Social Impact Method of Energy Analysis: improvements and results

SIMEA (Social Impact Method of Energy Analysis) is a new methodology to evaluate the environmental impact of energy systems. The SIMEA approach is based on "enlarged environment" definition, considering as environment not only the natural environment, but also the "human environment", with so including the economy structure, social organisation, cultural and historical aspects of the site. The aim of SIMEA is to consider in an integrated way many possible effects on the environment (considering the definition of enlarged environment: nature economy, culture etc) of an energy system and evaluate the social consequences and effects as social impact. SIMEA is being developed in an "iterative" way, so after the first development end validation in 1996, a second version SIMEA has been realised and tested by applying the improved methodology to the same site. The improvements and results are proving the methodology effectiveness and show that a possible computer aided application can be expected after analysis of the comparison between the two experiences. IEEE Catalog n. OOCH37043, IEEE Library of Congress n. 99-6604