Synapse Energy Economics, Inc. for the Civil Society Institute and the Environmental Working Group / by Geoff Keith, Sarah Jackson, Alice Napoleon, Tyler Comings, and Jean Ann Ramey
http://bit.ly/PCt373
[From Press Release] Huge demands on increasingly scarce water are a major hidden cost of a “business as usual” approach to American electricity generation that needs to be more fully understood by policymakers and the public…
Six fuels used to generate electricity — biomass, coal, nuclear, natural gas, solar (photovoltaic and concentrating solar power), and wind (both onshore and offshore) – are analyzed in the following categories: water impacts, climate change impacts, air pollution impacts, planning and cost risk, subsidies and tax incentives, land impacts, and other impacts…
Grant Smith, senior energy analyst, Civil Society Institute, said: The government and energy industries are literally flying blind as they plan for continued reliance on coal, natural gas, nuclear power and industrial biomass to meet our energy needs. Each of these is water intensive and leads to pollution of water, which is increasingly scarce and in competition for other uses such as agriculture and other commercial uses. The drought intensifies the urgency and the imperative that political leaders in both parties hit the pause button on the headlong rush to support nuclear power and fossil fuel use.”…
