Putting a price on a gallon of gasoline or an hour of electricity isn’t tough. But what about energy costs that are more difficult for policymakers, consumers, and industry leaders to measure —like the toll air pollution from electricity generation takes on human health?

Responding to a congressional request to examine the life-cycle externalities associated with energy production, distribution, and consumption, the National Research Council released, “Hidden Cost of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use.” The report looks at the potential for energy-related damages to human health, environment, national security and infrastructure.

According to the report, in 2005 some $120 billion in damages could be measured in adverse effects from energy, primarily in the form of health damages related to air pollution from electricity generation. While the report’s authors tackle the effects of climate change, ecosystem damages, and risks to national security, their $120 billion calculation doesn’t account for those factors.

RFF Senior Fellows Maureen Cropper and Alan Krupnick contributed to the report. You can read a press release summarizing more findings from the report here, or check it out in its entirety here.

For more on externalities and their role in environmental policy, read this post at Environmental Economics.

Tiffany Clements is managing editor of Weathervane.