IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v237y2024ipds0960148124019177.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

External environmental costs of electricity generation using a life cycle approach: A case study of Spain

Author

Listed:
  • San Miguel, Guillermo

Abstract

Electricity generation produces impacts on the natural and human environment that need to be measured and properly managed. This investigation describes the potential of integrating LCA with monetary valuation to quantify the magnitude of these impacts in economic terms (€). Fourteen power generation technologies (5 fossil, 8 renewable and nuclear, based in Spain) were evaluated using LCA on 18 midpoint and 3 endpoint categories, as listed in ReCiPe2016. The results showed very high external costs in fossil technologies (from 435 to 636 €/MWh for coal-based to 109–154 €/MWh for natural gas) and significantly lower for renewables (5–77 €/MWh) and nuclear (3.3 €/MWh), with higher values corresponding to biomass and lowest to wind power and nuclear. External costs from fossil technologies were dominated by damage to human health caused by climate change, particulate emissions and exhaustion of fossil resources generated during the operation stage. External costs from renewables were dominated by the same categories plus exhaustion of mineral resources, in this case produced during the extraction of raw materials stage. These results demonstrate the profound unsustainability of fossil, whose external costs largely exceed wholesale market prices.

Suggested Citation

  • San Miguel, Guillermo, 2024. "External environmental costs of electricity generation using a life cycle approach: A case study of Spain," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(PD).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:237:y:2024:i:pd:s0960148124019177
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2024.121849
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148124019177
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2024.121849?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Krewitt, Wolfram & Heck, Thomas & Trukenmuller, Alfred & Friedrich, Rainer, 1999. "Environmental damage costs from fossil electricity generation in Germany and Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 173-183, March.
    2. 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.
    3. Rafaj, Peter & Kypreos, Socrates, 2007. "Internalisation of external cost in the power generation sector: Analysis with Global Multi-regional MARKAL model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 828-843, February.
    4. Weidema, Bo Pedersen, 2009. "Using the budget constraint to monetarise impact assessment results," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1591-1598, April.
    5. 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.
    6. Rosalie Arendt & Till M. Bachmann & Masaharu Motoshita & Vanessa Bach & Matthias Finkbeiner, 2020. "Comparison of Different Monetization Methods in LCA: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-39, December.
    7. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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.
    2. Zvingilaite, Erika, 2011. "Human health-related externalities in energy system modelling the case of the Danish heat and power sector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 535-544, February.
    3. 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.
    4. Vahakn Kabakian & Marcelle McManus, 2024. "From private to social cost-benefit analysis: life cycle environmental impact cost internalization in cement production fuel switching," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(10), pages 25527-25548, October.
    5. 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.
    6. Ayşe Bayazıt Subaşı & Elçin Filiz Taş, 2023. "Single Score Environmental Performances of Roof Coverings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-15, March.
    7. Ewelina Olba-Zięty & Jakub Jan Zięty & Mariusz Jerzy Stolarski, 2023. "External Environmental Costs of Solid Biomass Production against the Legal and Political Background in Europe," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-27, May.
    8. 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.
    9. Anni Orola & Anna Härri & Jarkko Levänen & Ville Uusitalo & Stig Irving Olsen, 2022. "Assessing WELBY Social Life Cycle Assessment Approach through Cobalt Mining Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-26, September.
    10. Patrizio, P. & Leduc, S. & Chinese, D. & Kraxner, F., 2017. "Internalizing the external costs of biogas supply chains in the Italian energy sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 85-96.
    11. Nguyen, Khanh Q., 2008. "Internalizing externalities into capacity expansion planning: The case of electricity in Vietnam," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 740-746.
    12. Kledja Canaj & Andi Mehmeti & Julio Berbel, 2021. "The Economics of Fruit and Vegetable Production Irrigated with Reclaimed Water Incorporating the Hidden Costs of Life Cycle Environmental Impacts," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-13, September.
    13. Thomson, Heather & Kempton, Willett, 2018. "Perceptions and attitudes of residents living near a wind turbine compared with those living near a coal power plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 301-311.
    14. Yong Zeng & Yanpeng Cai & Guohe Huang & Jing Dai, 2011. "A Review on Optimization Modeling of Energy Systems Planning and GHG Emission Mitigation under Uncertainty," Energies, MDPI, vol. 4(10), pages 1-33, October.
    15. 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.
    16. Ahlroth, Sofia, 2014. "The use of valuation and weighting sets in environmental impact assessment," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 34-41.
    17. Rosalie Arendt & Till M. Bachmann & Masaharu Motoshita & Vanessa Bach & Matthias Finkbeiner, 2020. "Comparison of Different Monetization Methods in LCA: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-39, December.
    18. Säll, Sarah & Gren, Ing-Marie, 2015. "Effects of an environmental tax on meat and dairy consumption in Sweden," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 41-53.
    19. Zvingilaite, Erika & Klinge Jacobsen, Henrik, 2015. "Heat savings and heat generation technologies: Modelling of residential investment behaviour with local health costs," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 31-45.
    20. Kosugi, Takanobu, 2016. "Endogenizing the probability of nuclear exit in an optimal power-generation mix model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 102-114.

    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:eee:renene:v:237:y:2024:i:pd:s0960148124019177. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    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.