Research Shows Wind and Solar Energy Provide Tens of Billions in Health Benefits Annually in the U.S. – pv USA magazine

May 30, 2024 Michael Puttre

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a new methodology for estimating the value of climate and air quality benefits from wind and solar energy generation. The report, which analyzed data from 2019 to 2022 using this methodology, found that wind and solar power generation provided $249 billion in climate and air quality health benefits over the period.

Renewable energy advocates argue that the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) doesn’t tell the whole story when comparing the economics of wind and solar power generation with those of fossil fuel sources. Emissions from natural gas and coal-fired power plants in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) affect climate and air quality in ways that should be taken into account when assessing renewable energy sources’ energy benefits.

The researchers rely on publicly available electricity generation data and divide the continental United States into ten regions where wind or solar power meets at least 3% of electricity demand. An eleventh region with a cluster in Tennessee was excluded because thresholds were not met. The methodology measures daily production from relevant sources (solar, wind, gas and coal) by region and average annual emissions by region. The reason for averaging emissions is that there is generally a significant delay in the availability of daily emissions data.

According to the report, in 2022, the weighted average generation across all regions shows that 1.0 MWh of wind production offsets 0.89 MWh of fossil fuel production (0.29 MWh of coal production and 0.60 MWh of gas production); and that 1.0 MWh from solar offsets 0.76 MWh from fossil fuels (0.14 MWh from coal and 0.62 MWh from gas).

Compensations are not proportionate due to transmission losses from solar and wind sources, which are typically located further from consumers than fossil fuel sources, and congestion issues. Also because part of the generation is absorbed by batteries, which was not taken into account in the analysis method. Moreover, other sources, such as nuclear and hydropower, are not typically replaced by solar and wind power generation and were therefore not included, the researchers said.

To put a dollar value on the climate and air quality benefits of reduced emissions, researchers turned to reports published in scientific journals: a 2022 paper in Nature on determining the social cost of carbon emissions; and a 2019 paper in Environmental Research Letters that estimated the social costs of pollutants such as SO2 and NOx.

With generation offsets and the social costs of emissions, Berkeley Lab researchers were able to calculate the health benefits of generating energy from renewable sources. Scientists found that the 435.6 TWh of wind energy produced in the US in 2022 prevented the emissions of 228,798 kilotons (KT) of CO2, 116 KT of SO2 and 129 KT of NOx, resulting in total health benefits of $62.4 billion. Solar energy provided 116.1 TWh of production, preventing emissions of 45,729 KT CO2, 15 KT SO2 and 28 KT NOx, providing health benefits worth $11.6 billion.

According to the researchers, their new methodology shows that the benefits of renewable energy generation are much greater than previously estimated, and could help make a strong case for increasing wind and solar penetration in the US. Additionally, analytical tools can be applied wherever sufficient data is available. “The relatively simple data needed for our approach increases its adaptability to other regions around the world,” the researchers said.