Jonathan bonocol is the project leader of the climate, energy and health team at Harvard's Chen Zengxi School of public health. Bonocol's study of the "healthy common interest" of renewable energy maps and models shows which countries can benefit most from the energy transition. The famous environmental health scientist shared his insights in time.
Fossil fuels have a huge impact on health - when we burn fossil fuels, we release carbon dioxide and a series of other pollutants, such as particulates, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, trace metals, etc. Over time, epidemiological studies have found that heart disease, asthma, respiratory diseases and neurocognitive diseases (such as dementia, autism spectrum disorders) and other major diseases are related to this air pollution.
In contrast, when people propose renewable energy solutions, both wind power plants and solar power plants will reduce the power consumption of fossil fuels, thus reducing their power generation demand. Because of the use of renewable energy, more power plants burn less fossil fuels, which are beneficial to people's health, such as reducing the incidence rate of heart disease, reducing early death, slowing down climate change, reducing environmental pollution and affecting the pollution of our crops. Air pollution does great harm to agriculture. For example, ozone and acid rain can damage soil health. We have identified several health hazards associated with coal mining and the drilling process itself.
However, our study found some differences in the power generation impact rate among different countries, which are due to geographical location and environmental factors, such as population density, baseline health of the population downwind of the pollution source, spatial relationship between these populations and high emission power sources, as well as differences in meteorology and topology. These will also increase the impact of air pollutant emissions on people.
We found that the higher the carbon dioxide emissions, the more serious the air pollution. Countries with high population density, such as India, China, Myanmar, Southeast Asia and parts of Eastern Europe, are more likely to live downwind from emission sources. Renewable energy per megawatt in these countries has greater health benefits than North America, Brazil and parts of Western Europe. Some countries, including Mongolia, Estonia, Poland, Ukraine, Iraq and Australia, whose power grids are mainly powered by inefficient and outdated coal-fired power plants, have the greatest climate benefits.
In another study that looked only at the United States, it was also found that geography is important for the health common good of renewable energy. The study suggests that it's better to put renewables in the upper Midwest, with the least benefit in California. This is because California is already a renewable energy paradise, so if people want to deploy more solar or wind energy there, the relatively small number of remaining natural gas plants will be replaced. But if people build a wind farm in Minnesota or Pennsylvania, there will still be a lot of coal used to generate electricity, and the sulfur and particles in the coal will be transferred from places close to people's lives.
Very importantly, the data show that the choice of renewable energy sources has great health benefits. Climate change is the main consideration when many people talk about renewable energy, but the fact is that renewable energy is also important to our own health and the health of the planet. Investment based on this standard must be strategic. Our model helps investors make sustainable investments by telling them where their money can save the most lives, reduce the most carbon emissions, and optimize water consumption. In this regard, location is often more important than the size of the turbine. For example, running a wind turbine in Ukraine may bring more health benefits than running a turbine in Norway, because Ukraine is still a source of coal.
Therefore, in addition to mitigating climate change, important health common interests come from phasing out fossil fuel energy and adopting renewable energy sources. In countries like India, where large numbers of people live near high emission power plants, such as coal-fired power plants, which usually use low-quality fuel and have little pollution control equipment, India can generate huge health benefits from its shift to renewable energy.
Source: Chemical Network
