Air Quality-Related Health Benefits of Energy Efficiency in the United States.

While it is known that energy efficiency (EE) lowers power sector demand and emissions, study of the air quality and public health impacts of EE has been limited. Here, we quantify the air quality and mortality impacts of a 12% summertime (June, July, and August) reduction in baseload electricity demand. We use the AVoided Emissions and geneRation Tool (AVERT) to simulate plant-level generation and emissions, the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to simulate air quality, and the Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP) to quantify mortality impacts. We find EE reduces emissions of NO by 13.2%, SO by 12.6%, and CO by 11.6%. On a nationwide, summer average basis, ambient PM is reduced 0.55% and O is reduced 0.45%. Reduced exposure to PM avoids 300 premature deaths annually (95% CI: 60 to 580) valued at $2.8 billion ($0.13 billion to $9.3 billion), and reduced exposure to O averts 175 deaths (101 to 244) valued at $1.6 billion ($0.15 billion to $4.5 billion). This translates into a health savings rate of $0.049/kWh ($0.031/kWh for PM and $0.018/kWh for O). These results illustrate the importance of capturing the health benefits of EE and its potential as a strategy to achieve air standards.