Umair Gaines
While electricity is a clean and relatively safe form of energy, electricity generation and transmission affect the environment. The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas, to generate electricity releases harmful pollutants into the air, water, and land. These pollutants include nitrogen and sulfur oxides, carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and toxic heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic, and cadmium. The toxic equivalent of electricity, therefore, refers to the release and impact of these toxic chemicals and pollutants on human health and the environment.
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What You'll Learn
Fossil fuels and their toxic byproducts
While electricity is a clean and relatively safe form of energy, electricity generation and transmission can affect the environment. In the United States, about 62% of total electricity generation in 2022 was produced from fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels has been the primary source of energy for over a century, powering our cars, businesses, and homes. Even today, oil, coal, and gas serve about 80% of our energy needs.
The use of fossil fuels results in significant climate, environmental, and health costs. Each stage of the fossil fuel supply chain, from extraction and transportation to refining and burning, generates externalities. When fossil fuels are burned, they emit harmful air pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, benzene, formaldehyde, and other greenhouse gases. These emissions contribute to climate change, global warming, ocean acidification, and extreme weather events such as wildfires, hurricanes, wind storms, flooding, and droughts.
Fossil fuel extraction and transportation also pose risks of oil spills and leaks, which can pollute drinking water sources and harm aquatic life. Fracking, a common practice in the fossil fuel industry, uses toxic fluids that contaminate drinking water and generate enormous volumes of wastewater laden with heavy metals, radioactive materials, and other pollutants. Coal mining operations release toxic runoff into waterways and dump unwanted rock and soil into streams, further degrading water quality.
Additionally, the infrastructure associated with fossil fuels, such as wells, pipelines, and access roads, can fragment and destroy critical wildlife habitats. The burning of fossil fuels also releases fine particulate matter, which contributes to air pollution and has adverse health effects. This includes respiratory issues such as asthma, as well as more severe consequences like cancer, heart disease, and premature death.
The toxic byproducts of fossil fuels are diverse and far-reaching, impacting the environment, ecosystems, and human health. As a result, there is a growing recognition of the need to transition towards cleaner and more sustainable forms of energy to mitigate the harmful impacts of fossil fuels and their toxic byproducts.
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The impact of coal-fired power plants
Electricity is a clean and relatively safe form of energy. However, electricity generation and transmission affect the environment. While all power plants have an environmental impact, coal-fired power plants are particularly harmful. In 1997, coal-fired power plants were the dominant source of US power generation, accounting for 52% of electricity production. As of 2022, coal, along with other fossil fuels, materials from plants, and municipal and industrial waste, accounted for 62% of total electricity generation in the US.
Coal-fired power plants produce air, water, and land pollution. They emit hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) or air toxics, which include mercury, lead, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulates, and various other heavy metals. Mercury, a potent neurotoxin, is the principal HAP of concern. It affects the nervous system and brain functions, especially in infants and children. Other HAPs contribute to asthma and chronic bronchitis, especially in children and the elderly. Very small, or fine PM, is believed to cause emphysema and lung cancer. Coal-fired power plants are a major source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution, which is associated with an increased risk of death.
Coal-fired power plants also affect the visual landscape. Land clearing is required to build power plants, and they may require access roads, railroads, and pipelines for fuel delivery, electricity transmission lines, and cooling water supplies. Mountaintop removal and valley fill mining have impacted large areas of the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia and Kentucky. Streams are sometimes covered with rock and dirt, and the water draining from these filled valleys may contain pollutants that can harm aquatic wildlife downstream.
Additionally, coal-fired power plants produce more than 100 million tons of coal ash every year, which can contaminate waterways and drinking water supplies. Coal ash contains hazardous materials captured by pollution control devices, such as fly ash and bottom ash, which are residues created when power plants burn coal. The disposal of coal ash in landfills can also lead to pollution that leaches into the ground and contaminates groundwater.
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Mercury and other airborne toxins
Electricity is a clean and relatively safe form of energy. However, electricity generation and transmission affect the environment. The US has laws that govern the effects of electricity generation and transmission on the environment, such as the Clean Air Act, which regulates air pollutant emissions from power plants.
Power plants are the largest source of airborne emissions of mercury. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that affects the nervous system and brain functions, especially in infants and children. It is also known to cause other significant health effects. Mercury occurs naturally in coal and other fossil fuels, so when these fuels are burned for energy, the mercury becomes airborne and enters the atmosphere. In the US, power plants that burn coal to generate electricity are the largest source of mercury emissions, accounting for about 44% of all man-made mercury emissions.
Mercury poisoning occurs due to exposure to excessive mercury, an elemental metal found in the environment. Mercury poisoning is rare in the US but is more common in other countries, especially in mining communities and near seaside towns where food may become contaminated with mercury. Mercury can enter the body through ingestion, inhalation, or skin contact. Once inside the body, mercury travels to the heart, central nervous system, and kidneys, causing various symptoms as the body tries to get rid of the compound. Elemental mercury is usually harmless if touched or swallowed but extremely dangerous if inhaled into the lungs.
In addition to mercury, power plants release other toxic metals and pollutants into the water, as well as contributing to land pollution through the disposal of coal ash, which can contain contaminants like cadmium and arsenic. Carbon dioxide emissions from power plants also contribute to climate change, affecting ecosystems and threatening public health.
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The human toxicity impact of electricity sources
Electricity is a clean and relatively safe form of energy. However, electricity generation and transmission affect the environment. Nearly all types of electric power plants impact the environment, but some power plants have larger effects than others.
The burning of fossil fuels in power plants is a leading source of air, water, and land pollution. Fossil fuel-fired power plants are a significant source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, which contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone and fine particle pollution. These pollutants have adverse health effects, including asthma and chronic bronchitis, especially in children and the elderly. Fine particle pollution is also believed to cause emphysema and lung cancer.
Additionally, power plants are the largest source of airborne emissions of mercury, a potent neurotoxin that affects the nervous system and brain functions, particularly in infants and children. Mercury is one of the 188 hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) emitted by power plants, and it has been a principal concern for its significant health effects.
The electric power sector is also a large source of CO2 emissions, contributing to climate change, which in turn affects ecosystems and threatens public health. The disposal of coal ash, a byproduct of burning solid fuels, further contributes to land pollution as it contains hazardous materials such as mercury, cadmium, and arsenic.
While electricity generation from shale gas has been found to have a lower human toxicity impact than coal, concerns about water contamination and VOC emissions associated with shale gas production have been raised.
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Climate change and ecosystem damage
While electricity is a clean and relatively safe form of energy, electricity generation and transmission affect the environment. In 2020, fossil fuels (petroleum, coal, and natural gas) accounted for nearly 80% of US energy production, both in electricity generation and energy consumed directly. Fossil fuel-fired power plants are a leading source of air, water, and land pollution, affecting communities nationwide. They are the largest stationary source category of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, and a significant source of mercury and fine particle emissions. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that affects the nervous system and brain functions, especially in infants and children. It is also known to cause other significant health issues.
Electric power generation is the second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide pollution, contributing to climate change, which is threatening public health and affecting ecosystems at multiple levels. As the climate warms, Americans are expected to use more energy, mostly electricity, for cooling, increasing the chance of blackouts or other power disruptions. Warmer, drier conditions caused by climate change are expected to make wildfires more frequent and intense. For example, the 2021 Dixie Fire, sparked by a tree contacting electrical distribution lines, was the largest wildfire in California's history.
Carbon dioxide emissions from power plants are causing climate change, which is affecting ecosystems in multiple ways. Climate controls how plants grow, how animals behave, which organisms thrive, and how they all interact with the physical environment. As habitats experience different temperatures, precipitation patterns, and other changes, the organisms that make up ecosystems feel the effects. All US regions are experiencing the impacts of climate change, but the effects vary by area and ecosystem.
Extreme weather and natural disasters pose significant risks to the US energy supply in all regions of the country. Energy systems on both the Gulf and East Coasts face a higher risk of damage from flooding due to hurricanes and sea-level rise. In Arctic regions like Alaska, thawing permafrost causes land to sink and damage fuel pipelines and other energy infrastructure. Drought, reduced mountain snowpack, and shifting snowmelt timing could affect hydropower energy production in the West, especially in summer, when demand is greatest.
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Frequently asked questions
The toxic equivalent of electricity is the human toxicity impact (HTI) of electricity produced from different sources.
The HTI of electricity produced from shale gas is lower than that of coal.
Coal-fired power plants release toxic heavy elements such as mercury, arsenic, and other hazardous pollutants that can cause cancer and other health issues.
Power plants can affect the environment through air, water, and land pollution. They release toxic metals and other pollutants into water bodies and contribute to climate change.
Regulatory actions, such as the Clean Air Act in the United States, aim to reduce air pollutant emissions from power plants. The Pollution Prevention Act and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act also focus on toxic chemical releases and waste management.
