 | DrumBeat: July 9, 2007 | The Oil Drum | The International Energy Assocation's Medium-Term Oil Market Report |  |
20 comments on Some history on Coal EROI and UK coal numbers
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Most interesting. In the early sixyies I made a study of the economics of mechanised working versus handloading and got a peculiar result. If one wanted to maximise return on investment like a good capitalist, then hand loading was better because mechanised pit props were so expensive in a country then short of steel. But if one did a "socialist" calculation using an opportunity cost for capital in addition to depreciation, then mechanisation won easily because labour productivity was so much higher on mechanised coalfaces..
Another important factor developed later. Mechanisation permits longer coalfaces and therefore less underground roadways were needed to move coal. this "concentration" of production lead to very significant efficiency increases. Electricity consumption was a very minor cost for getting coal in the UK. Labour cost(wages, salaries, pensions, and health car were the larget single cost
Did your "socialist" calculation take into acount the opportunity cost of not using that steel on places where it is more valued?
No, we just used the market price of mechanised pit-props assuming the manufacturers took account of the market price of steel. Anyway, what were the missed opportunities? An important one was that European cars generally remained small, because of steel shortages whereas , in the US with lots of steel, who bought an Edsel?