Energy return does not by itself certify industrial closure
Energy-return metrics are widely used to compare energy technologies, but a favourable value does not show whether the same industrial plan restores every function required for another productive cycle. This preprint formalizes common-plan functional restitution through the Physical Energy Restitution Ratio (PERR). Under a fixed closed catalogue, PERR≥1 is equivalent to one-generation coverage, and a scalar can certify that decision only when equal scalar values cannot correspond to opposite outcomes. A controlled pair has identical horizon, EROI=2 and aggregate electrical exergy but opposite PERR/COVER decisions. A published photovoltaic representation provides an external non-identifiability test under TOPCon metallization refinement. An analytic energy-coordinate bound excludes a frozen four-route power-to-liquid/direct-air-capture class, and deterministic certificates exclude the complete declared Almería and Pelham 16-plan families and the declared Salt Creek family under favourable accounting. One-generation coverage is distinguished from indefinite recurrence. This record is a preprint and has not undergone peer review. It contains the scientific manuscript and public supplementary material. No source code or general-purpose implementation is included in this public release.
Authors
- Juan Navalón Fernández (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9563-9109)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Published
- 2026-09-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22302658
- Primary Topic
- Integrated Energy Systems Optimization
- Type
- preprint