[Ok-sus] Energy returned on energy invested for oil production
Bob Waldrop
bwaldrop1952 at att.net
Tue Nov 6 19:26:10 CST 2012
Attached is a PDF of a scientific study, sent here with permission of
one of the authors, on the present status of the Energy Returned on
Energy Invested for petroleum production. The news is not good.
Basically, it works out thusly:
For the energy contained in every 100 barrels of oil pumped out of the
ground. . .
10% of the energy is used to extract the oil.
27% is used to refine the oil into usable products.
42.5% is used to construct and maintain the transportation
infrastructure necessary to move the oil around, and to actually move
the oil around to where it needs to go.
So only 20.5% of the original energy value of the 100 barrels of oil is
available for use at the end consumer stage.
But wait. . . there's more! And it's still not good news.
In a discussion elsewhere about this report, it was noted that most of
that 20.5% ends up as fuel, and most of the energy in transportation
fuels is actually wasted as heat. The figure was given as 20% efficiency
for the internal combustion engine, which means that only FOUR PERCENT
of the original energy of the 100 barrels of fuel actually is used to
move a vehicle.
And what does the weight of a vehicle consist of? Mostly steel, rubber,
plastic, etc., the weight of the fuel itself. Less than 10% of the
weight moved by a typical vehicle is an actual human body.
So ultimately, the way we presently do things. NINETY-NINE POINT SIX
PERCENT of the original energy endowment of that 100 barrels of oil is
either consumer in its production or frittered away as heat or used to
move steel, plastic, etc. ONLY FOUR TENTHS OF ONE PERCENT is actually
used to move people around.
These are not fake figures, the study uploaded to the files section is
an impeccable scientific study that "shows its work" as to how they
develop their figures and the rest is simply, assuming the figured of
20% efficiency for an internal combustion engine is correct.
Bob Waldrop, Okie City
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