Overview

Overview

The costs of environmental damage and resulting impacts on human health and food resources from our current energy framework are two of the biggest drivers in the move towards renewable energy. Yet, the costs of continued use of fossil fuels are not being sufficiently addressed or taken into account in the marketplace. These costs, however, have a bottom line that may not be able to be paid back. Revealing the environmental costs of an energy strategy is a useful strategy if it can help to increase the value of renewables through decreasing the value of fossils (or by increasing bottom line costs). Translating environmental impacts into market ready price points will go some distance in translating the costs of damages, but many costs will still be left out. It is these costs, however, that routinely go under or entirely unaccounted for in market analysis, yet environmental and human health problems can prove to be the costliest, both in terms of fines and in terms of public image.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• summarize the significant environmental impacts of various energy systems;
• explain why the environmental impacts matter to the market;
• analyze for effects locally, regionally, and globally; and
• identify key environmental externalities that can shape market behavior.

What is due for Lesson 6?

This lesson will take us one week to complete. Please refer to the Course Syllabus for specific time frames and due dates. Specific directions for the assignment below can be found within this lesson.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please post them to our Questions? discussion forum (not e-mail), located under the Discussions tab in Canvas. I will check that discussion forum daily to respond. While you are there, feel free to post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.