Impacts of wind power on air quality, premature mortality, and exposure disparities in the United States

Qiu, Minghao; Zigler, Corwin; Selin, Noelle E.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abn8762

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Our empirical method estimates a larger response of PM 2.5 to precursor emission changes near the fossil fuel plants, but virtually no effect outside the 200 km radius (consistent with prior empirical analysis ( 45)). Our empirical estimates are consistent with previous studies that show InMAP underestimates the PM 2.5 concentration (or the PM 2.5 -emission sensitivities) in the western US either comparing to the surface PM 2.5 monitors (56 ) or the full-complexity chemical transport model (57 ). More research is needed to better understand the strengths and limitations of estimating impacts of emissions changes on air quality with both the empirical method as well as process-based air quality models.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Drought impacts on the electricity system, emissions, and air quality in the western US

Qiu¹,

Ratledge²,

Azevedo³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The western United States has experienced severe drought in recent decades, and climate models project increased drought risk in the future. This increased drying could have important implications for the region's interconnected, hydropower-dependent electricity systems. Using power-plant level generation and emissions data from 2001-2021, we quantify the impacts of drought on the operation of fossil fuel plants and the associated impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, air quality, and human health. We find that under extreme drought, electricity generation from individual fossil fuel plants can increase up to 65% relative to average conditions, mainly due to the need to substitute for reduced hydropower. Over 54% of this drought-induced generation is trans-boundary, with drought in one electricity region leading to net-imports of electricity and thus increased pollutant emissions from power plants in other regions. These drought-induced emissions increases have detectable impacts on local air quality, as measured by proximate pollution monitors. We estimate that the monetized costs of excess mortality and greenhouse gas emissions from drought-induced fossil generation are 1.2-2.5x the reported direct economic costs from lost hydro production and increased demand. Combining climate model estimates of future drying with stylized energy-transition scenarios suggests that these drought-induced impacts are likely to remain large even under aggressive renewables expansion, suggesting that more ambitious and targeted measures are needed to mitigate the emissions and health burden from electricity sector during droughts.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Drought impacts on the electricity system, emissions, and air quality in the western US

Qiu¹,

Ratledge²,

Azevedo³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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show abstract

“…Different climate mitigation policies could potentially lead to spatial heterogeneities of ambient air quality across communities 69 , 70 . In terms of spatial resolution, each level of granularity, from near-road to the regional, provides distinct insights and implications.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

California’s zero-emission vehicle adoption brings air quality benefits yet equity gaps persist

Yu,

He,

et al. 2023

Nat Commun

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Zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) adoption is a key climate mitigation tool, but its environmental justice implications remain unclear. Here, we quantify ZEV adoption at the census tract level in California from 2015 to 2020 and project it to 2035 when all new passenger vehicles sold are expected to be ZEVs. We then apply an integrated traffic model together with a dispersion model to simulate air quality changes near roads in the Greater Los Angeles. We found that per capita ZEV ownership in non-disadvantaged communities (non-DACs) as defined by the state of California is 3.8 times of that in DACs. Racial and ethnic minorities owned fewer ZEVs regardless of DAC designation. While DAC residents receive 40% more pollutant reduction than non-DACs due to intercommunity ZEV trips in 2020, they remain disproportionately exposed to higher levels of traffic-related air pollution. With more ZEVs in 2035, the exposure disparity narrows. However, to further reduce disparities, the focus must include trucks, emphasizing the need for targeted ZEV policies that address persistent pollution burdens among DAC and racial and ethnic minority residents.

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“…[54] Co-pollutant impacts are relevant not only to carbon pricing but to many other climate policies as well: for example, the Clean Energy Standards and Renewable Portfolio Standards that mandate a rising share of renewables in electricity generation. [41,55] Concerns about co-pollutant impacts are not an argument against carbon pricing or other climate policies; rather, they are an argument for explicitly building EJ and clean-air objectives into policy design.…”

Section: Principle #2: Protect the Air: An Ej Mandate For Emissions O...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Justice and Carbon Pricing: Can They Be Reconciled?

Boyce

Ash

Ranalli³

2023

Global Challenges

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202200204clean energy). As may be expected, powerful opposition to carbon pricing has come from the fossil fuel lobby, which has sought to block legislation or, failing that, to weaken it. [1,2] More surprisingly, perhaps, opposition also has come from environmental justice (EJ) advocates. The central goal in EJ is to combat disproportionate environmental harms imposed upon people of color and low-income communities. Many EJ advocates fear that carbon pricing could exacerbate pollution exposure disparities. This paper focuses on the objections to carbon pricing raised by EJ advocates.In brief, critics have argued that carbon pricing (i) fails to reduce carbon emissions significantly, (ii) fails to reduce the disproportionate impacts of hazardous co-pollutants on people of color and low-income communities, (iii) harms the purchasing power of low-income households, and (iv) commodifies nature. [3,4] Proponents of carbon pricing often, and in our view hastily, have dismissed these criticisms as baseless.Here, we chart a middle path between dismissal of carbon pricing and dismissal of its critics. The foundation for our position is a basic ethical principle: we believe that the gifts of Nature should be shared in equal measure by all. These gifts include the right to a clean and safe environment-a right recognized in many national constitutions, the most fundamental of legal documents, worldwide [5] -and the right to share in revenue that is generated by limiting the use of scarce resources. From this perspective, we have a moral imperative both to eliminate the disparate pollution burdens that poison the air and water of overburdened communities and to halt destabilization of the Earth's climate to protect future generations as well as vulnerable present-day populations.Halting the disparate pollution imposed on EJ communities requires, first and foremost, that we take seriously the extent of the problem and recognize the complicity of government policies together with market forces in creating and perpetuating environmental injustice. Solutions require rectifying systemic failures of both the market and the state. EJ and climate stabilization are complementary goals-indeed, climate change itself exacerbates environmental injustice-but we argue here that advancing both goals together requires that explicit EJ provisions be built into the design of climate policy. At a bare minimum, climate policy should guarantee that existing pollution disparities are not exacerbated. Going further, welldesigned design policies can advance the more ambitious goal of reducing environmental disparities.Halting climate destabilization requires, above all, that we keep fossil fuels in the ground. Carbon dioxide emissions from Carbon pricing has been criticized by environmental justice advocates on the grounds that it fails to reduce emissions significantly, fails to reduce the disproportionate impacts of hazardous co-pollutants on people of color and low-income communities, hits low-income households harder than wealthier households, a...

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Impacts of wind power on air quality, premature mortality, and exposure disparities in the United States

Cited by 15 publications

References 68 publications

Drought impacts on the electricity system, emissions, and air quality in the western US

Drought impacts on the electricity system, emissions, and air quality in the western US

California’s zero-emission vehicle adoption brings air quality benefits yet equity gaps persist

Environmental Justice and Carbon Pricing: Can They Be Reconciled?

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