The hidden costs of energy and mobility: Grappling with global externalities

[Benjamin Sovacool]

Dear all,

 

As many of you know, externalities are one of the most vexing conundrums facing sound energy and climate planning because they so upset markets, distort behaviors and improperly align supply and demand.

 

In that vein, I am very pleased to share this new study, co-authored with Professor Jinsoo Kim and Minyoung Yang. The study offers a comprehensive research synthesis of externalities for energy and mobility, and it synthesizes data from 139 studies with 704 estimations to examine the hidden costs of energy, mobility, and efficiency.

 

We find that electricity systems could generate $11.644 trillion in annual externalities. Yes, that’s right. With a “t.”  Transport could generate another $13.018 trillion in annual externalities. By contrast energy efficiency has an annual positive value of $312 billion per year (i.e., more net positive externalities than negative ones).

 

The study is fully open access here:

 

Sovacool, BK, J Kim and M Yang, “The hidden costs of energy and mobility: A global meta-analysis and research synthesis of electricity and transport externalities,” Energy Research & Social Science 72 (February, 2021), 101885, pp. 1-20.  Available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629620304606

 

Please do disseminate far and wide, we want this one to shape future research and policy pathways.

 

Sincerely,

 

Benjamin Sovacool

University of Sussex

University of Aarhus