The Environmental Handbook Series is designed to overcome the deficiency of information utility and transfer. Each of the works in this series brings together information in an area and format that is useful to both public and private sector needs. It is meant to serve as a basic reference document that will stand for a period of time and help to enrich decisionmaking and research in the interface of energy and the environment. This particular handbook deals with environmental characterization data for the energy technologies and presents the data in a format for use by DOE policy analysts. This treatment includes not only the actual information base, but also a preface which explains the present concept, the historical growth of the program, and the new direction for improved utility. The information base, itself, is constantly being enhanced and is republished periodically as necessary. The specific energy systems for which environmental/technology characterization information is provided are grouped as follows: nuclear energy; coal; petroleum; gas; synthetic fuels; solar energy; geothermal energy; and hydroelectricity.