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Concept
Energy return on investment
Summary
In energy economics and ecological energetics, energy return on investment (EROI), also sometimes called energy returned on energy invested (ERoEI), is the ratio of the amount of usable energy (the exergy) delivered from a particular energy resource to the amount of exergy used to obtain that energy resource.
Arithmetically the EROI can be defined as:
When the EROI of a source of energy is less than or equal to one, that energy source becomes a net "energy sink", and can no longer be used as a source of energy. A related measure, called energy stored on energy invested (ESOEI), is used to analyse storage systems.
To be considered viable as a prominent fuel or energy source a fuel or energy must have an EROI ratio of at least 3:1.
Ecological economics
The energy analysis field of study is credited with being popularized by Charles A. S. Hall, a Systems ecology and biophysical economics professor at the State University of New York. Hall applied the biological methodology, developed at an Ecosystems Marine Biological Laboratory, and then adapted that method to research human industrial civilization. The concept would have its greatest exposure in 1984, with a paper by Hall that appeared on the cover of the journal Science.
Cadmium telluride photovoltaics
The issue is still subject of numerous studies, and prompting academic argument. That's mainly because the "energy invested" critically depends on technology, methodology, and system boundary assumptions, resulting in a range from a maximum of 2000 kWh/m2 of module area down to a minimum of 300 kWh/m2 with a median value of 585 kWh/m2 according to a meta-study from 2013.
Regarding output, it obviously depends on the local insolation, not just the system itself, so assumptions have to be made.
Some studies (see below) include in their analysis that photovoltaic produce electricity, while the invested energy may be lower grade primary energy.
A 2015 review in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews assessed the energy payback time and EROI of a variety of PV module technologies.
Official source
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