Climate and health benefits of increasing renewable energy deployment in the United States*

Abstract

Abstract The type, size, and location of renewable energy (RE) deployment dramatically affects benefits to climate and health. Here, we develop a ten-region model to assess the magnitude of health and climate benefits across the US We then use this model to assess the benefits of deploying varying capacities of wind, utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV), and rooftop solar PV in different regions in the US—a total of 284 different scenarios. Total benefits ranged from $2.2 trillion for 3000 MW of wind in the Upper Midwest to $4.2 million for 100 MW of wind in California. Total benefits and highest cost effectiveness for CO 2 reduction were generally highest for RE deployment in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic US and lowest in California. Health was a substantial portion of total benefits in nearly all regions of the US Benefits were sensitive to methane leakage throughout the gas supply chain.