by gego » Tue 09 Jan 2007, 11:19:14
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', 'I') doubt EROEI is as low as 1:3, but I don't have any better data, so I won't comment on that.
The only thing that can be done about falling EROEI is coal-to-liquids... assuming they have higher EROEI (doubtful). And that is still a bad idea, because of global warming.
So I agree, there's nothing saving us of low EROEI. A small amount of sustainable biofuels is still possible, but the kind of car-crazy society we've had so far is flat-out impossible.
Based on the little information available, we currently overall for oil are at 6:1. Coal to liquids is between 3:1 and 2:1. Biofuels are lower, maybe only 1+:1 or worse.
If the real killer is the gradually increasing cost of getting oil, then switching from oil to coal liquids or grown liquids like ethanol and biofuel, we are immediately jumping from the frying pan into the fire by substituting low EROEI liquids for the current higher EROEI oil.
I think people have a tendency to think that if we have one gallon of petroleum derived diesel and one gallon of biodiesel that we have the same amount of energy to use. It is easily forgotten that to get that gallon of ordinary diesel we had to spend substantially less energy than for the biodiesel, so they are not even close to equal.
And I still want to know how we are going to mine and deliver coal, or grow and process energy crops without sufficient oil to fuel the process.
Any of the proposed solutions that I have seen are like trying to find quarters under the sofa cushions as a substitute for withdrawals from our once large savings account.