Decarbonizing power systems is a critical component of climate
change mitigation, which can have public health cobenefits by reducing
air pollution. Many studies have examined strategies to decarbonize
power grids and quantified their health cobenefits. However, few of
them focus on near-term cobenefits at community levels, while comparing
various decarbonization pathways. Here, we use a coupled power system
and air quality modeling framework to quantify the costs and benefits
of decarbonizing the Texas power grid through a carbon tax; replacing
coal with natural gas, solar, or wind; and internalizing human health
impacts into operations. Our results show that all decarbonization
pathways can result in major reductions in CO
2
emissions
and public health impacts from power sector emissions, leading to
large net benefits when considering the costs to implement these strategies.
Operational changes with existing infrastructure can serve as a transitional
strategy during the process of replacing coal with renewable energy,
which offers the largest benefits. However, we also find that Black
and lower-income populations receive disproportionately higher air
pollution damages and that none of the examined decarbonization strategies
mitigate this disparity. These findings suggest that additional interventions
are necessary to mitigate environmental inequity while decarbonizing
power grids.
China's power system is highly regulated and uses an "equal-share" dispatch approach. However, market mechanisms are being introduced to reduce generation costs and improve system reliability. Here, we quantify the climate and human health impacts brought about by this transition, modeling China's power system operations under economic dispatch. We find that significant reductions in mortality related to air pollution (11%) and CO 2 emissions (3%) from the power sector can be attained by economic dispatch, relative to the equal-share approach, through more efficient coal-powered generation. Additional health and climate benefits can be achieved by incorporating emission externalities in electricity generation costs. However, the benefits of the transition to economic dispatch will be unevenly distributed across China and may lead to increased health damage in some regions. Our results show the potential of dispatch decision-making in electricity generation to mitigate the negative impacts of power plant emissions with existing facilities in China.
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