217 comments on Why EROI Matters (Part 1 of 6)
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217 comments on Why EROI Matters (Part 1 of 6)
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Nate, thanks for initiating this. Very important work. And as Alan might say, best hopes that this will help folks recognize that there are very real limits to growth and that we are bumping up against them. Perhaps you would post your very fine graph showing the net energy curve, and Euan's version of the net energy cliff as visual aids.
Thank you Charles for sharing your work.
I have a suggestion for your balloon graph to make it more understandable to a person not quite familiar with all the concepts and assertions. Create an "interactive" version in which the text either:
1) hyperlinks to additional pages that explain what each bubble represents (like for "Coal" it could tell if it is just US or worldwide data, tell if it it includes things like transportation and conversion to electricity, and perhaps include graphs showing how EROI has trended over time
or
2) pops up "mouseover" text that gives a very short summary of what the bubble represents
Personally I like #1, especially since you already allude to some changes in EROI over time and the auxiliary pages would be a good place to show that for all the energy bubbles.
The bubble graph is a powerful tool. Anything you can do to make it more easily understandable and user-friendly will go along way towards helping people get the message you are trying to communicate.
Greg in MO