really Work

Posted on October 2, 2019 by Gail Tverberg

The reasons why the Green New Deal won’t really work are fairly subtle. A person really has to look into the details to see what goes wrong. In this post, I try to explain at least a few of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternatives to Oil, Financial Implications | Tagged battery back-up, California electricity, EROEI | 1,326 Comments