"Rob" wrote in message
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Mary Fisher wrote:
"Rob" wrote in message
...

...
On the contrary, solar energy is one thing is VERY easy to do a cost
benefit excercise on.

Ah, OK!

The economic costs should be easy to calculate if you can get hold of
the data.

How do you estimate the environmental and social costs of production
(inc raw and manufactured materials), distribution, sale, marketing,
installation, maintenance and disposal? That's relatively
straightforward up to a point. It's the benefits I really have trouble
with. Obviously, electricity/gas saving is a relatively trivial
calculation. The benefits to human existence/experience and the 'planet'
in the longer term would be tricky to calculate, I think. Also, it's not
known whether costs are recouped on sale (a future and discounted
benefit). Some sales bluster seems to suggest 'yes, and some', but no
reviewed research has been carried out to my knowledge.

There is also the political aspect of costs and benefits, and the notion
that nobody will know until these products have been through at least
one life cycle.

Perhaps you can do/accommodate all of this.

How do you estimate the above for a 'conventional' modern system?

Or an older system?

All installations have costs.

Mary

List all the cost variables associated with the economic, political,
social and environmental aspects of production and consumption. You can do
this with any system installed at any time, although the data may be more
difficult to estimate if you're looking at older systems.

Two key problems usually arise. One is the notion that costs for some
people are benefits for others. You can do a bit of 'cancelling out', but
this leads to the second problem. Not all aspects of production and
consumption (making and using) can be quantified. For example, solar
heating has certain tangible environmental dimensions that can't be
measured, and there's also the
"smug-self-satisfied-my-conscience-is-clear'' aspect - priceless :-)

The usual one is they fit a windmill or solar panels so they can justify
their 4x4 as they have saved the pollution caused by their other excesses.
Net saving zero or a huge deficit.