HR: 0800h
AN: U51A-0005    [Abstracts]
TI: Social Inequity and Risks Associated With Renewable and Conventional Energy Sources
AU: * Trancik, J E
EM: jtrancik@ei.columbia.edu
AF: Earth Institute, Columbia University, 405 Low Library, MC 4335 535 West 116th Street , New York, NY 10027
AU: Krishnan, N
EM: nk2162@columbia.edu
AF: Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, 918 Seeley Mudd Building 500 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027
AU: Franco, G
EM: gf135@columbia.edu
AF: Earth Institute, Columbia University, 405 Low Library, MC 4335 535 West 116th Street , New York, NY 10027
AU: Kim, H
EM: hckim@bnl.gov
AF: Brookhaven National Labs, Laboratory/ Bldg. 830 , Upton, NY 11973
AU: Fthenakis, V
EM: fthenakis@bnl.gov
AF: Brookhaven National Labs, Laboratory/ Bldg. 830 , Upton, NY 11973
AB: The various environmental, health and social burdens of conventional electricity generation have long been recognized. However, the social inequity that stems from conventional electricity generation is less well documented. This ranges from the vulnerability of indigenous populations to adverse impacts resulting from routine operation and accidents in the extraction of energy sources such as natural gas and oil; to the vastly disproportionate - based on levels of energy consumption - vulnerability of the poor to climate change. There are also feedback loops that need to be considered in assessing risks and social inequity associated with conventional energy production, particularly in the category of accidents which could increase in frequency due to the effects of climate change. Renewable technologies offer the possibility to reduce many of these burdens, but are not themselves without impact. The quantification and comparison of burdens from electricity generation options is extremely difficult. Challenges stem from (i) the wide range of consequences and resulting metrics used for evaluation; and (ii) uncertainties in estimating the likelihood of events. Some of the most important risks from electricity generation technologies resist robust quantification. Nevertheless, there has been a vast and sometimes conflicting body of literature analyzing the risks and impacts of different technologies for electricity generation. The goal of this work is to compare the risks of photovoltaics (PV), a promising renewable technology, with other options (coal, oil, gas and nuclear) for electricity generation - with a particular emphasis on social inequity questions. We achieve this through an analysis that proceeds in two steps. First, we develop a framework for mapping the risk landscapes associated with different life cycle stages for PV and conventional electricity generation technologies, by grouping risks into three categories: routine, accidents, and perception-influenced. Second, we review and compare these qualitative estimates of risks within and across energy technologies through ordinal rankings.
DE: 1630 Impacts of global change (1225)
DE: 6309 Decision making under uncertainty
DE: 6620 Science policy (0485)
SC: Union [U]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005