Energy intensitites, EROI (energy returned on invested), for electric energy sources

Abstract

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.