[MrColdWaterOfRealityMan]

Ms. Foss, I believe your emphasis on EROEI is spot on. As I frequently rant, we’re not mining hydrocarbons, we’re mining energy. The return on that energy is what makes it useful. The rest, as they say, is detail, where the devil still lies comfortably.

Unfortunately, I think peak EROEI has come and gone and has recently become low enough to be noticeable, resulting in the higher prices we’re paying now to simply run in place. Despite the small fluctuation in prices we’re seeing, I’m sure this upward trend will continue. I’m skeptical that demand destruction will make a dent in the higher costs caused by EROEI decline, but since reliable aggregate EROEI figures are impossible to come by, I am not certain of this.

What worries me are feedback effects, and supply chain viability. As energy prices rise, more and more of our interdependent supply chains will no longer be viable. Eventually, even the supply chains to the energy industry itself will fail, at which point we’re facing a decidedly non-linear decline in hydrocarbon energy delivery.

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