News How High Must Energy Costs Climb Before Sustainable Sources Become Viable?

[edpell]

Is the cost of energy resources for society raising? How high does it have to go to support a switch over to sustainable sources?

There are of course several energy sources we could talk in terms of $ per GJ to normalize them. Gasoline is now at about $29 per GJ. I am making a educated guess that at $100 per GJ sustainables will be cheaper. I would like to hear the communities thoughts.

 

[mheslep]

When researching this I believe it will be more useful to price the cost of that for which energy is needed. That is, people don't want gigajoules per se, they want to travel a mile, take a hot shower, heat their dwelling.

 

[SixNein]

Is the cost of energy resources for society raising? How high does it have to go to support a switch over to sustainable sources?

There are of course several energy sources we could talk in terms of $ per GJ to normalize them. Gasoline is now at about $29 per GJ. I am making a educated guess that at $100 per GJ sustainables will be cheaper. I would like to hear the communities thoughts.

Yes the cost of energy is rising, but I think its better understood from a perspective of a ratio. How much oil does one have to put into a well to get a volume of oil out. At one time, the ratio was pretty high. I don't remember the number, but it was something like 1 barrel of oil in for like 75 out. Today its more like 1 barrel of oil in for 7 barrels out.