Renewable electricity producing technologies and metal depletion: A sensitivity analysis using the EROI
Résumé
More and more attention is being paid to renewable technologies because they are seen as a great opportunity to disengage our society from its dependence on fossil fuels. Such flow-based energy resources that rely on solar
energy are supposed to lead us toward a sustainable energy future. However, because of their high capital
intensity, renewable technologies require large amounts of matter, including both common and rare metals.
These metals require energy for their production, and more specifically for their extraction. The energy cost
associated with metal extraction is linked to mineral ore grade, meaning that as depletion progresses, energy
cost increases. In addition, renewable energy resources deliver less net energy to society compared to fossil
fuels, because of their diffuse nature. It is therefore easy to see that a close relationship exists between energy
and metal sectors. In this article, we describe more precisely this relationship by investigating how the energy
requirement associatedwith metal extraction could impact the energy-return-on-investment (EROI) of different
renewable and nuclear technologies.More precisely,we present a methodology that can be used to calculate the
sensitivity of the EROI of a given technology to a specific or to multiple metal ore grade degradation. We found
that if considered separately, the qualitative depletion of a given metal has no significant impact on the EROI
of renewable and nuclear technologies, unless its concentration approaches very low grade. However, if all
metals are considered together, the EROI of these same technologies could be importantly diminished, especially
if they tend to very low concentrations.
Domaines
Economies et finances
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Fizaine and Court 2015 version auteur (1).pdf (1.39 Mo)
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Fizaine and Court 2015 version auteur.pdf (1.47 Mo)
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Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
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