Environmental costs estimation and mathematical model of marginal social cost: A case study of coal power plants
-
DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ee.12(1).2021.08
-
Article InfoVolume 12 2021, Issue #1, pp. 90-102
- Cited by
- 539 Views
-
145 Downloads
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
An increase in electricity production is proportional to environmental risks due to continuous energy production. The paper aims to quantitatively estimate the environmental costs and mathematically model the marginal social cost associated with the lifespan of the coal power plants. Results revealed South Africa Tier 1 company optimum level of electricity production per annum at around 2.15 gigawatts, considering the emission costs and reasonable profit. 85% of the total emissions during the combustion phase average cost of the C02 emission discharged by coal is calculated as 0.23c/KWh, 0.085c/kWh is calculated for NO2, while SO2 is 0.035c/KWh. Total emission cost represents 69.2% of the total cost of producing 1 MGW of electricity. The results confirmed the company losses to be insignificantly considerable to the evaluated environmental costs and capital investment. However, the use of this newly developed mathematical model depends on the source of energy production to confirm the feasibility and profitability of investment in coal-powered stations using environmental management accounting and marginal social cost approaches.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge the National Research Foundation and Durban University of Technology for financial support.
- Keywords
-
JEL Classification (Paper profile tab)Q56
-
References47
-
Tables1
-
Figures7
-
- Figure 1. Electricity generation quantity and cost of production
- Figure 2. Environmental impact of electricity production
- Figure 3. Scatter plot of cost of electricity vs Total electricity produced (sold)
- Figure 4. Regression analysis of the TSB of electricity vs Electricity sold
- Figure 5. CO2 emission in Mt Vs Electricity sold in GWh (2020)
- Figure 6. NO2 emission in Kt Vs Electricity sold in GWh (2020)
- Figure 7. SO2 emission in Kt Vs Electricity sold in GWh
-
- Table 1. Total costs and total revenue of electricity produced for the past 20 years
-
- Abella, J. A., & Bayacag, P. (2013). Environment, health, and economic growth in the Philippines. 2013 Biennial Convention of the Philippines Agricultural Economics and Developmental Association.
- Adenuga, O. T., Mpofu, K., & Kgaugelo, M. (2020). An approach for enhancing optimal resource recovery from different classes of waste in South Africa: Selection of appropriate waste to energy technology. Sustainable Futures, 2, 100033.
- Alikhani, R., & Jori M.M. (2014). Application of social and environmental information disclosure theories. Accounting and Auditing Studies, 3, 9, 2014, 36-53.
- Awodumi, O. B., & Adewuyi, A. O. (2020). The role of non-renewable energy consumption in economic growth and carbon emission: Evidence from oil producing economies in Africa. Energy Strategy Reviews, 27, 100434.
- Cooremans, C. (2012). Investment in energy efficiency: do the characteristics of investments matter? Energy Efficiency, 5, 497-518.
- Chakamera, C., & Alagidede, P. (2018). Electricity crisis and the effect of CO2 emissions on infrastructure-growth nexus in Sub Saharan Africa. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 94, 945-958.
- De Marco, A., Proietti, C., Anav, A., Ciancarella, L., D’Elia, I., Fares, S., Fornasier, M. F., Fusaro, L., Gualtieri, M., Manes, F., Marchetto, A., Mircea, M., Paoletti, E., Piersanti, A., Rogora, M., Salvati, L., Salvatori, E., Screpanti, A., Vialetto, G., Vitale, M., & Leonardi, C. (2019). Impacts of air pollution on human and ecosystem health, and implications for the National Emission Ceilings Directive: Insights from Italy. Environment International, 125, 320-333.
- Donnelly, L. (2019, February 15). Medupi and Kusile: Costly and faulty. The Mail & Guardian.
- Dwivedi, D. N. (2015). Managerial Economics: Production and Cost Analysis (8th ed.). Vikas Publishing House.
- Eberhard, A., Gratwick, K., Morella, E., & Antmann, P. (2016). Independent power projects in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons from five key countries. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group.
- Emmanuel, C., Harris, E., & Komakech, S. (2010). Towards a better understanding of capital investment decisions. Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 6(4), 477-504.
- ESKOM. (2020). The Eskom Factor 2.0 (Report).
- Fakoya, M. B. (2013). Economic growth, sustainability and sustainable development: challenges facing the BRICS economic nation of South Africa. Environmental Economics, 4(3).
- Gupta, G. V. M., Sudheesh, V., Sudharma, K. V., Saravanane, N., Dhanya, V., Dhanya, K. R., Lakshmi, G., Sudhakar, M., & Naqvi, S. W. A. (2016). Evolution to decay of upwelling and associated biogeochemistry over the southeastern Arabian Sea shelf. J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosci. 121, 159-175.
- Hagens, N. J. (2020). Economics for the future – Beyond the superorganism. Ecological Economics, 169, 106520.
- Hamidu, A., Haron, M., & Amran, A. (2015). Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review on Definitions, Core Characteristics and Theoretical Perspectives. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(4), 83-95.
- Huaman, R. E., & Jun, X. T. (2014). Energy related CO2 emissions and the progress on CCS projects: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 31, 368-385.
- IPCC. (2019). 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
- Katircioglu, S.T., Feridun, M. Kilinc, C. (2014). Estimating tourism-induced energy consumption and CO2 emissions: The case of Cyprus. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 29, 634-640.
- Kessides, I. N. (2014). Powering Africa’s sustainable development: The potential role of nuclear energy. Energy Policy, 74(suppl 1), S57-S70.
- Lipsey, R. G. (2018). A Reconsideration of the Theory of Non-Linear Scale Effects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Lipton, D. (2013). South Africa: Facing the Challenges of the Global Economy (IMF Report).
- Mellichamp, D. A. 2019. Profitability, risk, and investment in conceptual plant design: Optimizing key financial parameters rigorously using NPV%. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 128, 450-467.
- Mohammed, Y. S., Mustafa, M. W. and Bashir, N. (2013). Status of renewable energy consumption and developmental challenges in Sub-Sahara Africa. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 27, 453-463.
- Mukhalalati, B., & Awaisu, A. (2019). Principles, Paradigms, and Application of Qualitative Research in Pharmacy Practice. In Z.-U.-D. Babar (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Pharmacy (pp. 162-172). Oxford: Elsevier.
- Munawer, M. E. (2018). Human health and environmental impacts of coal combustion and post-combustion wastes. Journal of Sustainable Mining, 17(2), 87-96.
- Nazari, S., Shahhoseini, O., Sohrabi-Kashani, A., Davari, S., Paydar, R., & Delavar-Moghadam, Z. (2010). Experimental determination and analysis of CO2, SO2 and NOx emission factors in Iran’s thermal power plants. Energy, 35(7), 2992-2998.
- Nkambule, N. P., & Blignaut, J. N. (2017). Externality costs of the coal-fuel cycle: The case of Kusile Power Station. South African Journal of Science, 113(9), 1-9.
- Nkomo, J. (2005). Energy and economic development: challenges for South Africa. Journal of Energy in Southern Africa, 16(3), 10-20.
- Nooij, de M. (2011). Social cost-benefit analysis of electricity interconnector investment: A critical appraisal. Energy Policy, 39(6), 3096-3105.
- Oke, A. E., Aigbavboa, C. O., & Dlamini, S. A. (2017). Carbon Emission Trading in South African Construction Industry. Energy Procedia, 142, 2371-2376.
- Okolo, G. N., Everson, R. C., Neomagus, H. W. J. P., Sakurovs, R., Grigore, M., & Bunt, J. R. (2019). The carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen high-pressure sorption properties of South African bituminous coals. International Journal of Coal Geology, 209, 40-53.
- Owusu, P. A., & Asumadu-Sarkodie, S. (2016). A review of renewable energy sources, sustainability issues and climate change mitigation. Cogent Engineering, 3(1), 1167990.
- Oyewo, A. S., Aghahosseini, A., Ram, M., Lohrmann, A., & Breyer, C. (2019). Pathway towards achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2050 for South Africa. Solar Energy, 191, 549-565.
- Ozili, P. K. (2020). Theories of Financial Inclusion. SSRN Electronic Journal.
- Parker, K. (1993). Economics, Sustainable Growth, and Community. Environmental Values, 2(3), 233-245.
- Riekert, J. W., & Koch, S. F. (2012). Projecting the external health costs of a coal-fired power plant: The case of Kusile. Journal of Energy in Southern Africa, 23(4).
- Santos, G., Behrendt, H., Maconi, L., Shirvani, T., & Teytelboym, A. (2010). Part I: Externalities and economic policies in road transport. Research in Transportation Economics, 28(1), 2-45.
- SHIFT. (2017). About Us.
- Statistics South Africa. (2017). Environmental Economic Accounts Compendium (Report No. 04-05-20). Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.
- Stevenson, S.L. (2012). Significant changes to ENSO strength and impacts in the twenty-first century: Results from CMIP5. Geophysical Research Letters, 39, 17.
- Sulemana, I., James, H. S., & Rikoon, S. (2017). Environmental Kuznets curves for air pollution in African and developed countries: Exploring turning point incomes and the role of democracy. Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, 6(2), 134-152.
- Trianni, A., Cagno, E., Marchesani, F., & Spallina, G. (2017). Classification of drivers for industrial energy efficiency and their effect on the barriers affecting the investment decision-making process. Energy Efficiency, 10(1), 199-215.
- Yang, Z., Ji, P., Li, Q., Jiang, Y., Zheng, C., Wang, Y., Gao, X., & Lin, R. (2019). Comprehensive understanding of SO3 effects on synergies among air pollution control devices in ultra-low emission power plants burning high-sulfur coal. Journal of Cleaner Production, 239, 118096.
- Yun, Y., Gao, R., Yue, H., Li, G., Zhu, N., & Sang, N. (2015). Synergistic effects of particulate matter (PM10) and SO2 on human non-small cell lung cancer A549 via ROS-mediated NF-κB activation. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 31, 146-153.
- Zhang, Z., Xi, L., Bin, S., Yuhuan, Z., Song, W., Ya, L., Hao, L., Yongfeng, Z., Ashfaq, A., & Guang, S. (2019). Energy, CO2 emissions, and value added flows embodied in the international trade of the BRICS group: A comprehensive assessment. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 116, 109432.
- Zyznarska-Dworczak, B. (2017). Legitimacy Theory in Management Accounting Research. Problemy zarządzania – management issues, 16(1/72), 195-203.