FEEM Research Seminar on “Electricity Sector Transition and the Changing Risks to Human Health, Safety, Natural and Built Environment”
06.10.2016
06.10.2016
12:30 - 14:00
All electricity generation technologies create risks to society, such as global warming, induced seismicity, or severe industrial accidents. Scientific inquiry and wider energy debate often revolve around individual technologies. As electricity demand is supplied by a technology portfolio, phasing out one technology in fact means that other technologies with own risks and locations will need to be deployed instead. We examine such cross-technology and spatial risk tradeoffs in the Swiss electricity portfolio to 2050. Multiple risks associated with the electricity generation technologies are analyzed, adopting an open view to risk, including known and uncertain consequences, known and uncertain likelihoods, and varying knowledge confidence. After the potential change in risks in Switzerland is modelled, the laypeople-tailored Fact Sheets and an interactive tool Riskmeter are developed and tested to make the findings accessible to users outside academia.