Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal

  1. Paul R. Epstein1,
  2. Jonathan J. Buonocore2,
  3. Kevin Eckerle3,
  4. Michael Hendryx4,
  5. Benjamin M. Stout III5,
  6. Richard Heinberg6,
  7. Richard W. Clapp7,
  8. Beverly May8,
  9. Nancy L. Reinhart8,
  10. Melissa M. Ahern9,
  11. Samir K. Doshi10 and
  12. Leslie Glustrom11

Article first published online: 17 FEB 2011

DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05890.x

Issue

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Volume 1219, Ecological Economics Reviews pages 73–98, February 2011


Additional Information

How to Cite

Epstein, P. R., Buonocore, J. J., Eckerle, K., Hendryx, M., Stout III, B. M., Heinberg, R., Clapp, R. W., May, B., Reinhart, N. L., Ahern, M. M., Doshi, S. K. and Glustrom, L. (2011), Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1219: 73–98. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05890.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

  2. 2

    Environmental Science and Risk Management Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts

  3. 3

    Accenture, Sustainability Services, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  4. 4

    Department of Community Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia

  5. 5

    Wheeling Jesuit University, Wheeling, West Virginia

  6. 6

    Post Carbon Institute, Santa Rosa, California

  7. 7

    Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts

  8. 8

    Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, London, Kentucky

  9. 9

    Department of Pharmacotherapy, Washington State University, Spokane, Washington

  10. 10

    Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont

  11. 11

    Clean Energy Action, Boulder, Colorado

*Address for correspondence: Paul R. Epstein, M.D., M.P.H., Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School, Landmark Center, 401 Park Drive, Second Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02215. paul_epstein@hms.harvard.edu

  1. Preferred citation: Paul R. Epstein, Jonathan J. Buonocore, Kevin Eckerle, Michael Hendryx, Benjamin M. Stout III, Richard Heinberg, Richard W. Clapp, Beverly May, Nancy L. Reinhart, Melissa M. Ahern, Samir K. Doshi, and Leslie Glustrom. 2011. Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal in “Ecological Economics Reviews.” Robert Costanza, Karin Limburg & Ida Kubiszewski, Eds. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1219: 73–98.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 17 FEB 2011
  2. Article first published online: 17 FEB 2011

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Keywords:

  • coal;
  • environmental impacts;
  • human and wildlife health consequences;
  • carbon capture and storage;
  • climate change

Each stage in the life cycle of coal—extraction, transport, processing, and combustion—generates a waste stream and carries multiple hazards for health and the environment. These costs are external to the coal industry and are thus often considered “externalities.” We estimate that the life cycle effects of coal and the waste stream generated are costing the U.S. public a third to over one-half of a trillion dollars annually. Many of these so-called externalities are, moreover, cumulative. Accounting for the damages conservatively doubles to triples the price of electricity from coal per kWh generated, making wind, solar, and other forms of nonfossil fuel power generation, along with investments in efficiency and electricity conservation methods, economically competitive. We focus on Appalachia, though coal is mined in other regions of the United States and is burned throughout the world.

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