 Energy Return on Energy Invested (ERoEI) for photovoltaic solar systems in regions of moderate insolationFerruccio Ferroni and Robert J. Hopkirk Energy Policy, 2016, vol. 94, issue C, 336-344 Abstract: Many people believe renewable energy sources to be capable of substituting fossil or nuclear energy. However there exist very few scientifically sound studies, which apply due diligence to substantiating this impression. In the present paper, the case of photovoltaic power sources in regions of moderate insolation is analysed critically by using the concept of Energy Return on Energy Invested (ERoEI, also called EROI). But the methodology for calculating the ERoEI differs greatly from author-to-author. The main differences between solar PV Systems are between the current ERoEI and what is called the extended ERoEI (ERoEI EXT). The current methodology recommended by the International Energy Agency is not strictly applicable for comparing photovoltaic (PV) power generation with other systems. The main reasons are due to the fact that on one hand, solar electricity is very material-intensive, labour-intensive and capital-intensive and on the other hand the solar radiation exhibits a rather low power density. Keywords: EROI; ERoEI; Photovoltaic energy; Insolation levels; Switzerland; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:94:y:2016:i:c:p:336-344 DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2016.03.034 Access Statistics for this article Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier |
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