Energy Policy 74 (2014) 414–424

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Energy Policy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol

Externalities from lignite mining-related dust emissions

A. Papagiannis, D. Roussos, M. Menegaki, D. Damigos n
School of Mining and Metallurgy Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou, 15780 Athens, Greece

H I G H L I G H T S

Externalities from lignite mining-related dust emissions are 3 €/t of lignite.

Externalities of mining correspond to around 5.0 €/MW h.

Externalities are significantly lower, up to 80%, if dust deposition is considered.

There is lack of specific dust emission rates for lignite mining.

There are high discrepancies in existing dust emission rates for lignite mining.

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: During the last three decades, several studies have been conducted in order to assess the external costs
Received 30 May 2014 of electricity production from fossil fuels, especially coal and lignite. Nevertheless, these studies usually
Received in revised form ignore the impacts generated by the upstream mining works. This paper contributes to existing
15 July 2014
literature and attempts to fill this gap by exploring the externalities of lignite mining owing to the
Accepted 19 August 2014
emission of suspended particulate matter. To this end, a ‘bottom-up’ approach is implemented, using as
Available online 15 September 2014
case study the largest operational lignite surface mine at the Lignite Center of Western Macedonia
Keywords: (Greece). The results indicate that annual air pollution externalities of lignite mining are of the order of 3
Lignite mining €/ton of lignite, which corresponds to around 5.0 €/MW h. The estimated costs are significantly lower, i.e.
Externalities
up to 80%, when dust deposition is considered in air dispersion models. In any case, these findings
Fossil-fuelled electricity production
should be seen as a starting point for discussion owing to the lack of specific emission rates for Greek
Dust emission
lignite mines.
& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction electricity production. Thus, internalizing externalities into private

Fossil-fueled electricity production, though a key option for
generating power in many countries worldwide, causes harm to a
wide range of receptors such as humans, natural ecosystems, crops
and building materials. These impacts arise at many stages, i.e. the
exploration, mining and transport of the fuel, construction and
operation of the electricity generation plant, disposal of waste, etc.,
and are accompanied by externalities. Formally, an externality is
defined as an uncompensated side effect of one agent’s action that
directly affects the welfare of another agent. The concept of
externalities goes back in the writings of Marshall in 1890 and
Pigou in 1920 and, since then, it has become the main organizing
principle used by economists when analyzing pollution problems
(Freeman, 2003).
Externalities are not reflected in market prices and, as a result,
there exists a difference between the private and the social cost of
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 302107722214; fax: þ302107722156.
E-mail address: damigos@metal.ntua.gr (D. Damigos).
cost is necessary in order to “get the prices right” and to create
market based incentives for environment-friendly electricity gen-
eration systems. Towards this direction, decision-makers have to
consider the trade-offs between environmental targets and eco-
nomic objectives by means of cost-benefit procedures, attempting
to internalize the external cost of an activity (e.g. fossil-fueled
electricity production) in the private production cost.
During the last three decades, several studies have been conducted
in order to assess externalities in electricity production from various
fuels and technologies, e.g. Hohmeyer (1988, 1992), Ottinger et al.
(1991), Pearce et al. (1992), Friedrich and Voss (1993), Oak Ridge
National Laboratory (ORNL) and Resources for the Future (RfF) (1994–
1998), Kovacevic et al. (2000), Fouquet et al. (2001), and of course the
ExternE project series (Commission of the European Communities
(CEC), 1995, 1999). The majority of those studies have been critically
surveyed by Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) (1994), Lee (1997),
Stirling (1998), Schleisner (2000), Sundqvist (2000, 2001), Sundqvist
and Söderholm (2002), Krewitt (2002), Kim (2006), Burtraw et al.
(2012) and others. Nevertheless, the vast majority of these studies
focus almost solely on the externalities generated by power plants,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2014.08.026
0301-4215/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 A. Papagiannis et al. / Energy Policy 74 (2014) 414–424
ignoring the impacts of upstream mining works. The latter, however,
could be significant, considering that surface mines damage natural
fauna and flora, pollute groundwater and soil and result in serious
landscape degradation by forming geometrical features that replace
natural topographic relief (Menegaki and Kaliampakos, 2006;
Milgrom, 2008). In addition to the environmental damage, mining
activities may also impact man-made environment. For instance,
windblown dust from exposed excavations, stockpiles and waste
heaps could cause nuisance and even health hazards for nearby
communities, if it contains toxic substances and heavy metals.
Bearing in mind the above mentioned concerns, this paper
wishes to shed light on the environmental externalities of lignite
mining. More specifically, the analysis focuses on the valuation of
the external costs associated with the emission of suspended
particulate matter during the mining process. To this end, the
South Field Mine of the Lignite Center Ptolemais—Amyntaio is
used as case study and according to the authors’ best knowledge
this is the first attempt to bridge the gap between the air pollution
externalities generated by lignite-fired power plants and mining of
the fuel using a ‘bottom-up’ approach.
2. Dust emissions and mining
2.1. Dust generation, properties and impacts
Dust generation and dispersion is a problem in almost all types
of mining. There are various dust sources in the mining industry,
with the most important ones being the fugitive sources from
drilling and blasting of overburden and ore, loading and transport
operations, processing and handling (e.g. crushing, screening, etc.),
disposal of waste, and wind erosion of exposed areas and stock-
piles. Mine dust can cause a number of problems to human health,
the environment and economic activities. In some cases, mine dust
may simply cause nuisance and aesthetic deterioration in the
surrounding environment and communities, while in others it
may cause serious health effects.
The extent and seriousness of impacts are heavily dependent
on particle size and composition. For instance, dust composition
can influence the chemistry of the soil and health of surrounding
plants (e.g. Farmer, 1993; Grantz et al., 2003), as well as the
impacts on building materials (Martinez-Ramirez and Thompson,
1998). Furthermore, depending on its chemical properties dust can
cause many diseases, such as: pneumoconiosis (and in particular
silicosis, asbestosis, and even cancer), dermatitis, gastrointestinal
tract irritation through ingestion, irritation and inflammatory
lung injuries, allergic reactions like occupational asthma, etc.
(Petavratzi et al., 2005). Besides chemical composition, the size
of dust particles is also a very important parameter. Particle size is
often described by the aerodynamic diameter of the particle,
which is defined as the diameter of a hypothetical sphere of
density 1 g/cm3 having the same terminal velocity in calm air as
the particle in question regardless of its geometric size, shape and
true density (Petavratzi et al., 2005). Particle size is of particular
importance with respect to human health impacts because it
determines the probability of airborne particles to deposit in
different regions of the human respiratory tract. For this purpose,
three penetration curves have been adopted from the European
Committee for Standardization (CEN, 1993), as follows:

The inhalable fraction is the mass fraction of total airborne
particles, which is inhaled through the nose and mouth. The
inhalable fraction is not defined beyond 100 μm.

The extrathoracic fraction is the mass fraction of inhaled
particles failing to penetrate beyond the larynx.
415

The thoracic fraction is the fraction of inhalable particles that
can penetrate beyond the larynx, i.e. it reaches the bronchial
region and it is described by a cumulative log-normal distribu-
tion with a median of 11.64 μm and a geometric standard
deviation of 1.5.

The respirable fraction is the mass fraction of inhaled particles
penetrating to the unciliated airways, i.e. it reaches the alveolar
region of the lung and it is described by a cumulative log-
normal distribution with a median of 4.25 μm and a geometric
standard deviation of 1.5.
2.2. Particulate matter ambient standards
There is no specific legislation relating to dust emissions from
mining activities. Thus, the effects of mine dust on air quality are
governed by general air quality standards and legislation. To this
end, current air quality standards and limits are based on two
categories of particle pollution, namely PM10 and PM2.5. PM10
category involves “coarse particles” less than 10 μm in size up to
2.5 μm. PM2.5 fraction involves “fine particles” less than 2.5 μm
and may be referred to as “primary” (i.e. directly emitted into the
ambient air as solid or liquid particles) or “secondary” (i.e. formed
by chemical reactions of gases in the atmosphere).
As regards EU, an extensive body of legislation has been
developed which establishes health based standards and objectives
for a number of pollutants in air and is applied throughout all
Member States. The effort to minimize the impacts of air pollution
started in 1996, when Directive 96/62/EC was adopted for establish-
ing a Community framework for the assessment and management
of ambient air quality in the EU. This legislation act was revised by
the so-called “daughter directives” 1999/30/EC, 2000/69/EC and
2002/3/EC. In 2005, the Commission adopted a proposal for a new
directive on ambient air quality, adopting, at the same time, the
thematic strategy on air pollution. According to this proposal
(Commission of the European Communities (CEC), 2005), in the
year 2000, exposure to particulate matter was estimated to reduce
average statistical life expectancy by approximately 9 months in the
EU-25, equating to approximately 3.6 million life years lost or
348,000 premature mortalities per annum. The target set was to
reduce harmful emissions of particulate matter up to 2020, so as to
reduce the average loss in statistical life expectancy to around
5.5 months. On these grounds, in 2008, EU adopted a new Directive
(2008/50/EC) on ambient air quality. Focusing on particle pollution,
existing legislation has set both an annual and a 24-h standard for
PM10 and an annual standard for PM2.5. More specifically, the
annual limit value for PM10 is 40 μg/m3 and for PM2.5 is 40 μg/m3
(this limit value enters into force in 1/1/2015), respectively, and the
24-h standard for PM10 is 50 μg/m3 allowing 35 daily exceedances
per calendar year. In the context of this analysis, the focus is on
PM10 emissions and, thus, the relative standards are considered.
3. Methodology
3.1. Externalities and energy sector
There are a number of approaches to deal with the problem of
monetizing external costs. Each method or group of methods has a
limited field of application and it is useful in producing estimates
only for specific impacts (Damigos, 2006). As regards the energy
sector, there are two principal methods of monetizing environmental
damages (e.g. Sundqvist, 2001; Sundqvist and Söderholm, 2002):
- Abatement (mitigation) cost assessment and
- Damage cost assessment.
416 A. Papagiannis et al. / Energy Policy 74 (2014) 414–424

Abatement costs are sometimes used as a proxy for external

costs owing to the difficulties of estimating damage costs (Burtraw
et al., 2012). The implicit assumption in control costing is that the
society makes optimal decisions, i.e. it controls pollution until the
benefits of additional controls would be outweighed by the costs.
Pearce et al. (1992) stress that this assumption is one of the serious
caveats with the abatement cost approach. For instance, Burtraw
et al. (2012) mention that regulations are generally not set
optimally except from certain forms (e.g. performance standards)
and that the abatement cost is zero for unregulated pollutants.
Thus, it is argued that the use of abatement costs as a proxy for
externalities is discouraged and is preferred only to no approach at
all (Burtraw and Krupnick, 2012).
The damage cost assessment can be subdivided into top-down
and bottom-up approaches. Top-down studies make use of aggre-
gated data to estimate the environmental costs of specific pollu-
tants and they are typically carried out at national or regional
levels. The main critique against the top-down approach is that it
“generically” cannot take into account the site specificity of many
types of impacts, nor the different stages of the fuel cycle
(Sundqvist and Söderholm, 2002). In bottom-up studies, damages
from the source under investigation are typically identified and
quantified in physical and monetary terms through impact path-
ways or damage functions. The latter approach has been adopted
in this work and is described briefly hereinafter.

3.2. The impact pathway approach

So far, the most commonly used and recognized bottom-up

approach for energy sector has been developed by the ExternE
project, which began as a collaborative effort, in 1991, between the
European Commission (EC) and the US Department of Energy
(Commission of the European Communities (CEC), 1995, 1999).
The USA withdrew in 1994 but the EC continued funding this
research till 2005. After 2005, many other projects have being
supported, such as the NEEDS Project (New Energy Externalities
Development for Sustainability) that evaluated the social costs and
benefits (i.e. private and external costs) of energy policies and of
future energy systems in individual European countries and the
enlarged European Union.
The approach of ExternE stresses three principles, which are
important in externality valuation, namely: transparency, compre-
hensiveness and consistency. It is a useful basis for estimating
external costs of environmental pollution from electricity produc-
tion, using the best methods available. However, there are many
uncertainties involved in the estimates deriving from scientific
issues, i.e. dose–response functions, monetary values on morbidity
and mortality, etc. As a result, the estimates present a wide
disparity in many cases and the usefulness in deriving policy-
oriented recommendations is argued (Fouquet et al., 2001).
In the case of air pollutants, the impact pathway approach
begins with determining the quantity of emissions from a defined
source. Then it makes use of dispersion models and exposure–
response functions to determine the marginal damages resulting
from the emissions. The final step consists of multiplying the
marginal damages by their estimated monetary value. Thus,
impacts on human health and the environment are quantified in
monetary terms in four consecutive steps (Fig. 1).
3.3. Dust emission factors
Fig. 1. The impact pathway approach (Bickel and Friedrich, 2005).
Inventory (NPi), 2012). Most of the work in developing emission
factors for surface mining activities has been undertaken in the
USA (e.g. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), 1985,
1991, 1998). Additional work has been also undertaken in Australia
(e.g. National Pollutant Inventory (NPi), 2012) and India (e.g.
Ghose and Majee, 2000; Chakraborty et al., 2002; Ghose, 2004,
2007).
Emission factors for continuous mining, i.e. excavation of over-
burden and extraction of lignite by means of bucket wheel
excavators (BWE), belt conveyors and stackers, have not been
specifically developed by USEPA or Australian organizations
(National Pollutant Inventory (NPi), 2012). In the absence of a
specific emission factor, National Pollutant Inventory (NPi) (2012)
recommends that the following equation for miscellaneous trans-
fer and conveying should be used:

1:3
U ðm=sÞ =2:2
EFPM10 ðkg=t Þ ¼ kPM10  0:0016   1:4 ð1Þ
M ð%Þ =2

In order to estimate the amount of dust emitted to the atmo-
sphere from mining operations, for inventory or other purposes, it
is necessary to take into account appropriate emission factors
combined with site-specific information such as the silt and
moisture content of material being handled (National Pollutant
where EFPM10 ðkg=tÞ ¼emission factor for PM10 (kg/t), kPM10 ¼ 0.35
for PM10, U(m/s) ¼mean wind speed (m/s), M(%) ¼ moisture content
(% be weight).
National Pollutant Inventory (NPi) (2012) argues that the
moisture content is generally very high and dust emissions are
 A. Papagiannis et al. / Energy Policy 74 (2014) 414–424
generally minor. Thus, it suggests a default emission factor of
0.00015 kg/t.
Ghose (2007), however, provides an emission factor for bucket
wheel excavation between 0.7 to 2.0 kg/t for overburden and 0.5 to
1.0 kg/t for lignite, respectively. In addition, he proposes the use of
the following equation for estimating fugitive particulate emis-
sions:
     
0:0018 S=5 = U=5 = h=10
EF ¼  2
M=2
where, EF ¼particulate emissions expressed (lb/t of materials
loaded), S ¼silt content (%), U¼mean wind speed 4 m above the
ground (mph), h¼drop height (ft), M¼unbound moisture content
of material (%).
As regards transfer and conveying systems, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (USEPA) (1998) and National Pollutant
Inventory (NPi) (2012) provide the following emission factor
equation for a continuous loading operation, which should be
used to estimate emissions from conveyor transfer points:

1:3
U ðm=sÞ =2:2
EFPM10 ðkg=t=transfer pointÞ ¼ kPM10  0:0016   1:4
M ð%Þ =2
where, EFPM10 ðkg=t=transfer pointÞ ¼emission factor for PM10 (kg/t/
transfer point), kPM10 ¼ 0.35 for PM10, U(m/s) ¼mean wind speed
(m/s), M(%) ¼ moisture content (%).
In addition, default emission factors have been reported, as
follows:

National Pollutant Inventory (NPi) (2012): 0.00015 kg PM10/t/
transfer point (general)

Ghose (2007): 0.05 to 0.1 kg dust/t/transfer point (overburden);
0.05 to 0.1 kg/t/transfer point (coal)

Ghose and Majee (2000): 0.075 kg dust/t/transfer point (coal).
As regards conveying, Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality (TCEQ) (2002) suggests an emission factor of 0.0014 lb
PM10/t/300 feet of a single conveyor, i.e. about 0.0007 kg PM10/t/
100 m of a single conveyor.
None of the above-mentioned organizations and researchers
provides emission factors with respect to the operation of stackers.
For this reason, the equation for miscellaneous transfer and
conveying and relevant default factors were followed in the
context of the present study.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (1998) and
National Pollutant Inventory (NPi) (2012) suggest the following
equation for estimating TSP emission factor for wind erosion from
stockpiles and exposed areas:

s     
ð%Þ 365 p f ð%Þ
EFTSP ðkg=ha=yrÞ ¼ 1:9   365   ð4Þ
1:5 235 15
where, EFTSP(kg//ha/yr) ¼emission factor for TSP (kg/ha/yr), s(%) ¼silt
content (% by weight), p ¼number of days per year when rainfall is
greater than (0.25 mm), f(%) ¼percentage of time that wind speed
is greater than 5.4 m/s at the mean height of the stockpile.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (1998) states
that 50% of the TSP is emitted as PM10. In the absence of other
information, National Pollutant Inventory (NPi) (2012) recom-
mends that a factor of 0.4 kg/ha/h should be adopted for TSP,
and assuming that 50% of TSP is in the PM10 fraction, a factor of
0.2 kg/ha/h should be used for PM10, respectively.
417
3.4. Air dispersion modeling
3.4.1. Background information
The dispersion of pollutants occurs within the Atmospheric
Boundary Layer (ABL), which consists of the mixed and convective
mixed layer, the residual layer, the Nocturnal Boundary Layer
(NBL) and the surface layer. The ABL is the lowest layer of the
troposphere and is affected by its interaction with the surface of
the earth in a time scale of approximately one hour. The basic
ð2Þ
properties of the boundary layer that are of importance for air
pollution studies are the vertical wind profile which determines
transport, the level of turbulence which is responsible for the
spread and dilution of plumes, and the height of the boundary
layer (Fisher, 2002). Its height depends mainly on sunlight, the
time of day, the topography and the presence of horizontally
moving air masses (Stull, 1998). Part of the pollutants is removed
from the ABL to the free atmosphere, where the absence of
turbulence results in much slower diffusion. During their stay in
the atmosphere, the pollutants participate in chemical reactions or
transformations, either amongst themselves, or with components
of clean air. The deposition of pollutants, namely the transfer from
the atmosphere to land, can take place through dry and wet
deposition (Myrgiotis et al., 2011).
ð3Þ The boundary layer structure and the above mentioned pro-
cesses (and consequently the dispersion of pollutants in the
atmosphere) depend heavily on three interrelated parameters,
namely: meteorological factors, especially wind speed and direction,
ambient temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, etc.; atmospheric
stability; and topography. Wind speed influences the initial dilution
of puffs of pollution from a source; the higher the speed the more
rapid the dilution of the pollutants and, thus, the lower their ground
concentrations and vice versa. Wind direction defines the direction
in which the pollutants are transported. The temperature profile
affects the rise of plumes and the level of turbulence, while
precipitation is associated with wet deposition (Fisher, 2002). Atmo-
spheric stability is determined by the comparison of the temperature
of a rising parcel of air to this of the surrounding air. In order to
characterize the atmospheric stability, the rate of change of tem-
perature under adiabatic conditions (adiabatic temperature gradient)
should be compared to the real rate of change of temperature (real
temperature gradient) (Ahrens, 2007). Given that the implementa-
tion of systematic measurements to calculate the real temperature
gradient is impossible, two methods are usually applied to character-
ize the atmospheric stability class. The first one is by using the
Pasquill–Gifford stability classes (A–G) that describe atmospheric
conditions varying from extremely unstable (A) to extremely
stable (G). Each stability category describes a range of atmospheric
conditions, such as cloud cover, wind speed, vertical temperature
profile, turbulence levels and surface radiation (Fisher, 2002).
The second method is through the Monin–Obukhov length (L).
The length (L) is affected by the rate of convection heat exchange
between soil and the overlying layers of air (Q) and the friction
velocity (u*) and is estimated according to the following
equation (Bergeles, 2006)
u3n
L¼ ð5Þ
0:4H
g Q
H¼ ð6Þ
T ρC p
where, L¼the Monin–Obukhov length, Q¼the heat exchange
through convection between soil and the overlying layers of air,
ρ¼the air density, Cp ¼the specific heat capacity of air, T¼the air
temperature, g¼the gravitational acceleration,
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi un ¼the friction velo-
city estimated by the equation un ¼ jτ=ρj, where τ is the Reynolds
stress and ρ the density.
418 A. Papagiannis et al. / Energy Policy 74 (2014) 414–424

If the length L tends to infinity, the rate of heat exchange is
0 and the condition of the atmosphere is neutral. When the L is
positive then the ground is colder than air and the state of the
atmosphere is stable and when the L is negative the ground is
warmer than the air and the state of the atmosphere unstable.
The term “topography” refers to the surface features of the
land, including both man-made and natural features (e.g. moun-
tains, lakes, buildings, etc.) (Cora and Hung, 2003). Topography
affects air pollution dispersion by diverting wind patterns, increas-
ing atmospheric turbulence, and influencing general atmospheric
stability.
3.4.2. Air pollutants dispersion modeling
In order to describe physical and chemical processes taking
place in the atmosphere, in relation to the spatial and temporal
distribution of air pollutants atmospheric models are used. The
Gaussian model is perhaps the most commonly used for measur-
ing the dispersion of inert pollutants, especially for regulatory
purposes. The main advantage of this model is the simplicity in
use and the limited requirements of data importation. The
Gaussian-plume formula is derived assuming “steady-state” con-
ditions, simulating concentrations from an emission rate and
meteorological conditions that are uniform across the modeling
domain. Gaussian model follows the Lagrange approach, which
focuses on a particular mass of air that moves with the wind. All
flow variables are defined for the particular piece of air and
expressed as a function of time. Hence, the Lagrange approxima-
tion assumes that some dynamic quantities are not related to a
fixed coordinate system but to some parts of identifiable material.
The equation for the Gaussian dispersion of a pollutant emitted
from a point source in anisotropic space where the pollutants are
not deposited on the surface of the earth nor subjected to chemical
transformations is, as follows:
" !#
Q 1 y2 z2
C ðx; y; zÞ ¼ exp  þ ð7Þ
2πσ y σ z u 2 σ 2y σ 2z
where, C ¼the concentration of the pollutant at a point (x, y, z),
Q¼the emission rate of pollutant, u ¼the mean wind velocity at
stack height, x¼ the downstream distance from the source of
emission, y¼ the crosswind distance, z¼the height above ground,
σy and σz ¼standard deviations of lateral and vertical concentration
distribution, which are calculated by using the following equa-
tions:
4ky x 4kz x
2σ 2y ¼ ; 2σ 2z ¼ ð8Þ
u u
where, ky and kz are the horizontal and vertical turbulent diffusion
coefficients.
This equation becomes a subject of adjustments due to the
impact of various factors, e.g. the presence of the earth’s surface,
the deposition velocity of big particles (10 μm odp o50 μm), etc.
(Bergeles, 2006).
In order to simulate PM10 dispersion in this particular analysis,
a well-known and widely used atmospheric dispersion model,
namely the ADMS 4 (Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling System),
was used. The ADMS 4 model has been developed by the
environmental consulting and research sector of the University
of Cambridge (Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants—
CERC) in collaboration with the meteorological office of the United
Kingdom (Met Office UK), the British power company National
Power Plc and the University of Surrey. ADMS is a Gaussian-plume
like model which uses available meteorological parameters to
estimate profiles of mean wind, temperature and turbulence
statistics using standard boundary layer scaling results. In addi-
tion, source data are required depending on the type of the source,
such as location (X and Y coordinates), emission rate (i.e. g/s for

Table 1
Concentration response functions for PM10 and corresponding monetary values.
(Source: NEEDS, 2007).

Impact Age group AG Risk group RG Concentration Physical impacts per Unit Monetary value per
(AG) factor (RG) factor response function person per μg/m3 case or YOLL (€)
(CRF)

Increased mortality risk (infants) Total 0.009 Infants 0.002 4.00E  03 6.84E  08 Case 3000,000
New cases of chronic bronchitis Adults over 0.7 All 0.7 2.65E  05 1.86E  05 Case 200,000
age 27
Respiratory hospital admissions Total 1 All 1 7.03E  06 7.03E  06 Case 2,000
Cardiac hospital admissions Total 1 All 1 4.34E  06 4.34E  06 Case 2,000
Medication use/bronchodilator use Children 5 to 0.112 Children 0.2 1.80E  02 4.03E  04 Case 1
14 years old
Medication use/bronchodilator use Adults over 0.798 Asthmatics 0.045 9.12E  02 3.27E 03 Case 1
age 20
Low respiratory symptoms (adult) Adults 0.83 Symptomatic 0.3 1.30E  01 3.24E 02 Day 38
adults
Low respiratory symptoms (children) Children 5 to 0.112 All 1 1.86E  01 2.08E  02 Day 38
14 years old
Consultations with primary care Children 0 to 0.17 All 1 1.18E  04 2.01E  05 Case 53
physicians—Asthma 14 years old
Consultations with primary care Adults 15 to 64 0.672 All 1 5.10E  05 3.43E  05 Case 53
physicians—Asthma
Consultations with primary care Elderly over 0.158 All 1 9.50E  05 1.50E  05 Case 53
physicians—Asthma age 65
Consultations with primary care Children 0 to 0.17 All 1 4.00E  04 6.80E  05 Case 75
physicians—Upper respiratory 14
diseases
Consultations with primary care Adults 15 to 64 0.672 All 1 3.20E  04 2.15E  04 Case 75
physicians—Upper respiratory
diseases
Consultations with primary care Elderly over 0.158 All 1 4.70E 04 7.43E  05 Case 75
physicians—Upper respiratory age 65
diseases
Acute respiratory symptoms Total 1 All 1 4.35E 01 4.35E 01 Day 38
 A. Papagiannis et al. / Energy Policy 74 (2014) 414–424 419

point sources; g/m/s for line sources; g/m2/s for area sources),
height above ground, velocity of release at source exit, etc. The
user defines the pollutant type and other parameters (i.e. gas or
particle, wet and dry deposition parameters, etc.), the averaging
time (which may be an annual average or a shorter period), and
the percentiles and exceedence values that are of interest, accord-
ing to existing air quality limits (Cambridge Environmental
Research Consultants Ltd. (CERC), 2010). Furthermore, the model
is capable of conducting dispersion over complex terrain based on
the calculation of flow field and turbulence field by FLOWSTAR
model, allowing for the effects of changes in terrain height and
surface roughness on the airflow (Carruthers et al., 2011).
The model is recognized by the US Environmental Protection
Agency (US EPA) and is listed in the alternative models class,
according to the proposed classification of the above-mentioned
Agency (Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants Ltd.
(CERC), 2010). The model simulates a wide range of releases to
the atmosphere and it has been the subject of a number of
intermodel comparisons (e.g. Hall et al., 2002). As regards the
application of the model in practice, ADMS has been used in
studying dust dispersion from mining operations (e.g. Neshuku,
2012; Piras et al., 2014), and in similar contexts (e.g. Athanassiadou
et al., 2010; Myrgiotis et al., 2011).
3.5. Air pollution impacts and unit values per impact
al., 2001). Mining operations commenced in 1980 and nowadays
cover an area of about 7.7 km2 (Greek Public Power Corporation
(GPPC), 2010). At the final stage of its operation, in 2044, the SFM
will cover an area of about 19.3 km2 (ibid.). The mining depth is
expected to reach 200 m. The mean thickness of the overburden is
80 m, while the thickness of the total coal strata is also 80 m. The
SFM lignite deposit is characterized by multiple interchanges of
lignite and thin intercalated sterile layers of marly limestones,
carbonaceous marls, clays, and sands. The net calorific value of the
lignite ranges between 696 kcal/kg and 1894 kcal/kg, having a
mean value of 1498 kcal/kg (Kolovos et al., 2002).
The SFM has been divided into 11 sectors for operational
purposes. Mining operations include continuous mining, employ-
ing bucket wheel excavators (BWE), conveyor belts and stackers. In
addition to the continuous mining method, conventional mining
methods are used to excavate approximately 25–30% of the over-
burden consisting of hard and semi-hard formations. The sched-
uled annual lignite production ranges from 10 to 20 Mt, producing
electricity that covers about 10.4–20.8% of the total energy needs
in Greece (Greek Public Power Corporation (GPPC), 2010). The total
volume of excavations amounts to 3019  106 m3, while the total
lignite reserves are estimated at 432.7 Mt, with an average
exploitation ratio of 6.1:1 m3/t (ibid.).
Currently, mining takes place at Sector 5. More specifically, the
SFM includes (Greek Public Power Corporation (GPPC), 2010):

The causal links between particulate matter concentrations and
Five benches (1Α, 1Β, 2Α, 2Β, 3) excavating overburden by
health impacts are quantified using Concentration Response Func- means of five BWE (BWΕ1Α, BWΕ1Β, BWΕ2Α, BWΕ2Β, BWΕ3)
tions (CRFs) to different endpoints. The physical impacts are then
Four benches set in the lignite seams (4, 5, 6Α, 6Β), where four
monetized by using acceptable unit costs per impact. In our BWE operate (BWΕ4, BWΕ5, BWΕ6Α, BWΕ6Β)
survey, EU research recommendations (NEEDS, 2007) were fol-
lowed, as presented in Table 1. Furthermore, the operation of the SFM is supported by six
stackers (S1, S2, S3, S5, S6, S7) and about 40 conveyor belts with a
total length of about 65 km (Greek Public Power Corporation
4. Results and discussion (GPPC), 2010).
In the context of this study, actual production data were used
4.1. Data for year 2009, according to which 63.2  106 m3 of materials were
excavated, producing about 19.9 Mt of lignite. Operational details
Lignite is Greece’s most important indigenous fuel, accounting regarding BWEs, stackers and conveyor belts are provided in
for about 23% of primary energy consumption in 2010. Security of Tables 2–4.
supply, low extraction costs and stable prices are important factors The emission inventory and dispersion modeling were based
in maintaining the strong position of lignite in the energy market on actual as well as on proposed activities that will take place in
(European Association for Coal and Lignite, unknown). Public the South Field Lignite Mine. As mentioned, the valuation of the
Power Corporation SA (PPC), which extracts 97% of lignite in external costs is limited to airborne PM10 emissions associated
Greece, operates five open-cast lignite mines in Western Macedo- with: (a) excavation of overburden and lignite by bucket wheel
nia region (Northern Greece) and one in Peloponese region, excavators; (b) transport of overburden material to dumping sites
namely Megalopolis, (Southern Greece), together mining approxi- and of the lignite to blending/storing stockyards by means of belt
mately 70 Mt of lignite per year (Kavouridis et al., 2007). The total
proven lignite reserves in Greece amount to approximately 5.8 bil-
lion tones. Today 3.1 billion tones of them are exploitable reserves Table 2
suitable for electricity generation (ibid.). The proven geological BWEs operational data.
lignite reserves in the Florina–Ptolemais–Kozani tectonic basin
Excavation Lignite Operation
(Western Macedonia region) are 4.3 billion tons, representing two-
(Fm3) production (h)
thirds of the total lignite reserves of Greece (Kolovos et al., 2002). (t)
The four mines (Main field, South field, Kardia field and Amyn-
deon–Florina) constitute the Lignite Center of Western Macedonia BWE1Α (overburden) 5,667,000 0 3,696.1
with an annual production of 55–57 Mt. Five principle power BWE1Β (overburden) 4,881,000 0 3,442.9
BWE2Α (overburden) 5,121,000 0 3,578.1
plants supplied by lignite from Western Macedonia lignite Center BWE2Β (overburden) 4,390,000 0 3,476.5
are located within a radius of 12 km from the mines with a total BWE3 (overburden) 8,031,000 0 2,814.7
installed capacity of 4395 MW, i.e. Ptolemais 620 MW, Kardia BWE4 (overburdenþ lignite) 6,065,000 1,428,920 3,582.4
1250 MW, Agios Dimitrios 1595 MW, Amyndeon 600 MW and BWE5 (overburdenþ lignite) 9,313,000 5,351,550 4,439.5
BWE6Α 10,032,000 6,946,550 4,664.1
Meliti 330 MW (Kavouridis et al., 2007).
(overburdenþ lignite)
The South Field Mine (SFM) is the largest of the four opera- BWE6Β 9,701,000 6,195,450 4,458.2
tional surface mines at the Lignite Center of Western Macedonia, (overburdenþ lignite)
covering an area of around 20 km2. The original lignite deposit in Total 63,201,000 19,922,470 34,152.5
the area was estimated at 1.2 billion tons of lignite (Agioutantis et
420 A. Papagiannis et al. / Energy Policy 74 (2014) 414–424

conveyors, and (c) disposal of overburden material to specific considering a default value suggested for dumping overburden.
dumping areas by stackers. Due to the absence of necessary data, Finally, emission rates of PM10 were estimated by the following
dust emissions associated with conventional mining (e.g. blasting, general equation (National Pollutant Inventory (NPi), 2012).
loading, hauling, etc.) were not considered. Furthermore, wind-
blown dust sources (i.e. exposed areas and stockpiles) were not Ekpy;i ¼ ½A  OpHrs  EFi ð9Þ
modeled. PM10 emissions owing to wind erosion were estimated
by means of Eq. (4) and were found to be less than 10% of PM10 where, Ekpy,i ¼ emission rate of pollutant i (kg/yr), A¼ activity rate
emitted from continuous mining equipment. This assumption is (t/h), OpHrs¼operating hours (h/yr), EFi ¼uncontrolled emission
coherent with the findings of Kakosimos et al. (2011) who factor of pollutant i (kg/t).
estimated the yearly average concentration induced by the over- The emission rates of the sources considered for dispersion
burden dump of a lignite mine in the area of interest using a simulations are presented in Tables 5 and 6.
steady–state Lagrangian numerical model and the integral model Based on the assumptions adopted, total annual PM10 emis-
AERMOD. sions from continuous mining in SFM are estimated at 15,500 t,
Bearing in mind the above-mentioned remarks, 52 different attributed mainly to transportation of lignite, overburden and
point (i.e. bucket wheel excavators and stackers) and line (i.e. belt intermediate sterile layers.
conveyors) sources of atmospheric releases were considered for Meteorological data were obtained from a nearby meteorolo-
modeling purposes. These sources were grouped into two different gical station operated by the Hellenic National Meteorological
models. The first one included bucket wheel excavators and State. For the purposes of the analysis, hourly sequential data were
associated belt conveyors, while the second one contained stackers entered for one year (i.e. 8760 lines of data), as suggested for
and linked belt conveyors. Source characteristics (e.g. height, estimating peak hourly average concentrations and long-term
diameter, length, etc.) were specified according to data provided average concentrations. The prevailing wind direction is from
by the Greek Public Power Corporation and following ADMS manual N-NW, with little airflow from east. Besides wind direction and
recommendations. Due to the absence of locally generated emission speed, the meteorological file contained data for surface tempera-
factors, equation and emission factors recommended by Ghose ture, cloud cover, relative humidity and precipitation.
(2004) and National Pollutant Inventory (NPi) (2012) were taken
Table 5
into consideration. More specifically, the emission factors adopted
Emission rates of excavation operations.
were the following: (a) 0.0012–0.0013 kg PM10/t for BWEs;
(b) 0.032–0.042 kg PM10/t per transfer point; (c) 0.0007 kg PM10/t Source Emission rate Units Source Emission rate Units
per 100 m of conveyor belt; (d) 0.0043 kg PM10/t for stackers,
BWE1Α 3.88091 g/s BC2Α 0.00470 g/m/s
BWE1Β 3.34386 g/s BC12Α 0.00470 g/m/s
BWE2Α 3.50703 g/s BC2Β 0.00385 g/m/s
Table 3 BWE2Β 3.00741 g/s BC12Β 0.00385 g/m/s
Stackers operational data. BWE3 5.50023 g/s BC103 0.00957 g/m/s
BWE4 4.22733 g/s BC113 0.00957 g/m/s
Disposal (Fm3) Operation (h) BWE5 5.88798 g/s BC4 0.00524 g/m/s
BWE6Α 6.11682 g/s BC14 0.00524 g/m/s
S1 6,730,300 6,476.2 BWE6Β 6.01466 g/s BC5 0.00696 g/m/s
S2 7,502,700 6,928.8 BC1 0.00627 g/m/s BC15 0.00696 g/m/s
S3 4,988,300 5,268.3 BC11 0.00627 g/m/s BC6Α 0.00730 g/m/s
S5 10,115,600 4,909.1 BC1Β 0.00451 g/m/s BC16Α 0.00730 g/m/s
S6 9,895,900 5,508.3 BC 11Β 0.00451 g/m/s BC6Β 0.00729 g/m/s
S7 9,347,300 4,431.2 BC16B 0.00729 g/m/s
Total 48,580,100 33,521.9
Note: BWE ¼bucket wheel excavator; BC ¼ belt conveyor.

Table 4
Conveyor belts operational data.

Belt conveyor Operation (h) Length (m) Width (m) Belt conveyor Operation (h) Length (m) Width (m)

Excavation Disposal
BC1(BWΕ1Α) 3,696.1 2,012.59 1.2–1.8 BC51(S1) 6476.2 1,740.93 1.2–1.8
BC11(BWΕ1Α) 3,696.1 1,338.05 1.2–1.8 BC41(S1) 6476.2 2,137.95 1.2–1.8
BC1Β(BWΕ1Β) 3,442.9 2,615.79 1.2–1.8 BC52(S2) 6928.8 2,123.34 1.2–1.8
BC11Β(BWΕ1Β) 3,442.9 1,404.68 1.2–1.8 BC42(S2) 6928.8 2,009.67 1.2–1.8
BC2Α(BWΕ2Α) 3,578.1 2,615.92 1.2–1.8 BC53(S3) 5268.3 1,665.28 1.2–1.8
BC12Α(BWΕ2Α) 3,578.1 1,428.21 1.2–1.8 BC43(S3) 5268.3 1,968.59 1.2–1.8
BC2Β(BWΕ2Β) 3,476.5 2,765.38 1.2–1.8 BC151(S5) 4909.1 1,312.58 2.4
BC12Β(BWΕ2Β) 3,476.5 1,465 1.2–1.8 BC141(S5) 4909.1 1,025.61 2.4
BC103(BWΕ3) 2,814.7 2,632.01 2.4 BC131(S5) 4909.1 869.64 2.4
BC113(BWΕ3) 2,814.7 1,441.36 2.4 BC121(S5) 4909.1 1,175.49 2.4
BC4(BWΕ4) 3,582.4 2,249.1 1.2–1.8 BC153(S6) 5508.3 1,417.85 2.4
BC14(BWΕ4) 3,582.4 1,781.32 1.2–1.8 BC143(S6) 5508.3 1,344.47 2.4
BC5(BWΕ5) 4,439.5 2,403.15 1.2–1.8 BC133Α(S6) 5508.3 794.82 2.4
BC15(BWΕ5) 4,439.5 1,825.71 1.2–1.8 BC133(S6) 5508.3 783.22 2.4
BC6Α(BWΕ6Α) 4,664.1 2,318.62 1.2–1.8 BC123(S6) 5508.3 1,131.5 2.4
BC16Α(BWΕ6Α) 4,664.1 1,872.04 1.2–1.8 BC152(S7) 4431.2 1,570.18 2.4
BC6Β(BWΕ6Β) 4,458.2 2,180.85 1.2–1.8 BC142(S7) 4431.2 3,536.95 2.4
BC16B(BWΕ6Β) 4,458.2 1,947.52 1.2–1.8 BC132(S7) 4431.2 864.76 2.4
BC122(S7) 4431.2 1,152.2 2.4

Total 170,554.3 64,922.33

 A. Papagiannis et al. / Energy Policy 74 (2014) 414–424 421

Table 6 limit value are predicted within the populated area of interest,
Emission rates of disposal operations. although conservative assumptions were applied. For instance, even
in Kozani, which is the closest city downwind, the annual predicted
Source Emission rate Units Source Emission rate Units
average PM10 concentration is 36 μg/m3. As far as other neighbor-
S1 1.65184 g/s BC151 0.01120 g/m/s ing cities are concerned, i.e. Ptolemais, Florina, Kastoria and
S2 1.84142 g/s BC141 0.01120 g/m/s Grevena, annual average PM10 concentrations range between
S3 1.22430 g/s BC131 0.01120 g/m/s 0 and 2 μg/m3. The same conclusions are drawn with respect to
S5 2.48271 g/s BC121 0.01120 g/m/s
S6 2.42879 g/s BC153 0.00877 g/m/s
the 24-h mean concentration values.
S7 2.29414 g/s BC143 0.00877 g/m/s
BC51 0.00644 g/m/s BC133Α 0.00877 g/m/s
BC41 0.00644 g/m/s BC133 0.00877 g/m/s
BC52 0.00674 g/m/s BC123 0.00877 g/m/s 4.3. Estimated PM10 externalities
BC42 0.00674 g/m/s BC152 0.00637 g/m/s
BC53 0.00509 g/m/s BC142 0.00637 g/m/s
Based on the predicted annual concentrations, the annual
BC43 0.00509 g/m/s BC132 0.00637 g/m/s
BC122 0.00637 g/m/s external cost to human health due to PM10 emissions from lignite
mining was estimated, taking into consideration the characteris-
Note: S ¼stacker; BC ¼belt conveyor. tics of the population affected as well as the Concentration
Response Functions (CRFs) and the unit costs per impact presented
in Section 3.5. The total damage to human health is around 56.3
million Euros per year. Excavation works are responsible for 54.6%
and disposal activities for 45.4%, respectively. For conciseness
reasons, only the total results are provided in Table 7. The three
most significant contributors to the to human health damages are:
(a) the acute respiratory symptoms that affect the total population
(almost 75% of annual external cost to human health); (b) the new
cases of chronic bronchitis that affect adults of 27 years old
(around 16.5% of annual external cost to human health) and;
(c) the low respiratory symptoms that affect children between 5 to
14 years old and adults (around 9.0% of annual external cost to
human health).
Due to the absence of appropriate data, the monetization of the
damages to other receptors, namely building materials, crops and
the ecosystem, was estimated indirectly. More specifically, accord-
ing to relevant studies (e.g. Holland, 1996; AEA Technology, 1998)
human health-related externalities account for 80–94% of total
external cost. Based on damages to human health it is estimated
that the external cost of PM10 emissions to other receptors ranges
between 3.6 and 14.1 million Euros per year, and, consequently,
total damages attributed to air pollution from the South Field
Lignite Mine lie between 59.9 and 70.3 million Euros per year.
The above-mentioned results represent the worst-case sce-
nario, since neither dry nor wet deposition effects are considered
Fig. 2. Isopleth plots for the total predicted highest annual average PM10 in the dispersion model. To this end, and for sensitivity analysis
concentrations. purposes, two additional models were created for testing: (a) dry
deposition effects and (b) wet dry deposition effects. Dry and wet
deposition parameters (i.e. deposition and terminal velocities, and
The dispersion of PM10 emissions covered an area of
washout coefficients) were based on default values. The sensitivity
100  100 km2. Within the specified area there exist 173 villages
analysis results are presented in Table 8. It is evident that the
and small-medium cities. These residential areas were regarded as
assessment of air pollution damages relies heavily on dispersion
sensitive receptors. In addition, daily and annual ground PM10
simulation assumptions.
concentrations were recorded at 10,000 gridded sampling points,
from which isopleth plots for the highest daily and annual average
PM10 concentrations were constructed. In order to investigate the Table 7
Monetary damages to human health.
influence of model assumptions on the predicted concentrations
both flat and complex topographic terrains were used. In addition, Impact External cost
different models were formed with and without dry and wet (€)
deposition of the suspended particulate matter. The basic assumes
flat terrain and no deposition and therefore provides the most Increased mortality risk 512,000
New cases of chronic bronchitis 9,291,000
conservative estimate of impact. Respiratory hospital admissions 35,000
Cardiac hospital admissions 22,000
4.2. Predicted PM10 concentrations Medication use/bronchodilator use 9,000
Low respiratory symptoms (adult) 5,049,000
Consultations with primary care physicians—Asthma 9,000
Fig. 2 provides the isopleth plots for the total (i.e. excavation
Consultations with primary care physicians—Upper respiratory 67,000
and disposal) predicted highest annual average PM10 concentra- diseases
tions, for the basic model. The annual average ground level PM10 Acute respiratory symptoms 41,283,000
concentration exceeds the EU air quality limit at the lignite mine site Total 56,277,000
boundaries. Nevertheless, no exceedances of the corresponding EU
422 A. Papagiannis et al. / Energy Policy 74 (2014) 414–424
Table 8
External cost estimates.
External cost (M€) Percentage change
Basic model min 59.9 – natural ecosystems, crops and building materials. Several studies
max 70.3
Dry deposition model min 10.8  82%
max 12.7
Wet deposition model min 52.1  13%
max 61.2
Besides, variability of the model results depends also on the
uncertainty involved in the assessment environmental damage
costs. The latter is attributed to data and model uncertainties;
uncertainty about the future; uncertainty about policy and ethical
choices; and interpretation of ambiguous or incomplete informa-
tion by the analyst (Bickel and Friedrich, 2005). Adopting the
approach developed by the updated ExternE methodology (Bickel
and Friedrich, 2005), uncertainties owing to dispersion models,
dose–response functions and monetary valuation were consid-
ered. The resulting geometric standard deviation for primary PM is
2.65, and the corresponding 68% confidence interval lower bound/
mean is 0.28 and the upper bound/mean is 1.94 (ibid.).
Consequently, the low and high estimates of the total damages
for the basic model are 16.8 and 136.4 million Euros per year,
respectively. The range of the estimates for the dry (wet) deposi-
tion model spans from 3.1 (14.6) to around 24.5 (118.7) million
Euros per year.
4.4. Discussion
The results indicate that annual external costs attributed to the
damage observed to humans, natural ecosystems, crops and
building materials, ignoring dry and/or wet deposition of the
particles, are of the order of 60 million Euros for lignite production
of 20 Mt. Considering the average caolorific value of the SFM
lignite and the efficiency of Agios Dimitrios Power Plant supplied
by SFM (Kolovos et al., 2002), it is estimated that the specific
consumption of lignite is around 1.7 t/MW h. Accordingly, the
external cost of mining processes is around 5.0 €/MW h. Provided
that the calorific value of the SFM lignite ranges between 696 and
1894 kcal/kg (Kolovos et al., 2002), the external cost for the basic
scenario ranges between 3.5 and 9.5 €/MW h. These findings are in
coherence with those of other researchers. For instance, Tourkolias
(2010) estimated, using emission data from ExternE project
(Commission of the European Communities (CEC), 1999), that the
external costs of PM10 emitted by lignite mining are around 3.5
€/MW h for Agios Dimitrios Power Plant.
The estimated costs, however, could be significantly lower if
dust deposition is considered. The most influential factor is by
far dry deposition, which modifies the airborne concentration in
two ways. First, it reduces the plume strength with distance as
material is removed from the plume at the surface. Second, it
adjusts the vertical profile of the plume because material is
removed at the surface (Cambridge Environmental Research
Consultants Ltd. (CERC), 2010). In the case studied, dry deposi-
tion results in a reduction by about 80% in the estimated ground
level PM10 concentrations. Hence, the corresponding marginal
external cost of electricity produced is estimated at 1.0 €/MW h.
Wet deposition has the lowest deviation relative to the basic
scenario. More specifically, the estimated external costs due to
the emission of suspended particulate matter reduce by 13%,
ranging in total around 56.7 million Euros per year or 4.4
€/MW h, on average.
5. Conclusions and policy implications
It is widely recognized that fossil-fueled electricity production
has an impact on a wide range of receptors such as humans,
have been conducted towards monetizing these impacts to reveal
these hidden costs and to create market based incentives for
environmentally friendly electricity generation systems (Fouquet
and Johansson, 2008). So far, however, the vast majority of studies
conducted to this direction ignore the impacts of upstream mining
works. To this end, the analysis deals with the external costs of
lignite mining process, using as a case study the largest opera-
tional surface mine at the Lignite Center of Western Macedonia
(Greece), namely the South Field Mine (SFM), which covers about
10.4–20.8% of the total electricity energy needs in Greece.
The results highlight that the externalities generated by the
mining of the fuel can be high enough to be ignored. Based on the
worst-case dispersion scenario, the estimated costs of lignite
mining process are around 5 €/MW h and are comparable with
the environmental externalities associated with the lignite-fired
electricity generation (Tourkolias et al., 2009). Considering private
and GHG-related external costs of electricity production provided
by the CASES project (CASES, 2008), it is estimated that the total
cost of lignite based electricity with projection to 2020 is about
49.6 €/MW h. This cost is still lower, though comparable, to the full
cost of electricity generation from competitive technologies in
Greece, i.e. natural gas combined cycle power plants (57.1
€/MW h), on-shore wind farms (60.7 €/MW h) and hydropower
4100 MW (68.3 €/MW h).
It should be noted, however, that the present study wishes to
be a first step in the attempt of bringing into light the environ-
mental externalities from fossil fuel mining and transportation in
electricity production, and that there are several issues that should
be further investigated due to data limitations. To wit, the analysis
focused solely on the valuation of externalities associated with the
emission of suspended particulate matter (PM10) owing to con-
tinuous mining operations. Hence, dust emissions from conven-
tional mining, gases from blasting and mine vehicle engine
emissions, and externalities associated with other impacts of
mining (e.g. landscape deterioration), were left out of the analysis.
Furthermore, owing to the lack of specific emission rates for Greek
lignite mines, emission factors from relevant literature sources
were used. However, as already mentioned, there are discrepan-
cies between the existing estimates. For instance, National
Pollutant Inventory (NPi) (2012) suggests a default emission factor
of 0.00015 kg/t for bucket wheel excavation, while Ghose (2007)
provides an emission factor between 0.7 to 2.0 kg/t for overburden
and 0.5 to 1.0 kg/t for lignite, respectively.
In the energy policy context, quantifying the social costs of
electricity associated with upstream lignite mining is a step forward
in the internalization of the environmental externalities of the Greek
power system that will theoretically allow for a socially efficient
electricity production. For instance, these results could determine the
height of electricity price ‘adders’ for use in the regulation of the
electricity industry (Krewitt, 2002) or the height of environmental
taxes that are theoretically a preferred option where there are many
polluters and where damages are independent of the point of
emission (which is the case of fossil-fueled electricity production)
or the promotion of subsidies for clean technologies an alternative to
taxing pollution (Eyre, 1997). However, the regulation of the elec-
tricity industry on the grounds of externalities is far from being a
simple and straightforward process. There are a number of theore-
tical, political, practical and social issues acting as barriers that have
been identified. For instance, Eyre (1997) notes that the theory of
externalities and the use of Pigouvian taxes assumes that energy
markets behave like the perfect markets, when in reality they are
 A. Papagiannis et al. / Energy Policy 74 (2014) 414–424
highly imperfect. Furthermore, he argues that decisions are be made
at a range of levels, where different authorities have competence and
are subject to differing political pressures. Highlighting the uncer-
tainties involved in external cost data, Krewitt (2002) acknowledges
the inherent limitations of the concept of externalities and the partial
character of the information conveyed in the highly aggregated
external cost estimates and suggests that policy decisions should
be guided by the precautionary principle rather than waiting for
scientific evidence that can prove a cost-optimal strategy.
Georgakellos (2010), discussing the external cost of carbon dioxide
formed during fossil fuel-fired electricity production in Greece,
concludes that a possible internalization of externalities may have
a considerable impact on the production cost of electricity and,
subsequently, on the electricity prices, since a vast part of the
electricity production in Greece is realized in lignite-fueled power
plants. In reference to the danger of large external costs, sustain-
ability constraints may be a better policy instrument than pure social
cost minimization and a mix of standards and economic instruments
may seem most appropriate (Eyre, 1997). In addition, Jang et al.
(2014) point out that since many energy issues are accompanied by
social conflict, a policy maker should consider not only technical and
physical aspects but also the public’s preferences.
In conclusion, even in cases where external damages can be
quantified with some certainty and, thus, are sufficiently reliable
for use in policy formation, a number of issues should be
thoroughly examined. The latter stands especially for the case
detailed in this paper. As mentioned, further research is needed
prior to concluding recommendations for policy purposes (e.g.
adoption of environmental taxes) in order to obtain a better
insight into many critical aspects, such as the emission rates for
fugitive dust from continuous lignite mining operations, the
external costs associated with other mining impacts, etc. For all
these reasons, the outcomes of this study should be seen with
caution and should be regarded as a starting point for discussion
between the stakeholders, i.e. the mining industry, the electricity
producers, the State authorities, and of course the society.
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