Public health impact of air pollution and implications for the energy system

Low environmental damage is one of the main justifications for continued efforts to reduce energy consumption and to shift to cleaner sources such as solar energy, especially now that supply security has slipped from public consciousness. In recent years there has been much progress in the analysis of environmental damages, in particular thanks to the ExternE (External; Costs of Energy) Project of the European Commission. This paper presents a summary of the methodology and key results for the external costs of the major energy technologies. Even though the uncertainties are large, the results provide substantial evidence that the classic air pollutants (particles, NOx and SOx) from fossil fuels impose significant public health costs, comparable to the cost of global warming from CO2 emissions.