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The importance of net energy
Michael Carbajales-Dale
GCEP Net Energy Analysis Workshop March 31st 2015
Co-authors: Charles Barnhart, Adam Brandt, Sally Benson
What is the purpose of the economy?
2
What is the purpose of the economy?
3 http://steadystate.org/an-economics-fit-for-purpose-in-a-finite-world/
The traditional model of economics
4
Economy (Production)
Society (Consumption)
factors of production
goods & services
spending
income
Price
Price
Biosphere
Heun, Carbajales-Dale, Haney (2015) Beyond GDP: National Accounting in the Age of Resource Depletion, Springer
Bringing energy into the picture
5
Economy (Production)
Society (Consumption)
factors of production
goods & services
spending
income
Price
Price
Biosphere
Ene
rgy
Res
ourc
es
Heun, Carbajales-Dale, Haney (2015) Beyond GDP: National Accounting in the Age of Resource Depletion, Springer
A model that obeys thermodynamics
6
Economy (Production)
Society (Consumption)
factors of production
goods & services
spending
income
Price
Price
Biosphere
Mat
eria
l & E
nerg
y R
esou
rces
Mat
eria
l & E
nerg
y W
aste
Mat
eria
l &
Ene
rgy
Was
te
Heun, Carbajales-Dale, Haney (2015) Beyond GDP: National Accounting in the Age of Resource Depletion, Springer
What is net energy?
“You have to ‘spend’ energy to ‘make’ energy”
7 Carbajales-Dale et al. (2014) Nature Climate Change, 4(7), 524-527.
What is net energy?
8
Energy sector
What is net energy?
9
Energy sector Gross energy
What is net energy?
10
Energy sector Gross energy
Self-consumption
Net energy
What is net energy?
11
Energy sector Gross energy
Self-consumption
Net energy
What happens as self-consumption increases?
12
Energy sector Gross energy
Self-consumption
Impacts of net energy analysis (NEA)
1. Energy and the economy
2. Early technology appraisal
3. Environmental impacts of energy extraction and use
4. Managing the energy transition
13
1. Energy and the economy • The availability of energy fuels economic
processes and economic growth
• The energy sector must supply an energy surplus to the rest of the economy
• The cost share of energy can cause disruption to the economy
• Rapidly growing energy industries can run an energy deficit 14
1. Energy and the economy
15 http://www.ssb-foundation.com/photos/SSB-DEGINFO.jpg
Dale & Benson (2013) Environmental Science & Technology, 47(7) 3482-3489
1. Energy and the economy
16
2. Early technology appraisal • Nascent technologies (low TRL) often have highly
uncertain economics
• In particular when considering – development of new materials, – new production processes or – translating lab-scale prototypes to commercial
production.
• Net energy analysis (NEA) can identify potential costs and barriers to technology development
17
2. Early technology appraisal
18 Barnhart & Benson, Energy & Environmental Science 6.4 (2013): 1083-1092
3. Environmental impacts
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• Impacts from primary energy extraction scale with total energy consumption
• Energy production pathways with lower energy inputs help reduce environmental impacts
• Every unit of energy consumed within the energy sector acts as a multiplier that increases environmental impacts
3. Environmental impacts • Photovoltaic (PV) CO2 emissions vs. energy cost
20 Sherwani et al.(2010) Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 14, 1
4. Managing the energy transition • NEA allows quantitative comparisons of the
energetic performance of various transition pathways – What are the most favorable pathways for an
energy transition? – How does growth of new energy technologies
impact the global energy system? – What should be done with excess, renewably
generated electricity? 21
4. Managing the energy transition
22 Carbajales-Dale, Barnhart & Benson. Energy & Environmental Science 7(5) 1538-1544.
Indicators drive actions
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Indicators drive actions
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Indicators drive actions
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1. Energy and the economy • Matt Heun, Calvin College
– Energy in macroeconomic growth models
• Carey King, Energy Institute UT Austin – Energy input-output and economy-wide EROI
• Simon Roberts, ARUP UK
– The energy-economy system
26
2. Early technology appraisal • Matt Pellow, GCEP
– Energy storage in hydrogen
• Pei Zhai, Northeastern University – Solar hydrogen generation
• Marco Raugei, Oxford Brookes University
– Photovoltaics systems
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3. Environmental impacts • Adam Brandt, Stanford University
– Unconventional fossil fuels
• Garvin Heath, NREL – Electricity generation
• Carey King, Energy Institute UT Austin
– Water
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4. Managing the energy transition • Charles Barnhart, Western Washington
University – Energy storage and transmission
• Michael Carbajales-Dale, Clemson University
– Fueling the energy transition
• Trieu Mai, NREL – Future energy scenarios
29