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Jevon's Paradox also states that increasing the effeciency with which fossil fuel is utilized increased the rate at which it is consumed (and thus decreases the time to peak fossil fuel.)

The last point of the article seems problematic:

(5) The inherently lower EROI of renewable resources will not enable the same level of economic production and societal complexity as provided by higher EROI fossil fuels. This is because renewable technologies are based upon current flows of energy (e.g. sunlight, wind, waves), as compared to fossil fuels which are based upon stocks of energy stored over hundreds of millions of years.

The EORI of renewable energy sources, such as wind and tidal power, could be far greater than that of fossil fuels, as quality and life span improvements in the devices will increase the total power generated by a given investment over time. It might be an abomination to the finance community as once the initial cost of a windmill or water turbine is paid off, the resulting energy is almost free. But I suppose concerned investors could always hire hit men to go out and destroy generators that no longer require financing.  :-)

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sat Feb 13th, 2010 at 11:03:54 PM EST
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