ABSTRACT
None of the above is remarkable. There have been many studies on comparative risk of so-called conventional energy sources, such as coal, oil, nuclear, and natural gas. However, in the past few years there has been an upsurge of interest in “nonconventional” or “renewable” energy sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, ocean thermal gradient, and biomass. An indication of this interest is shown by the IVi pages of ab stracts (approximately 700 in all) on solar energy alone in a recent annual cumulation of energy abstracts (2). Nonconventional sources-defined here
as those which are not now producing large amounts of energy in Canadaare sometimes characterized as “benign” or “soft” (3, 128). The unstated implication is that they are risk-free. The object of this book is to evaluate and compare risks arising from major existing or proposed energy sources, both conventional and nonconventional.
