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ABSTRACT
Poor air quality is linked to numerous adverse health effects including strokes, heart attacks, and premature death. Improving energy efficiency in the industrial sector reduces air emissions and yields health benefits. One of these strategies, replacing an existing grid boiler (GB) with a combined heat and power (CHP) system, can improve a facility’s energy efficiency but can also increase local air emissions, which in turn can affect health outcomes. Previous studies have considered air-emissions and health outcomes of CHP system installation at a single location, but few studies have investigated the regional air quality and health impacts of replacing an existing GB with new CHP system. This study estimates the emission changes and associated health impacts of this shift in 14 regions in the US, representing different electricity generation profiles. It assumes that one manufacturing facility in each region switches from an existing GB to a CHP system. The monetized annual US health benefits of shifting a single GB to a CHP in each of the 14 regions range from $-5.3 to 0.55 million (2022 USD), while including CHP emission control increases the benefits by 100–170% ($9,000 to 1.15 million (2022 USD)). This study also includes a sensitivity analysis, which suggests that the facility location (region, state, and county), boiler efficiency, and emission control of the CHP are key factors that would determine whether shifting from a GB to CHP system would result in health benefits or burdens.
Implications: Combined heat and power (CHP) systems offer industrial facilities the opportunity to improve their energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, CHP systems also combust more fuel on site and can also increase local air emissions. This study evaluates how converting an existing grid boiler (GB) system to a CHP system (with or without emission control) affects local (from combustion) and regional emissions (from electricity consumption) and the associated health burdens in different US regions. A facility can use this study’s analysis as an example for estimating the tradeoffs between local emission changes, regional emission changes, and health effects. It also provides a comparison between the incremental cost of adding SCR (compared to uncontrolled CHPs) and the NPV of the monetized health benefits associated with adding the SCR.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Assessment Centers Program for the financial support of this research and Colby Tucker, senior policy analyst at the EPA for providing the AVERT shapefile.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Data availability statement
The data from COBRA and AVERT that support the findings of this study are openly available at https://www.epa.gov/avert (EPA 2022a) and https://www.epa.gov/cobra (EPA 2022c).
Other supporting data are also available within the paper and its supplementary materials.
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2023.2248922
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Notes on contributors
Elaheh Safaei Kouchaksaraei
Elaheh Safaei Kouchaksaraei is a research assistant in the Department of Chemical Engineering, at the University of Utah, focusing on linking energy, air quality and human health.
Kody M. Powell, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, at the University of Utah, researching energy systems optimization and renewable energy systems.
Ali Khosravani Semnani
Elaheh Safaei Kouchaksaraei is a research assistant in the Department of Chemical Engineering, at the University of Utah, focusing on linking energy, air quality and human health.
Kerry E. Kelly, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, at the University of Utah, researching links among energy, air quality and human health.
Kody M. Powell
Ali Khosravani Semnani is a research assistant in the Department of Chemical Engineering, at the University of Utah, focusing on energy systems optimization and renewable energy systems.
Kerry E. Kelly, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, at the University of Utah, researching links among energy, air quality and human health.
Kerry E. Kelly
Ali Khosravani Semnani is a research assistant in the Department of Chemical Engineering, at the University of Utah, focusing on energy systems optimization and renewable energy systems.
Kody M. Powell, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, at the University of Utah, researching energy systems optimization and renewable energy systems.