A comparative study of the total environmental costs associated with electrical generation systems

✍ Scribed by W.B. Goddard; C.B. Goddard

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 657 KB
• Volume: 3
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0960-1481
• DOI: 10.1016/0960-1481(93)90007-4

✦ Synopsis

Modern technological societies require adequate reliable electrical power, and as technology and information transfer and electronic processing increases, the reliance on centralized and/or decentralized electrical supply systems will increase. A study identifying and comparing the Total Environmental Costs (TECs) associated with Electrical Generation Systems (EGS) has been undertaken and the major findings presented in the following paper.

This study discusses environmental impacts of EGS on air, water and land and evaluates the magnitude of the impacts in terms of resource use and/or loss and their associated dollar costs where available. Electrical generation systems considered are limited to those systems with a proven technological record.

It is concluded that EGS using wind energy renewable resources bad the lowest TEC followed by small hydro, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic and geothermal. Biomass and waste-to-energy ranked with nuclear above fossil fuels when operated renewably. Natural gas was followed by oil then coal which ranked last.