Study shows health benefits of using wind energy could quadruple if the most polluting power plants are scaled back when wind-generation is available: 'We found that prioritizing health is a great way to maximize benefits in a widespread way'

New research from MIT has shown that the health benefits of wind power could be significantly increased if operators prioritized reducing output from the most polluting fossil-fuel-based power plants when energy from wind is available. 

According to a press release, the study found that renewable energy sources like wind power displaces emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants that would otherwise be produced by fossil-fuel-based power plants, providing significant public health benefits. According to the study, in 2014, wind power associated with state-level policies improved air quality overall, resulting in $2 billion in health benefits across the country. Research suggests that these benefits could be quadrupled if the electricity industry reduced the output of the most polluting fossil-fuel-based power plants, rather than the most cost-saving plants when wind-generated power is available.

However, researchers also found that only roughly 30% of these health benefits have reached traditionally disadvantaged communities in the past and that these changes would have a similar demographic breakdown, suggesting that focusing solely on the electricity sector or renewables is not enough to address persistent racial and ethnic disparities.

“We found that prioritizing health is a great way to maximize benefits in a widespread way across the U.S., which is a very positive thing. But it suggests it’s not going to address disparities,” says study co-author Noelle Selin, a professor at MIT's Institute for Data, Systems, and Society and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, according to the press release. “In order to address air pollution disparities, you can’t just focus on the electricity sector or renewables and count on the overall air pollution benefits of addressing these real and persistent racial and ethnic disparities. You’ll need to look at other air pollution sources, as well as the underlying systemic factors that determine where plants are sited and where people live.” 

Despite these troubling shortcomings, the study can help identify ways to improve the health of the general population, says Julian Marshall, a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Washington.

“The detailed information provided by the scenarios in this paper can offer a roadmap to electricity-grid operators and to state air-quality regulators regarding which power plants are highly damaging to human health and also are likely to noticeably reduce emissions if wind-generated electricity increases,” Marshall said, according to the press release.