1. Energy intensities, EROIs (energy returned on invested), and energy payback times of electricity generating power plants
- Author
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Daniel Weißbach, S. Gottlieb, A. Huke, G. Ruprecht, Ahmed Hussein, and K. Czerski
- Subjects
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity ,Energy recovery ,Engineering ,Wind power ,Primary energy ,business.industry ,Mechanical Engineering ,Environmental engineering ,Building and Construction ,Nuclear power ,Pollution ,Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering ,Energy accounting ,General Energy ,Distributed generation ,Energy intensity ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,business ,Physics::Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics ,Civil and Structural Engineering - Abstract
The energy returned on invested, EROI, has been evaluated for typical power plants representing wind energy, photovoltaics, solar thermal, hydro, natural gas, biogas, coal and nuclear power. The strict exergy concept with no “primary energy weighting”, updated material databases, and updated technical procedures make it possible to directly compare the overall efficiency of those power plants on a uniform mathematical and physical basis. Pump storage systems, needed for solar and wind energy, have been included in the EROI so that the efficiency can be compared with an “unbuffered” scenario. The results show that nuclear, hydro, coal, and natural gas power systems (in this order) are one order of magnitude more effective than photovoltaics and wind power.
- Published
- 2013