Title :
Energy payback for energy systems ensembles during growth
Author :
Gutowski, Timothy G. ; Gershwin, Stanley B. ; Bounassisi, Tonio
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Mech. Eng., Massachusetts Inst. of Technol., Cambridge, MA, USA
Abstract :
During periods of growth, the energy payback performance of new energy generating technologies deviates substantially from the usual static measures of energy return on investment (EROI), and time to breakeven (tB) for single systems. Here we examine the performance of growing ensembles, develop new measures of dynamic performance, and identify an optimum growth rate (largest value of net energy production) and critical growth rate (rate at which the ensemble generates no new energy). Hence, if ensembles grow too fast they can look like net energy sinks in spite of good (static) single system performance indicators.
Keywords :
power generation economics; energy generating technologies; energy payback performance; energy return on investment; energy systems; growing ensembles; Energy management; Energy measurement; Investments; Manufacturing; Mathematical analysis; Mechanical engineering; Photovoltaic cells; Technology management; Time measurement; Wind energy; EROI; Energy payback; energy breakeven; energy ensemble performance; energy growth;
Conference_Titel :
Sustainable Systems and Technology (ISSST), 2010 IEEE International Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Arlington, VA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-7094-5
DOI :
10.1109/ISSST.2010.5507729
