Air pollution and the siting of fossil fuel power plants

Technical Report · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1976

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7317244· OSTI ID:7317244

Fishelson, G.; Rausser, G. C.; Cohen, A. S.

The decision to locate a fossil-fueled electrical power plant on a particular site involves trade-offs among the costs of: (1) land acquisition, (2) plant construction, operation, and maintenance, (3) power transmission, and (4) air pollution damage to humans, animals, plants and materials. The fourth of these, pollution costs, has been of great concern in recent years. But seldom, if ever, are the specific dollar trade-offs between the environmental and the other costs associated with site selection taken into account. The sum of the costs of power generation (land, construction, operation, maintenance), power transmission, and air pollution damages (from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates) is the total social cost of a fossil-fuel plant; this total cost will generally vary by site. This paper presents an analysis of the total social cost, and the trade-offs between generation/transmission and air pollution costs, for various types of fossil plants at different sites in northern Illinois. The analysis identifies the combinations of site, fossil fuel, and sulfur dioxide (SO/sub 2/) control technology that minimize total social costs.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA); Chicago Univ., IL (USA). Center for Urban Studies
• Sponsoring Organization: US Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 7317244
• Report Number(s): ANL--76-XX-14
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010900 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Environmental Aspects
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
200200 -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Waste Management
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290300 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Environment
Health
& Safety
296001 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Electric Power Generation-- (-1989)
500200 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
510500* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
CHALCOGENIDES
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
ENERGY SOURCE DEVELOPMENT
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
GREAT LAKES REGION
ILLINOIS
LAND USE
MAINTENANCE
MASS TRANSFER
NORTH AMERICA
OPERATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
POLLUTION ABATEMENT
POWER PLANTS
POWER TRANSMISSION LINES
SITE SELECTION
SOCIAL IMPACT
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
SULFUR OXIDES
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
USA