The climate and air-quality benefits of wind and solar power in the United States [electronic resource]

• Ngôn ngữ: eng
• Ký hiệu phân loại: 333.79 Energy
• Thông tin xuất bản: Washington, D.C. : Oak Ridge, Tenn. : United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy ; Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy, 2017
• Mô tả vật lý: Size: Article No. 17134 : , digital, PDF file.
• Bộ sưu tập: Metadata
• ID: 257314
• Chủ đề: 1. 14 solar energy; 2. 17 wind energy; 3. 54 environmental sciences; 4. Energy and society; 5. Environmental impact

Tóm tắt

 Wind and solar energy reduce combustion-based electricity generation and provide air-quality and greenhouse gas emission benefits. These benefits vary dramatically by region and over time. From 2007 to 2015, solar and wind power deployment increased rapidly while regulatory changes and fossil fuel price changes led to steep cuts in overall power-sector emissions. In this paper, we evaluate how wind and solar climate and air-quality benefits evolved during this time period. We find cumulative wind and solar air-quality benefits of 2015 US$29.7?112.8 billion mostly from 3,000 to 12,700 avoided premature mortalities, and cumulative climate benefits of 2015 US5.3?106.8 billion. The ranges span results across a suite of air-quality and health impact models and social cost of carbon estimates. Finally, we find that binding cap-and-trade pollutant markets may reduce these cumulative benefits by up to 16%. In 2015, based on central estimates, combined marginal benefits equal 7.3 � kWh<
 sup>
 -1<
 /sup>
  (wind) and 4.0 � kWh<
 sup>
 -1<
 /sup>
  (solar).