Report Examines Hidden Costs of Energy
October 19, 2009: A new National Academy of Sciences report examines “hidden” costs of energy production and use — such as the the health impacts of air pollution — that are not reflected in market prices of coal or oil. The quantifiable damages alone were an estimated $120 billion in the U.S. in 2005, a number that reflects primarily health damages caused by air pollution from electricity generation (from coal) and motor vehicle transportation (from gasoline) . Get the report here. It’s available to read online for free.
The report on the hidden costs of burning fossil fuels estimates that 20,000 people die prematurely each year in the U.S. because of pollution associated with burning coal and oil. The report was commissioned by Congress and entitled “Hidden Costs of Energy,” also said that electric cars that run on energy produced by coal-fired power plants are no cleaner than gasoline-burning cars and may cause even more environmental damage when factoring in the cost of producing the batteries in electric vehicles.
Keep in mind this does not mean that electric cars that run on electricity generated by solar or wind power are not less clean than regular cars, because they would be. The problem is coal, not the cars. This report does not include climate change damage, which would be in the hundreds of billions of dollars beyond the NAS estimates.
The report also estimated that the environmental cost of biofuels made from corn is slightly higher than burning gasoline alone. The study, which put a $120 billion annual price tag on the health damage caused by fossil fuel burning, did not factor in potential damages from global warming brought about by burning coal, oil, and natural gas. The report bolsters arguments that the costs to society from renewable sources of energy, such as solar and wind power, are considerably lower than combusting fossil fuels. But the report cautioned that until large amounts of electricity are generated from renewable sources, or utilities develop a way to capture and store CO2, electric cars offer little advantage over gasoline-powered vehicles.
The estimates do not include damage from global warming, linked to the gases produced by burning fossil fuels. The authors said the extent of such damage, and the timing, were too uncertain to estimate.
The report deals strictly with damage from pollution emitted by burning fossil fuels. Info from the NAS, and e360 Digest
The NAS executive summary also stated the following about climate change in this report:
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Electricity Generation
Emissions of CO2 from coal-fired power plants are the largest single source of GHGs in the United States. CO2 emissions vary; their average is about 1 ton of CO2 per MWh generated, with a 5th-to- 95th-percentile range of 0.95–1.5 tons. The main factors affecting these differences are the technology used to generate the power and the age of the plant. Emissions of CO2 from gas-fired power plants also are significant, with an average of about 0.5 ton of CO2 per MWh generated and a 5th-to-95th-percentile range of 0.3–1.1 tons. Life-cycle CO2 emissions from nuclear, wind, biomass, and solar appear so small as to be negligible compared to those from fossil fuels.
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