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Project Title:
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Health, Environmental, and Other External Costs and Benefits of Energy Production and Consumption
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PIN:
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BEST-K-08-02-A
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Major Unit:
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Division on Earth and Life Studies
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
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Sub Unit:
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Board on Energy & Environmental Systems
Board on Environmental Studies & Toxicology
Board on Science, Technology and Economic Policy
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RSO:
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Wassel, Ray
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Subject/Focus Area:
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Project Scope
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Statement of Task
An NRC committee will define and evaluate key external costs and benefits--health, environmental, security, and infrastructure--associated with the production, distribution, and consumption of energy from various selected sources that are not or may not be fully incorporated into the market price of such energy, or into the Federal tax or fee or other applicable revenue measures related to such production, distribution, or consumption. Although the committee will carry out its task from a U.S. perspective, it will consider broader geographic implications of externalities when warranted and feasible. The committee will not recommend specific strategies for internalizing observable externalities, because those choices will entail policy judgments that transcend scientific and technological considerations.
In carrying out its task, the committee will include the following activities:
- Seek to build upon the results of the NRC study America's Energy Future: Technology Opportunities, Risks, and Tradeoffs
- Identify key externalities to be assessed in the categories of human health, environment, security (including quality, abundance, and reliability of energy sources), and infrastructure (such as transportation and waste disposal systems not sufficiently taken into account by producers or consumers).
- Consider externalities associated with producing, distributing, and consuming energy imported from foreign sources.
- Define appropriate metric(s) for each externality category considered.
- Identify state-of-the-science approaches for assessing external effects (actual or expected) and expressing their effects in economic terms.
- Develop an approach for estimating externalities related to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Estimate externalities related to those changes.
- Present qualitative and, to the extent practicable, quantitative estimates of externalities and associated uncertainties within a consistent framework that makes the discussion of externalities and uncertainties associated with energy production, distribution, and consumption more transparent.
- When it is not feasible to assess specific externalities comprehensively, the committee will recommend assessment approaches and identify key information needs to inform future assessments.
Sponsor: U.S. Department of the Treasury
The approximate start date for the project is April 9, 2008.
A prepublication version of the report will be issued in August, 2009. The final version of the report will be issued in approximately 26 months.
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Project Duration:
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27 months
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Provide FEEDBACK on this project.
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Tel:
202.334.2000