Originally Posted by Captain Dart
My question: how long does it take for these things to repay the 'energy debt' involved in the processing of their construction materials from raw products, their installation, and their ongoing maintenance?
Capt Dart, there a concept of EROI-
Energy Returned on Energy Invested - your energy debt.
Here is a good article discussion:
Energy from Wind: A Discussion of the EROI Research
The next issue is weather a particular technology will scale. It may have a high EROI, but many renewable don't scale well.
From the discussion: Figure 3: EROI of various electric power generators.
