ENERGY’S HIDDEN COST

Abstract

YOU COULD FACE a 25% higher electric bill if the damage to human health from coal-burning power plants is included in the retail cost of electricity, according to a National Research Council (NRC) report released on Oct. 19. In the congressionally mandated study examining the hidden costs of energy production, a 19-member NRC panel finds that $120 billion in damages are incurred each year because of premature deaths caused by air pollution from electricity generation, transportation, and industrial and commercial heating. These costs are “hidden,” says Jared L. Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon University and the NRC panel chairman, because they are not factored into either the market prices of coal and oil or the electricity and gasoline produced from them. The dollar amounts are primarily based on the health impacts and premature deaths of nearly 20,000 people annually, a death rate derived from a host of other external cost studies. The emissions data the ...