Energy and environment in the long term

Abstract An interesting feature of many of the environmental impacts of energy production and consumption is that they may be of very long duration — indeed are, for all practical purposes, irreversible. Particular attention thus needs to be given to ways of evaluating distant future impacts, dealing with the uncertainty that inevitably arises, and possibly even restructuring the welfare-theoretic basis of the analysis. A review of recent analytical developments indicates a series of adjustments that have the effect of increasing the present value of the costs of such impacts, making the responsible energy activities less desirable from the standpoint of economic efficiency.