Public Health

Public Health externalities are the indirect costs that electricity generation, delivery, and consumption place on society through increased morbidity (sickness) and mortality (premature death), but are not included in the consumer price of electricity. Some of these costs end up as part of healthcare costs, for example. The primary public health costs of electricity are respiratory and cardiovascular health conditions prompted or exacerbated by breathing pollution produced from fossil fuel combustion.

Related Energy Institute Publications

photo collage from cover of white paper, showing power plants and light bulbs

EPA’s Valuation of Environmental Externalities from Electricity Production

Download a PDF of the full white paper.

Read a related blog post at IEEE Spectrum

photo collage from cover of white paper, showing wind turbines, cooling tower and coal power plant

New U.S. Power Costs: by County, with Environmental Externalities

Download a PDF of the full white paper.

Read a related blog post at IEEE Spectrum

Journal Publication:
Rhodes, Joshua D., King, Carey, Gülen, Gürcan, Olmstead, Sheila M., Dyer, James S., Hebner, Robert E., Beach, Fred C., Edgar, Thomas F., Webber, Michael E.. “A geographically resolved method to estimate levelized power plant costs with environmental externalities,” Energy Policy, 2017, 102 (March 2017), 491-499, doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2016.12.025. View paper free online here or download PDF.