آموزش محیط زیست در ایران

SOCIAL COST OF FOSSIL-BASED ELECTRICITY GENERATION

PLANTS IN IRAN

Hasan Karimzadegan¹, Morteza Rahmatian², Mohamad Mehdi Farsiabi³,

 Hossein Meiboudi¹* 

¹Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan campus, Lahijan, Iran

²Dept. of Economics, California State University, Fullerton, USA

³Genetics Clinic, 16 Keshavarz Blvd., Vallie Asr Sqr., Tehran, Iran

Some energy costs are not included in consumer utility invoices. These include human health problems caused by air pollution from the burning of coal, natural gas and oil; and environmental degradation caused by global warming, acid rain, and water pollution. Since such costs are indirect and difficult to determine, they have traditionally remained external to the energy pricing system, and are thus often referred to as externalities. Since the producers and the users of electricity do not directly pay for these costs, society as a whole must pay for them. However, this pricing system masks the true costs of fossil-based electricity generation plants and results in overproduction and overconsumption of electricity. This in turn leads to additional environmental damages, such as those to human health. Various methods exist to analyze human health and environmental effects from electricity production. In this study, instead of transferring the benefit function method from one of these valuation studies, results from several valuation studies will be combined in a Meta-analysis to estimate one common benefit function for Iran. Marginal external costs, resulting in damage to human health and the environment, of fossil-based electricity generation plants in Iran are estimated at 1.9 to 8.99 cents per kWh. Marginal social costs are estimated at 6.87 to 11.25 cents for steam power plants, 7.37 to 12.75 cents for natural gas power plants and 5.03 to 7.82 cents for combined cycle power plants (US$). The true costs of fossil-based electricity generation plants and the resulting damage to human health, the environment, and the economy encourage substituting renewable energy sources.

Key Words: Social cost, external cost, value transfer, power plant, Iran

Reference: Karimzadegan, H., Rahmatian, M., Farsiabi, M. M., & Meiboudi, H. (2012). Social cost of fossil-based electricity generation plants in Iran. Environmental Engineering and Management Journal. (Accepted Manuscript).