Studies have shown that increasing the use of renewable energy in the US brings billions of dollars in benefits

Solar panels and wind turbines in Palm Springs, California. adamkaz / iStock / Getty Images Plus

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A new report by scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and renewable energy consulting firm Clean Kilowatts found that the growing use of renewable energy in the United States has improved air quality and reduced the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, while also bringing monetary benefits in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

In the data-driven study, the research team focused on the growth of renewable energy use in the US between 2019 and 2022, The Guardian reports.

“From 2019 to 2022, wind and solar energy production increased by approximately 55%,” said Dev Millstein, lead author of the study and a research associate at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as reported by The Guardian. “By 2022, wind and solar power will provide approximately 14% of total electricity demand in the U.S.”

Scientists found that reducing the country’s use of fossil fuels, combined with increasing the use of wind and solar energy, reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 992.1 million tons, the equivalent of taking 71 million cars off the road every year.

“Wind and solar power generation reduces emissions from the electricity sector and related health harms related to climate and air quality,” the researchers wrote in the study. “From 2019 to 2022, wind and solar energy production in the United States provided $249 billion in climate and air quality benefits, according to central estimates. In 2022, the normalized benefits were $143/MWh and $100/MWh for wind and solar, respectively, or $36/MWh and $17/MWh if only air quality benefits were included. Combined wind and solar power generation led to 1,200-1,600 fewer premature deaths in 2022.”

The air quality benefits from renewable energy sources could dwarf the main climate benefits, the researchers wrote. To bring to light additional benefits, they quantified the amount of reductions in toxic air emissions from wind and solar energy, with particular emphasis on nitrogen dioxide (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) from fossil fuels, reports The Opiekun.

The team found that NOx and SO2 emissions – both linked to an increased risk of asthma and other health problems – were reduced by 1.1 million tonnes over the study period.

To find out how much emissions reductions would impact public health, Millstein said he monitored the portion of the population exposed to pollution from power plants using air quality models. They also looked at disease research to determine the impact of emissions and quantify the value of reducing the risk of premature death in a population, using a dollar value set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The researchers also looked at the benefits of wind and solar power in specific regions of the United States. They found that wind is particularly beneficial in the central states because of the displacement of emissions in local power grids. The same was true for solar in the Carolinas.

“These findings could help us direct future development of wind and solar energy to provide the greatest climate and health benefits,” said Jeremiah Johnson, a professor of climate and energy at North Carolina State University, who was quoted in the study, as reported by The Guardian.

Johnson hopes the study will help people pay attention to the benefits renewable energy sources already provide.

The public “often focuses on the challenges we face” when it comes to ecological damage, Johnson said. “But it’s also important to recognize when something works.”

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