Renewable Energy

This chapter presents an in-depth examination of major renewable energy technologies, including their installed capacity and energy supply in 2009 , the current state of market and technology development, their economic and financial feasibility in 2009 and in the near future, as well as major issues they may face relative to their sustainability or implementation. Renewable energy sources have been important for humankind since the beginning of civilization. For centuries, biomass has been used for heating, cooking, steam generation, and power production; solar energy has been used for heating and drying; geothermal energy has been used for hot water supplies; hydropower, for movement; and wind energy, for pumping and irrigation. For many decades renewable energy sources have also been used to produce electricity or other modern energy carriers

A framework for integrated environmental health impact assessment of systemic risks

Traditional methods of risk assessment have provided good service in support of policy, mainly in relation to standard setting and regulation of hazardous chemicals or practices. In recent years, however, it has become apparent that many of the risks facing society are systemic in nature – complex risks, set within wider social, economic and environmental contexts. Reflecting this, policy-making too has become more wide-ranging in scope, more collaborative and more precautionary in approach. In order to inform such policies, more integrated methods of assessment are needed. Based on work undertaken in two large EU-funded projects (INTARESE and HEIMTSA), this paper reviews the range of approaches to assessment now in used, proposes a framework for integrated environmental health impact assessment (both as a basis for bringing together and choosing between different methods of assessment, and extending these to more complex problems), and discusses some of the challenges involved in conducting integrated assessments to support policy

Quantifizierung und Vergleich der Gesundheitsrisiken verschiedener Stromerzeugungssysteme

Auf der Basis einer Literaturauswertung werden aus neueren epidemiologischen Studien Expositions-Wirkungsbeziehungen fuer verschiedene Luftschadstoffe abgeleitet und zur Schadensabschaetzung verwendet. Bei der Abschaetzung der Risiken durch die Kernenergienutzung liegt ein Schwerpunkt der Arbeit auf einer detaillierten Unfallfolgenabschaetzung. Berufliche Risiken werden vor allem mit den von den gewerblichen Berufsgenossenschaften erhobenen Daten zum beruflichen Unfall- und Krankheitsgeschehen berechnet. Um das durch die Wahl eines bestimmten Energiesystems verursachte zusaetzliche Risiko zu bestimmen, wird das Konzept des Nettorisikos eingefuehrt. Das Nettorisiko beschreibt die Differenz zwischen dem Risiko einer bestimmten Aktivitaet und dem durchschnittlichen Risiko gewerblicher Taetigkeit. Die in Risikostudien ueblicherweise verwendete Prozesskettenanalyse wird durch eine sektorale Analyse auf der Basis von Input-Output Tabellen ergaenzt, um bei der Risikoabschaetzung alle fuer die Strombereitstellung erforderlichen Vorleistungen zu erfassen. Zur Durchfuehrung eines Risikovergleichs werden verschiedene Risikoindikatoren zur Charakterisierung des jeweiligen Schadens sowie zur Darstellung der raeumlichen und zeitlichen Risikoverteilung eingefuehrt. Der Vergleich der fuer die verschiedenen Stromerzeugungssysteme berechneten Risiken fuehrt zur Ermittlung einer Rangfolge der betrachteten Systeme, allerdings haengen die Ergebnisse des Risikovergleichs von den zur Beschreibung des Risikos gewaehlten Indikatoren ab. Trotzdem kann festgestellt werden, dass die Risiken durch die Stromerzeugung aus festen und fluessigen fossilen Energietraegern im oberen Bereich, die Risiken durch die Nutzung der Windenergie im unteren Bereich der betrachteten Stromerzeugungssysteme liegen. Aussagen bezueglich der Photovoltaik und der Kernenergie haengen stark von der Wahl des jeweiligen Risikoindikators ab, jedoch liegen die Risiken bei den meisten Indikatoren deutlich unter denen der Stromerzeugung aus Kohle und Oel. (orig./AJ)Public health risks from increased levels of ambient air pollution or ionizing radiation are assessed following a detailed impact pathway approach, using air quality and dose-effect models to stepwise analyse the chain of causal relationships, starting with the release of burdens from the power station through their interaction with the environment to a physical measure of impact. A set of suitable exposure-response functions is derived from a review of recent epidemiological studies. For the nuclear energy system, the study focuses on a detailed accident consequence assessment. Occupational impacts are assessed by using health statistics from the German 'Berufsgenossenschaften' ('Employees' Insurance System). To quantify the marginal risk induced by the choice of a specific technology, the concept of net-risk is introduced, taking into account only the difference between the risks of average industrial activities and the fuel cycle related activity. The approach of process analysis used in former risk assessment studies has been extended by a sectoral analysis based on input/output-tables in order to cover all upstream processes related to electricity generation. A set of risk indicators is defined to allow a detailed description of the different health impacts as well as the spatial and temporal distribution of risks. The comparison of risks from the electricity generating systems considered leads to a ranking of systems, which depends on the choice of the respective risk indicator. However, risks due to electricity production from solid and liquid fossil fuels in general are at the upper end, while the use of wind energy results in low risks compared to the technologies analysed. The ranking of the photovoltaic and nuclear energy systems highly depends on the choice of the risk indicator, although for most of the relevant indicators risks are clearly below the risks caused by electricity production from coal or oil. (orig./AJ)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: RO 9712(33) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman