Quantum leaps from ‘EROI is in decline’ to capitalism needs to be replaced. There isn’t even a good analysis of what the huge boom in renewables or fracking in the US is doing to this EROI. It would appear the opposite is occurring to me: we have an energy glut precisely because of how good extraction technology has become in oil/gas and the tremendous drop in solar costs.
If we enter an era of stranded assets for the oil majors — which has been widely predicted — capitalism would erase them from the map. More likely, they will adapt beforehand (look at Total buying a huge stake in SunPower for example or all the oil majors diversifying into natural gas).
Either way, I don’t see the larger impact on capitalism. You’d need to significantly expand this concept into a more exhaustive analysis of the energy landscape for this to hold water.
