ENERGY ANALYSIS MANUAL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFIT/COST ANALYSIS OF TRANSPORTATION ACTIONS. VOLUME 1 THEORY AND PROCEDURES, VOLUME 2 ILLUSTRATIVE CASE STUDIES

This report documents and presents the products of a study to develop an energy analysis applications manual. The manual is intended for agency analysts to use in applying the energy analysis theories and procedures to environmental benefit-cost analyses of transportation actions. The relevant theoretical underpinnings of energy analysis were researched and described in the report. A step-by-step analysis procedure was developed and presented, describing energy analysis calculations and their application in transportation environmental benefit/cost analyses. The procedure's limitations and applications are discussed. Five case studies were developed and documented, providing detailed illustrations of the application of the procedure to various real transportation problems. The findings of the study indicate that the energy analysis procedure may supplement traditional methods of environmental impact assessment by providing: (i) comprehensive quantifications of individual kinds of impacts and of the total environmental impact of a transportation action; (ii) quantitative comparisons of the significance of different kinds of environmental impacts, even enabling comparison of government-regulated impacts with non-regulated ones and of any one category of impact with the aggregate environmental impact; and (iii) a basis for determining dollar values of environmental impacts. /Author/