relating financial and energy return on investment有关金融和能源的投资回报.pdfVIP

Sustainability 2011, 3, 1810-1832; doi:10.3390/su3101810 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 /journal/sustainability Article Relating Financial and Energy Return on Investment Carey W. King 1,* and Charles A.S. Hall 2 1 Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, C9000, Austin, TX 78712, USA 2 Programs in Environmental and Forest Biology, Environmental Science and Environmental Studies, State University of New York–College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA; E-Mail: chall@ * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: careyking@, Tel.: +1-512-471-5468. Received: 8 February 2011; in revised form: 18 July 2011 / Accepted: 18 August 2011 / Published: 11 October 2011 Abstract: For many reasons, including environmental impacts and the peaking and depletion of the highest grades of fossil energy, it is very important to have sound methods for the evaluation of energy technologies and the profitability of the businesses that utilize them. In this paper we derive relations among the biophysical characteristic of an energy resource in relation to the businesses and technologies that exploit them. These relations include the energy return on energy investment (EROI), the price of energy, and the profit of an energy business. Our analyses show that EROI and the price of energy are inherently inversely related such that as EROI decreases for deplet