11:375:101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Energy Returned On Energy Invested, Unconventional Oil, Energy Density
30 Jan 2019
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Document Summary
Commercial energy is bought and sold as a commodity in the marketplace. Energy resources vary greatly in their net energy yields. 90% of the energy we use in the usa comes from nonrenewable sources. It takes high quality energy to get high quality energy. Some high quality energy is wasted at every step. Total amount of high quality energy available from a resource minus the high-quality energy needed to make the energy available to consumers. Energy return on investment = net energy ratio. Energy density = mount of energy available per kilogram of resource. You can have negative net energy yield. Crude oil cannot be used right away when it is extracted. Much harder to extract and many more environmental costs. Needs much more energy to extract and needs more refining so it lowers the energy yield. The united states is not part of opec. Opec regulates the cost and supply of oil.
