Social Costs and Benefits of different Energy carriers

	Fossil fuels	Nuclear fission	Nuclear fusion	Solar thermal heat	Solar thermal electricity	PV	Wind	Biomass (waste)	Renewable biomass plants	Small hydroelectric	Large hydroelectric	Tidal
unlimited availability	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
reduce CO2 emissions	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
reduce heat emissions	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
land conservation	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	if used correctly
avoid danger of major accident	No	No	Maybe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
reduce admin costs	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
relieve balance of payments	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
reduce international conflicts	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	not always	Yes
social acceptance	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	if used correctly	Yes	No	probably not
reduce public transport costs	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
create new industrial jobs	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
support decentralisation	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
increase energy independence (industrial countries)	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
increase energy independence (developing countries)	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Table adapted from Scheer, H. (2001) A Solar Manifesto (2nd Ed), p140