The Dynamic E.R.O.I. Of the Global Energy System in Future Scenarios of Transition to Renewable Energies

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The paper is called Dynamic E.R.O. of the Global Energy System in future scenarios of transition to renewable energies. Figure 9 shows a green growth scenario, which attains 100% renewables in 2000 RST. The other two scenarios are less stringent and we wanted to see the difference. What we see here is that if we do this fast transition, which in fact is a transition we should do if we want to avoid climate change. From the levels we were talking before, something between 10 and 15, we will be in the minimum because there is a rebound.

On this episode, global systems researcher Iñigo Capellán Pérez joins Nate to discuss net energy analysis, and its use as a tool in analyzing the feasibility of an entire system. While net energy analysis is complex and polarized, some form of it will be necessary to guide society into a resource-constrained future. The energy outlook of a technology changes when scaled up to meet the needs of a larger society. Many models and EROI analyses that fail to take a system-wide view and only look at a single technology use case, only reflect the partial net energy story. When looking at the huge scale-up needed for ‘solutions’ such as Green Growth and Net Zero Transitions, do the hopes for renewable technologies hold up the lifestyles we’ve come to expect over the last century of fossil surplus? Do our policymakers and leaders have the full picture to make competent decisions? How can we best use these tools to make creative responses to guide us through a Great Simplification?

About Iñigo Capellán Pérez:

Iñigo is an Industrial Engineer currently doing research with The Group of Energy, Economy and Systems Dynamics (GEEDS) of the University of Valladolid. He holds a Master degree in Electric Energy and Sustainable Development and a PhD in Economics with his dissertation on "Development and Application of Environmental Integrated Assessment Modelling towards Sustainability" at the University of the Basque Country. His research interests focus on the analysis and modeling of the energy-economy-environment systems, the transition to renewable energies in the context of the depletion of fossil fuels and climate mitigation and the technical and social transformations towards sustainability.

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