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Sustainability

Joshua M. Pearce

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Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Nuclear Insurance Subsidies Cost From Post-Fukushima Accounting Based On Media Sources, John Laureto, Joshua M. Pearce May 2017

Nuclear Insurance Subsidies Cost From Post-Fukushima Accounting Based On Media Sources, John Laureto, Joshua M. Pearce

Joshua M. Pearce

Quantification of nuclear liability insurance is difficult without arbitrary liability caps; however, post-mortem calculations can be used to calculate insurance costs. This study analyzes the Fukushima (Daiichi) nuclear power plant disaster to quantify the cost per unit electricity ($/kWh) of nuclear energy from the lifetime of the plant after accounting for the true cost of the liability needed to cover the damages from the nuclear disaster determined from news reports. These costs are then compared to the cost of electricity currently paid by Japanese consumers, and then are aggregated to determine the indirect subsidy for nuclear power providers in both …

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Interdisciplinary Environmental Education: Communicating And Applying Energy Efficiency For Sustainability, Joshua M. Pearce, Chris Russill Sep 2011

Interdisciplinary Environmental Education: Communicating And Applying Energy Efficiency For Sustainability, Joshua M. Pearce, Chris Russill

Joshua M. Pearce

This article demonstrates that interdisciplinary alliances on environmental education projects can effectively address the gap between complex environmental problems in the real world and disciplinary curricula in a university. We describe an alliance between an advanced communication course and a general science course wherein we addressed interconnections of energy efficiency, economics, and global climate change with respect to their impact on individuals, local businesses, and society. This project established that an interdisciplinary environmental project focused on local solutions to global problems is both a valuable learning tool for students and an effective method of accelerating the application of appropriate technologies.

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Accelerating Applied Sustainability Of Utilizing Return On Investment For Energy Conservation Measures, Joshua Pearce, D. Denkenberger, H. Zielonka Dec 2008

Accelerating Applied Sustainability Of Utilizing Return On Investment For Energy Conservation Measures, Joshua Pearce, D. Denkenberger, H. Zielonka

Joshua M. Pearce

Many energy conservation measures (ECMs) that utilize energy more efficiently thanstandard devices or practices will save money in the long term; however, decision makers oftenfail to deploy ECMs because of what is viewed as a prohibitively long payback time. This paperprovides a graphical tool to determine the return on investment (ROI) of any ECM from only thesimple payback and device lifetime, which corrects this common economic error. Utilizing thismethod will encourage the increased deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energytechnologies, while improving the economic performance of the companies and individuals thatutilize the method.

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