(Washington DC)  Air pollution from power generation alone costs the United States about 120 billion dollars a year in health-related expenses.

  That's according to a new report by the National Research Council that examined so-called "hidden" costs of energy production and use - such as the effect of air impurities on humans not reflected in market prices of coal, oil, other sources or the electricity and gasoline produced from them. The dollar figure excludes impacts from climate change, harm to ecosystems, effects of some air pollutants such as mercury and risks to national security.

  Requested by Congress, the report assessed what economists call external effects caused by various energy sources over their entire life cycle - for example, not only the pollution generated when gasoline is used to run a car, but also the pollution created by extracting and refining oil and transporting fuel to gas stations.



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