Emissions from coal-fired power plants is taking a heavy
toll on human life across large parts of India. In 2011-2012, a
first-of-its-kind study in the country estimates it resulted in a whopping
80,000 to 1,15,000 premature deaths and more than 20 million asthma cases from
exposure to a total PM10 (particulate matter) pollution.
Titled ‘Coal Kills — An Assessment of Death and Disease
caused by India’s dirtiest energy source,’ by Urban Emissions.info and
Greenpeace India, with support from Conservation Action Trust (CAT) by Sarath
K. Guttikunda and Puja Jawahar, the study says emissions from coal-fired power
are responsible for a large mortality and morbidity burden on human health.
While comprehensive studies of health impacts caused by
particulate air pollution attributable to coal power plants have been carried
out in the U.S. and parts of Europe, such data is hard to come by in India, the
authors note. With approximately 210 gigawatts (GW), India is the fifth largest
generator of electricity in the world. At present, 66 per cent of this power
generation capacity is from coal. The 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) includes
an addition of 76 GW and the 13th Five Year Plan (2017-2022) includes 93 GW,
most of which is coal based.
In 2011-12, 111 coal-fired power plants with a total
generation capacity of 121 GW, consumed 503 million tonnes of coal, and
generated an estimated 580 ktonnes (one ktonnes = 1000 tonnes) of particulates
with diameter less than 2.5 micrograms, 2100 ktonnes of sulphur dioxides, 2,000
ktonnes of nitrogen oxides, 1100 ktonnes of carbon monoxide, 100 ktonnes of
volatile organic compounds and 665 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
Using a conservative value of Rs. 2,000,000 ($40,000) per
life lost, the premature mortality estimates from this study would result in a
health cost of Rs. 16,000 to 23,000 crore ($3.2 to 4.6 billion) annually.
The largest impact of emissions is over Delhi, Haryana,
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Indo-Gangetic plain, and most of
central-east India. Besides the emissions from the stack, fugitive dust from
coal-handling units and ash ponds (later the disposal from the plants) is of
concern, particularly given the expected increase in coal-fired power plants.
The study pegs child mortality under five at 10,000 with a
health cost of Rs. 2,100 crore. In addition, 625 million people have
respiratory symptoms with a health cost of Rs. 6,200 crore and about 170,000
suffer from chronic bronchitis, 8.4 million have chest discomforts and 20.9
million have asthma attacks. About 9,00,000 people make emergency room visits
while 160 million have restricted activity days.
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