Abstract
Understanding electricity consumption and production patterns is a necessary first step toward reducing the health and climate impacts of associated emissions. In this work, the economic input–output model is adapted to track emissions flows through electric grids and quantify the pollution embodied in electricity production, exchanges, and, ultimately, consumption for the 66 continental US Balancing Authorities (BAs). The hourly and BA-level dataset we generate and release leverages multiple publicly available datasets for the year 2016. Our analysis demonstrates the importance of considering location and temporal effects as well as electricity exchanges in estimating emissions footprints. While increasing electricity exchanges makes the integration of renewable electricity easier, importing electricity may also run counter to climate-change goals, and citizens in regions exporting electricity from high-emission-generating sources bear a disproportionate air-pollution burden. For example, 40% of the carbon emissions related to electricity consumption in California’s main BA were produced in a different region. From 30 to 50% of the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides released in some of the coal-heavy Rocky Mountain regions were related to electricity produced that was then exported. Whether for policymakers designing energy efficiency and renewable programs, regulators enforcing emissions standards, or large electricity consumers greening their supply, greater resolution is needed for electric-sector emissions indices to evaluate progress against current and future goals.
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Reference21 articles.
1. US Environmental Protection Agency , “Inventory of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and sinks: 1990-2016—Executive summary” (Tech. Rep., Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 2018).
2. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , “Global warming of 1.5 °C. Summary for policymakers” V.Masson-Delmotte et al., Eds. (Tech. Rep., World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2018).
3. The Technology Path to Deep Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cuts by 2050: The Pivotal Role of Electricity
4. W. Moomaw , “Annex II: Methodology” in Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, O. Edenhofer , Eds. (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2011), pp. 973–1000.
5. Assessing the evolution of power sector carbon intensity in the United States;Schivley;Environ. Res. Lett.,2018
Cited by
56 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献