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Study estimates hidden costs of energy usage
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Putting a pricetag on pollution. Photo NREL
How much does pollution from energy usage cost?
About $120 billion, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences estimated in a study released October 19.
The council put a dollar figure on the "hidden costs" of energy usage that don't show up in energy bills. The estimate was for 2005, the last year for which full information was available.
The primary driver of the imputed costs was public health impacts of air pollution - including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter emitted by fossil fuel combustion.
The report did not attempt to calculate a single number estimating the cost of climate change, because of uncertainties regarding the projected range of damages.
The hidden costs of coal, which accounts for half the electricity produced in the U.S. and about 20 percent of the Northwest's electricity mix, totaled $62 billion, the research council report estimated. The council based its estimate on emissions from 406 coal-fired power plants that generate 95 percent of the coal-generated electricity in the U.S. Two coal plants in the Northwest are Centralia in Washington and Boardman in Oregon.
The hidden costs imputed to gas-fired power plants were much smaller, totaling $740 million. The report based its estimate on 498 plants that produce 71 percent of the nation's gas-fired power generation. In the Northwest, gas accounts for about 25 percent of the electricity generation mix.
The report estimated transportation's share of damages at $56 billion, broken down as $36 billion from light-duty vehicles and $20 billion from heavy-duty vehicles. Transportation is almost totally dependent on petroleum-based fuels, including gasoline and diesel. In 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, Washington consumed nearly 66 million barrels of gasoline and 30.5 million barrels of diesel.
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