[ExI] repercieve the economy [was: Engineering]

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 9:34 AM,  <ablainey at aol.com> wrote:

Take an undefined & inefficient
> collection method where a physical energy source is put in a tanker ready
> for market. The eroei can be less than parity yet you still have a salable
> product which someone will buy. That product can change hands many times
> each adding a markup and taking their cut. By the time it gets to the end
> user the total eroei for the whole system can outweigh the energy contained
> in the tanker. Yet people are still buying and others getting rich. A
> nonsense situation. Entropy in action.

### So you say adding a "markup" as oil goes from 1000 ft underground,
to a wellhead, then to terminal, then to tanker, then to refinery,
then to tank truck, then to gas station, is all nonsense? Just a
cynical ploy to exploit the brainless masses and get rich?

And why should EROEI be the key factor in deciding which economic
activity is nonsense and which one is not? Eating Roquefort releases a
tiny fraction of the energy invested in its production - does it mean
I should stop eating it?

Rafal