Traditional energy production is costly to your health

The National Research Council in October released an important report that calculates the “hidden” costs — such as health injuries from air pollution — from the production of electricity and gasoline.  Since these costs don’t show up in the price of power, generators continue to pollute, and you and I get stuck with the medical bills.

The Council estimated the 2005 damages at a whopping $120 billion, and that figure doesn’t include harm from climate change or mercury pollution.

Consider the burning of coal to make electricity.  The scientists found that the annual damage from the resulting sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter totaled about $62 billion. If power generators “internalized” those costs, the average price of electricity would increase 3.2 cents per kilowatt-hour.  The climate-related monetary damages could add another 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Clean power doesn’t have those costs, but it must compete against traditional energy production that doesn’t pay its fair share. That’s why we need to change the way we regulate energy.