The DECADES project - Outline and general overview

The environmental and health-related impacts of different energy systems, including those associated with the production of electricity, are emerging as significant issues for the coming decades. This interest is highlighted by the current debate about health effects of pollution, environmental damages due to acidification of forests and lakes, concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants and radioactive waste management, and the potential risks of global climate change induced by increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. All fuel chains within the electricity generation system involve some health risks and lead to some environmental impacts. This fact, together with the emerging needs of many countries to define their energy programmes for the coming decades, has provided the basis for a growing interest in the application of improved data, tools and techniques for comparative assessment of different electricity generating systems, particularly from an environmental and human health viewpoint. The need to design and implement sustainable strategies in the electricity sector has been stressed in many international fora such as the Senior Expert Symposium on Electricity and the Environment (Helsinki, 1991), the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992) and the 15th Conference of the World Energy Council (Madrid, 1992). The essential goal of sustainable strategies is to provide the energy services required for supporting economic growth and improving quality of life, especially in developing countries, while minimising the health and environmental impacts of human activities. The inter-agency joint project on data bases and methodologies for comparative assessment of different energy sources for electricity generation [DECADES] has been established with the objective of enhancing capabilities for incorporating health and environmental issues in the comparative assessment of different electricity generation chains and strategies in the process of planning and decision making for the electricity sector. The DECADES project is carried out jointly by the European Commission (EC), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD/World Bank), the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the Nuclear Energy Agency of the OECD (OECD/NEA), the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). In order to cover the main issues to be addressed for carrying out comparative assessment of electricity generation options and strategies within the planning and decision making process, the DECADES project focuses on: technology inventory, i.e. characterisation of energy chains for electricity generation, from fuel extraction to waste management, including technical, economic, health and environmental aspects; development of an information system (computer software) providing user-oriented access to electronic data bases, allowing retrieval, display and handling of the data; compilation and review of methodologies, analytical models and computerised tools for comparative assessment, with emphasis on those tools that may be used in the planning and decision making process for the electricity sector; carrying out some case studies addressing specific national or regional issues, with the primary objective of illustrating the applicability of the data bases and computerised tools in the planning and decision making process. The Joint Steering Committee for the DECADES project hopes that the publications, data bases and software resulting from the project will be useful in the process of planning and decision making aiming towards design and implementation of sustainable strategies in the electricity sector