TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use SN - DO - 10.17226/12794 PY - 2010 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12794/hidden-costs-of-energy-unpriced-consequences-of-energy-production-and PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Energy and Energy Conservation AB - Despite the many benefits of energy, most of which are reflected in energy market prices, the production, distribution, and use of energy causes negative effects. Many of these negative effects are not reflected in energy market prices. When market failures like this occur, there may be a case for government interventions in the form of regulations, taxes, fees, tradable permits, or other instruments that will motivate recognition of these external or hidden costs. The Hidden Costs of Energy defines and evaluates key external costs and benefits that are associated with the production, distribution, and use of energy, but are not reflected in market prices. The damage estimates presented are substantial and reflect damages from air pollution associated with electricity generation, motor vehicle transportation, and heat generation. The book also considers other effects not quantified in dollar amounts, such as damages from climate change, effects of some air pollutants such as mercury, and risks to national security. While not a comprehensive guide to policy, this analysis indicates that major initiatives to further reduce other emissions, improve energy efficiency, or shift to a cleaner electricity generating mix could substantially reduce the damages of external effects. A first step in minimizing the adverse consequences of new energy technologies is to better understand these external effects and damages. The Hidden Costs of Energy will therefore be a vital informational tool for government policy makers, scientists, and economists in even the earliest stages of research and development on energy technologies. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - The Future of Electric Power in the United States SN - DO - 10.17226/25968 PY - 2021 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25968/the-future-of-electric-power-in-the-united-states PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Energy and Energy Conservation AB - Electric power is essential for the lives and livelihoods of all Americans, and the need for electricity that is safe, clean, affordable, and reliable will only grow in the decades to come. At the request of Congress and the Department of Energy, the National Academies convened a committee of experts to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the U.S. grid and how it might evolve in response to advances in new energy technologies, changes in demand, and future innovation. The Future of Electric Power in the United States presents an extensive set of policy and funding recommendations aimed at modernizing the U.S. electric system. The report addresses technology development, operations, grid architectures, and business practices, as well as ways to make the electricity system safe, secure, sustainable, equitable, and resilient. ER - TY - BOOK TI - Energy in Transition, 1985-2010: Final Report of the Committee on Nuclear and Alternative Energy Systems DO - 10.17226/11771 PY - 1980 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11771/energy-in-transition-1985-2010-final-report-of-the-committee PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Energy and Energy Conservation ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academy of Engineering A2 - Jesse H. Ausubel A2 - Hedy E. Sladovich TI - Technology and Environment SN - DO - 10.17226/1407 PY - 1989 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/1407/technology-and-environment PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Energy and Energy Conservation KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - Technology and Environment is one of a series of publications designed to bring national attention to issues of the greatest importance in engineering and technology during the 25th year of the National Academy of Engineering. A "paradox of technology" is that it can be both the source of environmental damage and our best hope for repairing such damage today and avoiding it in the future. Technology and Environment addresses this paradox and the blind spot it creates in our understanding of environmental crises. The book considers the proximate causes of environmental damage—machines, factories, cities, and so on—in a larger societal context, from which the will to devise and implement solutions must arise. It helps explain the depth and difficulty of such issues as global warming and hazardous wastes but also demonstrates the potential of technological innovation to have a constructive impact on the planet. With a range of data and examples, the authors cover such topics as the "industrial metabolism" of production and consumption, the environmental consequences of the information era, and design of environmentally compatible technologies. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Department of Homeland Security Bioterrorism Risk Assessment: A Call for Change SN - DO - 10.17226/12206 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12206/department-of-homeland-security-bioterrorism-risk-assessment-a-call-for PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Conflict and Security Issues KW - Energy and Energy Conservation AB - The mission of Department of Homeland Security Bioterrorism Risk Assessment: A Call for Change, the book published in December 2008, is to independently and scientifically review the methodology that led to the 2006 Department of Homeland Security report, Bioterrorism Risk Assessment (BTRA) and provide a foundation for future updates. This book identifies a number of fundamental concerns with the BTRA of 2006, ranging from mathematical and statistical mistakes that have corrupted results, to unnecessarily complicated probability models and models with fidelity far exceeding existing data, to more basic questions about how terrorist behavior should be modeled. Rather than merely criticizing what was done in the BTRA of 2006, this new NRC book consults outside experts and collects a number of proposed alternatives that could improve DHS's ability to assess potential terrorist behavior as a key element of risk-informed decision making, and it explains these alternatives in the specific context of the BTRA and the bioterrorism threat. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Paul C. Stern TI - Risks and Risk Governance in Shale Gas Development: Summary of Two Workshops SN - DO - 10.17226/18953 PY - 2014 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18953/risks-and-risk-governance-in-shale-gas-development-summary-of PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Energy and Energy Conservation KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - Natural gas in deep shale formations, which can be developed by hydraulic fracturing and associated technologies (often collectively referred to as "fracking") is dramatically increasing production of natural gas in the United States, where significant gas deposits exist in formations that underlie many states. Major deposits of shale gas exist in many other countries as well. Proponents of shale gas development point to several kinds of benefits, for instance, to local economies and to national "energy independence". Shale gas development has also brought increasing expression of concerns about risks, including to human health, environmental quality, non-energy economic activities in shale regions, and community cohesion. Some of these potential risks are beginning to receive careful evaluation; others are not. Although the risks have not yet been fully characterized or all of them carefully analyzed, governments at all levels are making policy decisions, some of them hard to reverse, about shale gas development and/or how to manage the risks. Risks and Risk Governance in Shale Gas Development is the summary of two workshops convened in May and August 2013 by the National Research Council's Board on Environmental Change and Society to consider and assess claims about the levels and types of risk posed by shale gas development and about the adequacy of existing governance procedures. Participants from engineering, natural, and social scientific communities examined the range of risks and of social and decision-making issues in risk characterization and governance related to gas shale development. Central themes included risk governance in the context of (a) risks that emerge as shale gas development expands, and (b) incomplete or declining regulatory capacity in an era of budgetary stringency. This report summarizes the presentations on risk issues raised in the first workshop, the risk management and governance concepts presented at the second workshop, and the discussions at both workshops. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council AU - National Academy of Engineering TI - Urbanization, Energy, and Air Pollution in China: The Challenges Ahead: Proceedings of a Symposium SN - DO - 10.17226/11192 PY - 2004 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11192/urbanization-energy-and-air-pollution-in-china-the-challenges-ahead PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Energy and Energy Conservation KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - In October 2003, a group of experts met in Beijing under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering, and National Academy of Engineering (NAE)/National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies to continue a dialogue and eventually chart a rational course of energy use in China. This collection of papers is intended to introduce the reader to the complicated problems of urban air pollution and energy choices in China. ER -