US EPA

1425607 

Technical Report 

Energy foundations for sustainable development 

Sather, NF 

1992 

NTIS/02973168 

GRA and I 

GRA and I 

Worldwide, more than three-quarters of our energy needs are obtained from nonrenewable reserves of coal, oil, gas, and uranium. The unavoidable outcome of our present path is the depletion of all non-renewable energy resources. Further exacerbating the energy picture is the mounting cost of mitigating the adverse environmental and health impacts of energy use. Problems ranging from acid rain and radioactive waste storage to the potential for widespread environmental disaster that could result from the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have made it that the earth's capacity to absorb the waste products of energy use without serious consequences is being severely strained. Potential supply shortages and mounting costs for the energy component of our industrial enterprise will increasingly undermine our ability to sustain global economic development. Strong positive actions that shore up the energy foundations of our economy arc called for. The purpose of this presentation is to focus attention on two such proactive steps which, though insufficient to the task by themselves, are nevertheless crucial to any effective plan for heading off the recessionary tendencies of our growing energy supply and cost dilemma. The first of these essential steps is to develop a much better arrangement than we currently have for including all costs for the adverse health and environmental impacts of industrial production in the price paid by consumers for fuels, electricity, and manufactured goods. The second essential action is to expand our R and D effort to develop new manufacturing processes and new materials and products that meet our needs for power, fuels and consumer goods at lower cost, greater efficiency, and with reduced environmental cost. 

Energy Source Development; Cost; Energy Consumption; Energy Sources; Environmental Effects; Health Hazards; Industry; Planning; Renewable Resources; EDB/290400; EDB/292000