But the replaced refrigerator was landfilled: A method for including environmental benefits and costs in least-cost utility planning (LCUP).

摘要

We are entering a decade of enhanced environmental awareness. While considerable agreement exists that accounting for environmental externalities in least-cost utility planning is important, in actual practice environmental considerations are often given qualitative attention, at best. Given the political difficulty in deriving financial tests of demand-side projects, this is not surprising. Each step --- from energy extraction, through one or more conversions, transport and transmission, and to use --- could impact the environment considerably. So might the extraction of materials for the production and the disposal of related hardware. To mitigate these effects state and federal legislation requires such actions as land reclamation, emission controls, and improved energy conversion efficiency. For example, think about the above title. The replaced refrigerator's foam insulation and freon contain CFCs. Its metal has value. But the evaluation of the utility's high-efficiency refrigerator rebate program did not account for the cost of disposing of the refrigerator in an environmentally sound manner, i.e., it missed some costs. Understanding environmental aspects of demand-side programs and the methods to include them in planning puts most practitioners of utility planning in an unfamiliar arena. This paper describes a process of including environmental planning and environmental costs and benefits in utility planning. It is based on the classical planning process and a method for making the trade-offs among environmental and other effects of utility programs is discussed. It then discusses the types of environmental impacts that can be expected from various types of demand- and supply-side utility programs and gives a detailed example of the environmental concerns associated with an electric utility's introduction of electric vehicles in an urban area. 8 refs., 5 figs.