Evaluation of the external cost referable to the emissions of a cement factory

The ExternE project is a research program of the European Commission devoted to the assessment of the external costs associated to electricity production and transport. The ECOSENSE model was developed within this project in order to support the assessment of priority impacts resulting from the exposure to airborne pollutants and to harmonize and standardize ExternE methodology. The model consists of three different modules: the atmospheric module, which permits to calculate pollutant soil concentrations on a local (100 km × 100 km) or a regional scale (European-wide), the toxicological module, which determines the impact due to the calculated concentration level in terms of morbidity and mortality, the econometric module that settles damage values (EURO/year) connected with the estimated impact situation. The aim of this study is to apply ExternE methodology (exposure-response functions and monetary valuations, i.e. the second and third modules of the ECOSENSE model) to a real case of a cement factory in a more detailed scale, on the basis of the atmospheric dispersion model ISC3 by U.S. EPA. The attempt of the following procedure is therefore to extend ExternE philosophy to more particular and localised scenarios and to make it a more versatile and punctual instrument for impact assessment and pollution preventing policy.