IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v10y2017i12p2136-d123105.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimating Human Health Impacts and Costs Due to Iranian Fossil Fuel Power Plant Emissions through the Impact Pathway Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Mojtaba Jorli

    (Department of Economics, Faculty of Management & Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, 14115-111 Tehran, Iran)

  • Steven Van Passel

    (Department of Engineering Management, University of Antwerp, Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium
    Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium)

  • Hossein Sadeghi

    (Department of Economics, Faculty of Management & Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, 14115-111 Tehran, Iran)

  • Alireza Nasseri

    (Department of Economics, Faculty of Management & Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, 14115-111 Tehran, Iran)

  • Lotfali Agheli

    (Economic Research Center, Tarbiat Modares University, 14115-111 Tehran, Iran)

Abstract

Air pollutants from fossil fuel fired power plants harm the environment and human health. More than 91% of Iran’s electricity production is from thermal power plants that use natural gas, diesel, and fuel oil. We apply the impact pathway approach to estimate the health impacts arising from Iranian fossil-based electricity generation emission, and in a next step, we calculate monetary costs of the estimated damages, for a one-year period starting from 20 March 2016 through 2017. We use the new version of SIMPACTS (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria) to investigate the health effects from 61 major Iran fossil-based power plants separately. The selected plants represent 95.6% of total Iran fossil-based power generation. Using the individual and different power plant estimates, we avoid extrapolation and our results can be considered more reliable, taking into account spatial differences. The total damage cost is 723.42 million USD (2000). The damage cost per generated electricity varies from 0.06 to 22.41 USD/MWh and average plant damage cost is 2.85 USD/MWh. Accounting for these external costs indicates the actual costs of fossil energy. The results are useful for policy makers to compare the health costs from these plants and to decide on cleaner energy sources and to take measures to increase benefits for society.

Suggested Citation

  • Mojtaba Jorli & Steven Van Passel & Hossein Sadeghi & Alireza Nasseri & Lotfali Agheli, 2017. "Estimating Human Health Impacts and Costs Due to Iranian Fossil Fuel Power Plant Emissions through the Impact Pathway Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-29, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:12:p:2136-:d:123105
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/12/2136/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/12/2136/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hainoun, A. & Almoustafa, A. & Seif Aldin, M., 2010. "Estimating the health damage costs of syrian electricity generation system using impact pathway approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 628-638.
    2. Czarnowska, Lucyna & Frangopoulos, Christos A., 2012. "Dispersion of pollutants, environmental externalities due to a pulverized coal power plant and their effect on the cost of electricity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 212-219.
    3. Streimikiene, Dalia & Roos, Inge & Rekis, Janis, 2009. "External cost of electricity generation in Baltic States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 863-870, May.
    4. Schleisner, Lotte, 2000. "Comparison of methodologies for externality assessment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(15), pages 1127-1136, December.
    5. Sakulniyomporn, Songsak & Kubaha, Kuskana & Chullabodhi, Chullapong, 2011. "External costs of fossil electricity generation: Health-based assessment in Thailand," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 3470-3479.
    6. Ostro, Bart D., 1987. "Air pollution and morbidity revisited: A specification test," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 87-98, March.
    7. Lingling Wang & Tsunemi Watanabe & Zhiwei Xu, 2015. "Monetization of External Costs Using Lifecycle Analysis—A Comparative Case Study of Coal-Fired and Biomass Power Plants in Northeast China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-28, February.
    8. Bozicevic Vrhovcak, Maja & Tomsic, Zeljko & Debrecin, Nenad, 2005. "External costs of electricity production: case study Croatia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 1385-1395, July.
    9. Nazari, S. & Shahhoseini, O. & Sohrabi-Kashani, A. & Davari, S. & Paydar, R. & Delavar-Moghadam, Z., 2010. "Experimental determination and analysis of CO2, SO2 and NOx emission factors in Iran’s thermal power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 2992-2998.
    10. Sascha Samadi, 2017. "The Social Costs of Electricity Generation—Categorising Different Types of Costs and Evaluating Their Respective Relevance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-37, March.
    11. Nir Becker & David Soloveitchik & Moshe Olshansky, 2012. "A Weighted Average Incorporation of Pollution Costs into the Electrical Expansion Planning," Energy & Environment, , vol. 23(1), pages 1-15, January.
    12. Spalding-Fecher, Randall & Matibe, David Khorommbi, 2003. "Electricity and externalities in South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 721-734, June.
    13. Kim, Sang-Hoon, 2007. "Evaluation of negative environmental impacts of electricity generation: Neoclassical and institutional approaches," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 413-423, January.
    14. Georgakellos, Dimitrios A., 2010. "Impact of a possible environmental externalities internalisation on energy prices: The case of the greenhouse gases from the Greek electricity sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 202-209, January.
    15. Barbara Breitschopf & Anne Held & Gustav Resch, 2016. "A concept to assess the costs and benefits of renewable energy use and distributional effects among actors: The example of Germany," Energy & Environment, , vol. 27(1), pages 55-81, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Slocum, Alexander H. & Gessel, David J., 2022. "Evolving from a hydrocarbon-based to a sustainable economy: Starting with a case study for Iran," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Ghorbani, Narges & Aghahosseini, Arman & Breyer, Christian, 2020. "Assessment of a cost-optimal power system fully based on renewable energy for Iran by 2050 – Achieving zero greenhouse gas emissions and overcoming the water crisis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 125-148.
    3. Janusz Zyśk & Artur Wyrwa & Marcin Pluta & Tadeusz Olkuski & Wojciech Suwała & Maciej Raczyński, 2021. "The Health Impact and External Cost of Electricity Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Jintao Lu & Chong Zhang & Licheng Ren & Mengshang Liang & Wadim Strielkowski & Justas Streimikis, 2020. "Evolution of External Health Costs of Electricity Generation in the Baltic States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-22, July.
    5. Mojtaba Jorli & Steven Van Passel & Hossein Sadeghi Saghdel, 2018. "External costs from fossil electricity generation: A review of the applied impact pathway approach," Energy & Environment, , vol. 29(5), pages 635-648, August.
    6. Wu, Yubo & Du, Jianqiang & Liu, Guangxin & Ma, Danzhu & Jia, Fengrui & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Wang, Jin, 2022. "A review of self-cleaning technology to reduce dust and ice accumulation in photovoltaic power generation using superhydrophobic coating," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 1034-1061.
    7. Muntasir Murshed, 2020. "Electricity conservation opportunities within private university campuses in Bangladesh," Energy & Environment, , vol. 31(2), pages 256-274, March.
    8. Lazzeroni, Paolo & Cirimele, Vincenzo & Canova, Aldo, 2021. "Economic and environmental sustainability of Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer for electric vehicles supporting reduction of local air pollutant emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    9. Juyoul Kim & Ahmed Abdel-Hameed & Soja Reuben Joseph & Hilali Hussein Ramadhan & Mercy Nandutu & Joung-Hyuk Hyun, 2021. "Modeling Long-Term Electricity Generation Planning to Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Nigeria," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-17, October.
    10. Yang, Hang & Zhang, Yongxin & Zheng, Chenghang & Wu, Xuecheng & Chen, Linghong & Fu, Joshua S. & Gao, Xiang, 2018. "Cost estimate of the multi-pollutant abatement in coal-fired power sector in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 523-535.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mojtaba Jorli & Steven Van Passel & Hossein Sadeghi Saghdel, 2018. "External costs from fossil electricity generation: A review of the applied impact pathway approach," Energy & Environment, , vol. 29(5), pages 635-648, August.
    2. Jintao Lu & Chong Zhang & Licheng Ren & Mengshang Liang & Wadim Strielkowski & Justas Streimikis, 2020. "Evolution of External Health Costs of Electricity Generation in the Baltic States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-22, July.
    3. Benedykt Pepliński & Wawrzyniec Czubak, 2021. "The Influence of Opencast Lignite Mining Dehydration on Plant Production—A Methodological Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-29, March.
    4. Selim Karkour & Yuki Ichisugi & Amila Abeynayaka & Norihiro Itsubo, 2020. "External-Cost Estimation of Electricity Generation in G20 Countries: Case Study Using a Global Life-Cycle Impact-Assessment Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-35, March.
    5. Sakulniyomporn, Songsak & Kubaha, Kuskana & Chullabodhi, Chullapong, 2011. "External costs of fossil electricity generation: Health-based assessment in Thailand," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 3470-3479.
    6. Benedykt Pepliński, 2021. "External Costs for Agriculture from Lignite Extraction from the Złoczew Deposit," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-27, May.
    7. Czarnowska, Lucyna & Frangopoulos, Christos A., 2012. "Dispersion of pollutants, environmental externalities due to a pulverized coal power plant and their effect on the cost of electricity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 212-219.
    8. Kuprianov, Vladimir I. & Kaewklum, Rachadaporn & Chakritthakul, Songpol, 2011. "Effects of operating conditions and fuel properties on emission performance and combustion efficiency of a swirling fluidized-bed combustor fired with a biomass fuel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 2038-2048.
    9. Rentizelas, Athanasios & Georgakellos, Dimitrios, 2014. "Incorporating life cycle external cost in optimization of the electricity generation mix," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 134-149.
    10. Bachmann, Till M. & van der Kamp, Jonathan, 2014. "Environmental cost-benefit analysis and the EU (European Union) Industrial Emissions Directive: Exploring the societal efficiency of a DeNOx retrofit at a coal-fired power plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 125-139.
    11. A. H. Truong & Minh Ha-Duong, 2018. "Impact of Co-firing Straw for Power Generation to Air Quality: A Case Study in Two Coal Power Plants in Vietnam," Post-Print hal-02352700, HAL.
    12. Alves, Laura Araujo & Uturbey, Wadaed, 2010. "Environmental degradation costs in electricity generation: The case of the Brazilian electrical matrix," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 6204-6214, October.
    13. Oliver, A. & Montero, G. & Montenegro, R. & Rodríguez, E. & Escobar, J.M. & Pérez-Foguet, A., 2013. "Adaptive finite element simulation of stack pollutant emissions over complex terrains," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 47-60.
    14. Papagiannis, A. & Roussos, D. & Menegaki, M. & Damigos, D., 2014. "Externalities from lignite mining-related dust emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 414-424.
    15. Luo, Xianglong & Zhang, Bingjian & Chen, Ying & Mo, Songping, 2012. "Operational planning optimization of multiple interconnected steam power plants considering environmental costs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 549-561.
    16. Deniz Sun & Luis Olmos & Michel Rivier, 2020. "Considering Local Air Pollution in the Benefit Assessment and Cost Allocation of Cross Border Transmission Projects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-20, March.
    17. Thopil, George Alex & Pouris, Anastassios, 2015. "Aggregation and internalisation of electricity externalities in South Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 501-511.
    18. Kaldellis, J.K. & Kapsali, M., 2014. "Evaluation of the long-term environmental performance of Greek lignite-fired power stations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 472-485.
    19. Vojtěch Máca & Jan Melichar, 2016. "The Health Costs of Revised Coal Mining Limits in Northern Bohemia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-20, January.
    20. Yang, Xi & Teng, Fei & Wang, Gehua, 2013. "Incorporating environmental co-benefits into climate policies: A regional study of the cement industry in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1446-1453.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:12:p:2136-:d:123105. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.