Reducing human health impacts from power sector emissions with redispatch and energy storage

Luo, Qian; Johnson, Jeremiah X.; Garcia–Menendez, Fernando

doi:10.1088/2634-4505/ac20b3

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…To investigate opportunities to reduce the negative impacts of electricity generation further, we incorporated emission externalities into power system operations, which has been shown to yield climate and health benefits in previous studies. 23 , 49 − 51 However, similar to the findings in Lin et al, 21 we find that low carbon prices ($25 per ton of CO 2 emissions) would not appreciably reduce carbon emissions from the power sector in China, as generation with natural gas remains more expensive than that with coal. At a price of $55 per ton, electricity generation shifts from coal to gas, resulting in both climate and human health benefits.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

The Health and Climate Benefits of Economic Dispatch in China’s Power System

Luo

Garcia–Menendez

Yang

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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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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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

The Health and Climate Benefits of Economic Dispatch in China’s Power System

Luo

Garcia–Menendez

Yang

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to the higher health impacts associated with generation from coal-fired EGUs, this scenario tends to reduce carbon emissions by reducing electricity generated by coal combustion. Additional details of this approach are included in the Supporting Information and were discussed by Luo et al 38 In a different set of scenarios, we consider the implications of near-term decarbonization requiring new capital investment. Namely, we model the retirement and replacement of ERCOT's coal power fleet.…”

Section: ■ Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diverse Pathways for Power Sector Decarbonization in Texas Yield Health Cobenefits but Fail to Alleviate Air Pollution Exposure Inequities

Luo

Copeland

Garcia–Menendez

et al. 2022

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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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.

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“…Kerl et al (2015) demonstrated the potential to reduce health impacts by applying a reduced form modeling system based on CMAQ with the decoupled direct method to a power system operational model. Similarly, Luo et al (2021) developed a modeling system to study the effect of energy storage and redispatch on air pollution from the power sector in Texas, concluding that infrastructure updates and strategic shifts in the location and timing of pollutant releases can lead to 61%-97% reduction of adverse health impacts. In the same tightly woven Texas grid, Luo et al (2022) have investigated the inability of current decarbonization strategies to address long-standing exposure inequities, concluding that changes are unlikely without impactful decisions on infrastructure, additional investments in renewable energy and the aging transmission network.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the tradeoffs in emissions, air quality and health benefits from excess power generation due to climate-related policies for the transportation sector

Efstathiou,

Arunachalam,

Arter

et al. 2024

Environ. Res. Lett.

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As the transportation sector continues to decarbonize through electrification, there is growing interest in quantifying potential tradeoffs in air pollution and health impacts due to potential excess emissions from the power sector. This study investigates air pollution and health impacts of policy-driven changes in the transportation sector and the associated power generation demand in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic United States. Five illustrative scenarios were designed to capture the effects of different policies under the first mandatory market-based program to reduce greenhouse gases in the US power sector (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – RGGI) and the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). Considering future power generation with new renewable energy investments to meet demands from decarbonized transportation, the scenarios were framed using: 1. 2030 reference cases for both sectors and a hybrid TCI portfolio, 2. Departure from the reference cases defined by Pennsylvania included or not in RGGI, and 3. Power grid emissions estimated under Clean Energy Standard (CES) policy and hybrid TCI portfolio. While the cross-sectoral policy effect on domain-wide concentrations is modest (max ΔPM2.5~0.06μg/m3, ΔNO2~0.3ppbv, ΔO3~0.15ppbv), substantial increases in Ohio and WestVirginia were attributed to Pennsylvania joining RGGI. With CES enacted and Pennsylvania in RGGI, significant reductions are seen in average concentrations (max ΔPM2.5~1.2 μg/m3, ΔNO2~1.1ppbv, ΔO3~1.7ppbv) except for Louisiana and Mississippi with corresponding disbenefits. When focusing exclusively on emissions reductions from transportation, the hybrid TCI portfolio had health benefits of 530 avoided adult deaths, and 46,000 avoided asthma exacerbations. With a “business as usual” power grid, these benefits remain comparable and are mainly driven by NO2, followed by PM2.5 and O3. However, if Pennsylvania joins RGGI, total health benefits and spatial distribution change substantially, with a large portion of adverse health impacts moving from TCI states to Ohio and West Virginia. The overall monetized impact of a CES scenario can substantially exceed the estimated average range of 66-69 Billion US$, depending on the interaction with transportation decarbonization strategies and other drivers of exposure.

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Reducing human health impacts from power sector emissions with redispatch and energy storage

Cited by 5 publications

References 45 publications

The Health and Climate Benefits of Economic Dispatch in China’s Power System

The Health and Climate Benefits of Economic Dispatch in China’s Power System

Diverse Pathways for Power Sector Decarbonization in Texas Yield Health Cobenefits but Fail to Alleviate Air Pollution Exposure Inequities

Assessing the tradeoffs in emissions, air quality and health benefits from excess power generation due to climate-related policies for the transportation sector

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