Energy accidents happen ... and they'll cost us
While most US motorists probably know very well what they pay for a gallon of gas at the pump, the nation as whole has very little idea of the true cost of the different types of energy it relies on.
A new analysis by engineering students at Carnegie Mellon University has found that the national cost of energy supply accidents — mostly oil spills and electric power outages — over the past decade likely exceed $50 billion. However, their study also found that a lack of critical and consistent data makes it impossible to quantify all the costs.
A class of 24 students in the university’s departments of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) and Social and Decision Sciences (SDS) conducted their analysis in the wake of the massive BP Gulf oil spill and gas pipeline explosions in Pennsylvania, California and Texas.
Their report, “Learning from Energy Supply Catastrophes,” concludes that the US lacks a clear and complete picture of the human, environmental and economic risks of producing and delivering oil, natural gas, coal, electricity and other forms of energy. The study also strongly recommends that the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) compile and publish factual information on the consequences of accidents in each energy supply industry. Key data would include the annual number of fatalities, injuries, barrels of oil spilled and various other measures relevant to each industry.
“Our goal was to assess the full cost of accidents in the US energy supply chain in terms of their human, environmental and economic impacts and to see whether some forms of energy are safer than others,” said Kyle Siler-Evans, a PhD.student in EPP and one of three student project managers in the semester-long project course.
Nathan Leonard, a senior in mechanical engineering and EPP, added that the research team also wanted to see what the trends were for different energy industry sectors, and whether there’s any correlation between accident rates and the level of government oversight.
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