[Economic evaluation on the health hazards of residents caused by PM_(2.5) in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei from 2013 to 2018]

OBJECTIVE

To learn the health hazards and health economic losses caused by PM_(2.5) pollution in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei to the resident population.

METHODS

Fine particular matter concentration and the basic demographic data of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei from 2013 to 2018 were collected. Circulatory system disease hospitalization and other indexes were chosen as the end point of health effects, appropriate exposure-response relationship were selected, and the economic loss of health effect caused by PM_(2.5) was assessed by the combination of the cost of illness approach and human capital method.

RESULTS

From 2013 to 2018, the economic loss of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei caused by fine particular matter pollution showed a decreasing trend year by year. The health economic losses of Beijing from 2013 to 2018 were 3.815, 4.177, 4.090, 3.818, 2.567 and 2.031 billion yuan; The health economic losses of Tianjin were 3.046, 2.625, 1.882, 1.914, 1.448 and 1.000 billion yuan; The health economic losses of Hebei were 13.719, 11.850, 7.423, 7.216, 6.499 and 4.124 billion yuan, Hebei Province had the highest economic loss in 2013, accounting for 13.719 billion yuan, accounting for 0.51% of GDP in that year. Tianjin had the lowest economic loss in 2018, accounting for 10.0 billion yuan, accounting for 0.05% of GDP in that year.

CONCLUSION

The health loss caused by PM_(2.5) pollution in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei region shows a decreasing trend year by year, but the number is still very considerable, and the monitoring and control of PM_(2.5) pollution need to be further strengthened.

Continuous exposure to ambient air pollution and chronic diseases: prevalence, burden, and economic costs

Studies that assess the connection between the prevalence of chronic diseases and continuous exposure to air pollution are scarce in developing countries, mainly due to data limitations. Largely overcoming data limitations, this study aimed to investigate the association between the likelihood of reporting a set of chronic diseases (diabetes, cancer, stroke and myocardial infarction, asthma, and hypertension) and continuous exposure to carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), ozone (O₃), and coarse particulate matter (PM10). Using the estimated associations, the disease burden and economic costs of continuous exposure to air pollutants were also approximated. A 2011 Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool survey from Tehran, Iran, was used in the main analyses. A sample of 67,049 individuals who had not changed their place of residence for at least 2 years before the survey and reported all relevant socioeconomic information was selected. The individuals were assigned with the average monthly air pollutant levels of the nearest of 16 air quality monitors during the 2 years leading to the survey. Both single- and multi-pollutant analyses were conducted. The country's annual household surveys from 2002 to 2011 were used to calculate the associated economic losses. The single-pollutant analysis showed that a one-unit increase in monthly CO (ppm), NO₂ (ppb), O₃ (ppb), and PM10 (μg/m³) during the 2 years was associated with 751 [confidence interval (CI): 512-990], 18 (CI: 12-24), 46 (CI: -27-120), and 24 (CI: 13-35) more reported chronic diseases in 100,000, respectively. The disease-specific analyses showed that a unit change in average monthly CO was associated with 329, 321, 232, and 129 more reported cases of diabetes, hypertension, stroke and myocardial infarction, and asthma in 100,000, respectively. The measured associations were greater in samples with older individuals. Also, a unit change in average monthly O₃ was associated with 21 (in 100,000) more reported cases of asthma. The multi-pollutant analyses confirmed the results from single-pollutant analyses. The supplementary analyses showed that a one-unit decrease in monthly CO level could have been associated with about 208 (CI: 147-275) years of life gained or 15.195 (CI: 10.296-20.094) thousand US dollars (USD) in life-time labor market income gained per 100,000 30-plus-year-old Tehranis.

The role of burden of disease assessment in tracking progress towards achieving WHO global air quality guidelines

OBJECTIVES

More than 90% of the global population live in areas exceeding the PM2.5 air quality guidelines (AQGs). We provide an overview of the ambient PM2.5-related burden of disease (BoD) studies along with scenario analysis in the framework of the WHO AQG update on the estimated reduction in the BoD if AQGs were achieved globally.

METHODS

We reviewed the literature for large-scale studies for the BoD attributed to ambient PM2.5. Moreover, we used the latest WHO statistics to calculate the BoD at current levels and the scenarios of aligning with interim targets and AQG levels.

RESULTS

The most recent BoD studies (2010 onwards) share a similar methodology, but there are differences in the input data which affect the estimates for attributable deaths (2.9-8.9 million deaths annually). Moreover, we found that if AQGs were achieved, the estimated BoD would be reduced by up to 50% in total deaths worldwide.

CONCLUSIONS

Understanding the BoD across countries, especially in those that do not align with the AQGs, is essential in order to inform actions to reduce air pollution globally.

Near-real-time monitoring of global CO2 emissions reveals the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting human activities, and in turn energy use and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Here we present daily estimates of country-level CO2 emissions for different sectors based on near-real-time activity data. The key result is an abrupt 8.8% decrease in global CO2 emissions (-1551 Mt CO2) in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. The magnitude of this decrease is larger than during previous economic downturns or World War II. The timing of emissions decreases corresponds to lockdown measures in each country. By July 1st, the pandemic's effects on global emissions diminished as lockdown restrictions relaxed and some economic activities restarted, especially in China and several European countries, but substantial differences persist between countries, with continuing emission declines in the U.S. where coronavirus cases are still increasing substantially.

Estimating health burden and economic loss attributable to short-term exposure to multiple air pollutants in China

Existing studies focused on the evaluation of health burden of long-term exposure to air pollutants, whereas limited information is available on short-term exposure, particularly in China. Air pollutant concentrations in 338 Chinese cities in 2017 were used to estimate the air pollutants related health burden which was defined as premature mortalities from all-cause, cardiovascular and respiratory disease as well as hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory disease. Log-linear model was used as the exposure-response function to estimate the health burden attributable to each air pollutant. The value of statistical life and cost of illness methods were used to estimate economic loss of the premature mortalities and hospital admissions, respectively. The national all-cause premature mortalities attributable to all air pollutants was 1.35 million, accounting for 17.2% of reported deaths in China in 2017. Among all-cause premature mortality, contributions of PM_2.5, PM_2.5-10, NO₂, SO₂, O₃ and CO were11.1%, 5.2%, 28.9%, 9.6%, 23.0%, and 22.2%, respectively. The national cardiovascular and respiratory premature mortalities were 0.77 and 0.21 million, respectively. About 7.8 million cardiovascular and respiratory disease hospital admissions were attributed to short-term exposure to all air pollutants. The economic loss of the overall health burden (premature mortality and hospital admissions) was 2065.54 billion Yuan, which was equivalent to 2.5% of the national GDP in 2017. The health burden and economic loss attributable to short-term exposure to ambient air pollutant are substantial in China. It suggested that the adverse health effects attributable to short-term exposure to air pollutant should not be neglected in China. In order to reduce the health impact of air pollution, each city should develop air pollution prevention and control measures based on existing scientific evidence.

Towards a fuller assessment of the economic benefits of reducing air pollution from fossil fuel combustion: Per-case monetary estimates for children's health outcomes

BACKGROUND

Impacts on children's health are under-represented in benefits assessments of policies related to ambient air quality and climate change. To complement our previous compilation of concentration-response (C-R) functions for a number of children's health outcomes associated with air pollution, we provide per-case monetary estimates of the same health outcomes.

OBJECTIVES

Our goal was to establish per-case monetary estimates for a suite of prevalent children's health outcomes (preterm birth, low birth weight, asthma, autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and IQ reduction) that can be incorporated into benefits assessments of air pollution regulations and climate change mitigation policies.

METHODS

We conducted a systematic review of the literature published between January 1, 2000 and June 30, 2018 to identify relevant economic costs for these six adverse health outcomes in children. We restricted our literature search to studies published in the U.S., with a supplemental consideration of studies from the U.K. and prioritized literature reviews with summary cost estimates and papers that provided lifetime cost of illness estimates.

RESULTS

Our literature search and evaluation process reviewed 1065 papers and identified 12 most relevant papers on per-case monetary estimates for preterm birth, low birth weight, asthma, autism spectrum disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Details are presented in full. We separately identified estimates of the lost lifetime earnings associated with the loss of a single IQ point. The final per-case cost estimates for each outcome were selected based on the most robust evidence. These estimates range from $23,573 for childhood asthma not persisting into adulthood to $3,109,096 for a case of autism with a concurrent intellectual disability.

CONCLUSION

To our knowledge, this is the first time that the child-specific health outcomes of preterm birth, low birth weight, asthma, autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and IQ reduction have been systematically valued and presented in one place. This is an important addition to the body of health-related valuation literature as these outcomes have substantial economic costs that are not considered in most assessments of the benefits of air pollution and climate mitigation policies. In general, however, the available per-case estimates presented here did not incorporate the broad societal and long-term costs and are likely underestimates. Although our context has been air pollution and climate policies, the per-case monetary estimates presented here can be applied to other environmental exposures. Fuller assessments of health benefits to children and their corresponding economic gains will improve decision-making on environmental policy.

Spatiotemporal variation in PM2.5 concentrations and their relationship with socioeconomic factors in China's major cities

The air quality issues caused by extreme haze episodes in China have become increasingly serious in recent years. In particular, fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) has become the major component of haze with many adverse impacts and has therefore become of great concern to scientists, government, and the general public in China. This study investigates the spatiotemporal variation in PM_2.5 in 269 Chinese cities from 2015 to 2016 and its associations with socioeconomic factors to identify the possible strategies for PM_2.5 pollution mitigation. Specifically, we first quantified the spatial pattern of PM_2.5 concentrations in both 2015 and 2016, and then changes between the two years. Next, we examined the relationship between socioeconomic factors and PM_2.5 concentrations and changes. The results showed that most cities in eastern China experienced decreases in PM_2.5 concentration, although most of these cities already had high PM_2.5 pollution level. Cities with low PM_2.5 concentrations experienced increases in PM_2.5 concentrations and were mostly located in southern and southwestern China. The PM_2.5 concentration was the highest in winter, followed by in spring, autumn and summer; for changes in PM_2.5 concentrations, the highest magnitude of decrease occurred in summer, followed by the decreases in winter, autumn and spring. Cities with high PM_2.5 concentrations tended to be clustered, but the clustered characteristics were not clearly related to the changes in PM_2.5 concentrations. The relationship between PM_2.5 concentration and urban size was an inverse U-shaped curve, suggesting the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve for air quality in China. Population density and secondary industry share are the keys factors relating to air pollution control. In comparison to other cities, most moderately developed cities had a greater magnitude of decrease in PM_2.5 concentrations and the key factor for pollution improvement was industrial structure; however, smaller cities tended to have a greater increase in PM_2.5 concentrations and population density was the most important influencing factor. As a result, for air pollution control in China, specific regulations should be carried out according to different regions and different developmental stages based on the locations of cities.

Short term exposure to fine particulate matter and hospital admission risks and costs in the Medicare population: time stratified, case crossover study

OBJECTIVE

To assess risks and costs of hospital admission associated with short term exposure to fine particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) for 214 mutually exclusive disease groups.

DESIGN

Time stratified, case crossover analyses with conditional logistic regressions adjusted for non-linear confounding effects of meteorological variables.

SETTING

Medicare inpatient hospital claims in the United States, 2000-12 (n=95 277 169).

PARTICIPANTS

All Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 65 or older admitted to hospital.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Risk of hospital admission, number of admissions, days in hospital, inpatient and post-acute care costs, and value of statistical life (that is, the economic value used to measure the cost of avoiding a death) due to the lives lost at discharge for 214 disease groups.

RESULTS

Positive associations between short term exposure to PM2.5 and risk of hospital admission were found for several prevalent but rarely studied diseases, such as septicemia, fluid and electrolyte disorders, and acute and unspecified renal failure. Positive associations were also found between risk of hospital admission and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, phlebitis, thrombophlebitis, and thromboembolism, confirming previously published results. These associations remained consistent when restricted to days with a daily PM2.5 concentration below the WHO air quality guideline for the 24 hour average exposure to PM2.5. For the rarely studied diseases, each 1 µg/m3 increase in short term PM2.5 was associated with an annual increase of 2050 hospital admissions (95% confidence interval 1914 to 2187 admissions), 12 216 days in hospital (11 358 to 13 075), US$31m (£24m, €28m; $29m to $34m) in inpatient and post-acute care costs, and $2.5bn ($2.0bn to $2.9bn) in value of statistical life. For diseases with a previously known association, each 1 µg/m3 increase in short term exposure to PM2.5 was associated with an annual increase of 3642 hospital admissions (3434 to 3851), 20 098 days in hospital (18 950 to 21 247), $69m ($65m to $73m) in inpatient and post-acute care costs, and $4.1bn ($3.5bn to $4.7bn) in value of statistical life.

CONCLUSIONS

New causes and previously identified causes of hospital admission associated with short term exposure to PM2.5 were found. These associations remained even at a daily PM2.5 concentration below the WHO 24 hour guideline. Substantial economic costs were linked to a small increase in short term PM2.5.

Comparison of health and economic impacts of PM2.5 and ozone pollution in China

Many studies have reported associations between air pollution and health impacts, but few studies have explicitly differentiated the economic effects of PM_2.5 and ozone at China's regional level. This study compares the PM_2.5 and ozone pollution-related health impacts based on an integrated approach. The research framework combines an air pollutant emission projection model (GAINS), an air quality model (GEOS-Chem), a health model using the latest exposure-response functions, medical prices and value of statistical life (VSL), and a general equilibrium model (CGE). Results show that eastern provinces in China encounter severer loss from PM_2.5 and more benefit from mitigation policy, whereas the lower income western provinces encounter severer health impacts and economic burdens due to ozone pollution, and the impact in southern and central provinces is relatively lower. In 2030, without control policies, PM _2.5 pollution could lead to losses of 2.0% in Gross Domestic Production (GDP), 210 billion Chinese Yuan (CNY) in health expenditure and a life loss of around 10,000 billion, while ozone pollution could contribute to GDP loss by 0.09% (equivalent to 78 billion CNY), 310 billion CNY in health expenditure, and a life loss of 2300 billion CNY (equivalent to 2.7% of GDP). By contrast, with control policies, the GDP and VSLs loss in 2030 attributable to ambient air pollution could be reduced significantly. We also find that the health and economic impacts of ozone pollution are significantly lower than PM_2.5, but are much more difficult to mitigate. The Chinese government should promote air pollution control policies that could jointly reduce PM_2.5 and ozone pollution.

Innovation and CO2 emissions: the complimentary role of eco-patent and trademark in the OECD economies

Increasing global emissions has led to research on the role of innovations play combating emissions. Mitigations from innovation perspective have mainly been focused on the role of patent, ignoring the role of trademarks. We therefore investigate the mitigating power of patent and trademarks in the OECD economies, benchmarking patent as the traditional mitigation strategy. Examining the complimentary role, we created an interaction term between patent and trademark. Our study divided the OECD economies into four subpanels which are OECD America, OCED Asia, OECD Europe, and OECD Oceania. We employed the Im, Pesaran and Shin W-stat, Augmented Dickey-Fuller, and Phillips Perron unit root tests, as well as cross-sectional dependence and Westerlund cointegration tests for the preliminary test on the variables. We also adopted ARDL approach to cointegration, Granger causality test, and OLS in examining the relationship between CO₂ and patent, trademark, urbanization, and economic growth. Findings show that jointly, eco-patents and trademarks mitigate CO₂ emissions. Also, bidirectional or unidirectional causal relationship was established between our variables of study, an indication that most of our variables can be used in forecasting one other.

Health benefits and control costs of tightening particulate matter emissions standards for coal power plants - The case of Northeast Brazil

Exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) caused an estimated 4.2 million deaths worldwide in 2015. However, PM emission standards for power plants vary widely. To explore if the current levels of these standards are sufficiently stringent in a simple cost-benefit framework, we compared the health benefits (avoided monetized health costs) with the control costs of tightening PM emission standards for coal-fired power plants in Northeast (NE) Brazil, where ambient PM concentrations are below World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. We considered three Brazilian PM₁₀ (PM_x refers to PM with a diameter under x micrometers) emission standards and a stricter U.S. EPA standard for recent power plants. Our integrated methodology simulates hourly electricity grid dispatch from utility-scale power plants, disperses the resulting PM_2.5, and estimates selected human health impacts from PM_2.5 exposure using the latest integrated exposure-response model. Since the emissions inventories required to model secondary PM are not available in our study area, we modeled only primary PM so our benefit estimates are conservative. We found that tightening existing PM₁₀ emission standards yields health benefits that are over 60 times greater than emissions control costs in all the scenarios we considered. The monetary value of avoided hospital admissions alone is at least four times as large as the corresponding control costs. These results provide strong arguments for considering tightening PM emission standards for coal-fired power plants worldwide, including in regions that meet WHO guidelines and in developing countries.

Air pollution and healthcare expenditure: Implication for the benefit of air pollution control in China

Quantitating the health effects of air pollution is important for understanding the benefits of environmental regulations. Using the China Urban Household Survey (UHS) Database, this paper estimated the effect of air pollution exposure on household healthcare expenditure. To address potential endogeneity concerns, we performed household healthcare expenditure regressions using an instrumental variables (IV) strategy based on spatial air pollution spillovers. Our research revealed that a 1% increase in yearly exposure to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) corresponds to a 2.942% (95% confidence interval: 1.084%, 4.799%) increase in household healthcare expenditure. The estimates suggest that the 13th Five-Year Plan for Ecological and Environmental Protection (the 13th FYP) would reduce annual national healthcare expenditure by 47.36 Billion Dollar (95% confidence interval: 17.45 Billion Dollar, 77.25 Billion Dollar), which accounts for 0.64% (95% confidence interval: 0.24%, 1.04%) of China's gross domestic product (GDP).

A systematic review of financial implications of air pollution on health in Asia

Economic losses due to health-related implications of air pollution were huge and incurred significant burdens towards healthcare providers. The objective of this study is to systematically review published literature on the financial implications of air pollution on health in Asia. Four databases: PubMed, Scopus, NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED), and Web of Science (WoS) were used to identify all the relevant articles. It was limited to all articles that had been published in the respected databases from January 2007 until March 2017. Twenty-four articles were included in this review. Five of the 24 studies (20.8%) reported financial implications of air pollution-related disease through value of statistical life (VOSL) which ranged from USD180 million to USD2.2 billion, six (25%) studies used cost of illness (COI) to evaluate air pollution-related morbidity and found that the cost ranged from USD5.4 million to USD9.1 billion. Another six studies (25%) used a combination of VOSL and COI for both mortality and morbidity valuation and found that the financial implications ranging from USD253 million to USD2.9 billion. Thirteen (54.2%) studies reported healthcare cost associated with both hospital admission and outpatient visit, five (20.1%) on hospital admission only, and one (4.2%) on outpatient visit only. Economic impacts of air pollution can be huge with significant deterioration of health among the Asians.

The impact of economic growth on CO2 emissions in Australia: the environmental Kuznets curve and the decoupling index

Australia is the sixth largest country in the world, celebrating its 26th consecutive year without a recession. However, the country is one of the ten largest emitters of greenhouse gases, mainly caused by energy use. As such, Australia is facing a trade-off between economic growth and reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. This paper empirically analyses the relationship between economic growth and CO₂ emissions in Australia, based on annual data from 1965 to 2016, considering the consumption of the fossil fuels oil and coal and renewable energy. This analysis is performed using the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and the Decoupling Index (DI). The EKC is assessed by employing the autoregressive distributed lag model. In addition, a robustness check is provided through the vector error correction model, which allows for the employment of the Granger causality test. The results show that in Australia, there is evidence for the EKC hypothesis, and that the country is undergoing increasing relative decoupling. These results mean that economic growth causes CO₂ emissions and consequently environmental degradation. To achieve environmental targets and reduce the rate of CO₂ emissions while continuing to grow, Australia needs to implement measures and policies to cut CO₂ emissions, such as energy demand management and control, energy efficiency, reducing fossil fuel consumption, and investing in renewable energy technology.

Financial instability and CO2 emissions: the case of Saudi Arabia

This study aims to investigate the nexus between financial instability and CO₂ emissions within the multivariate framework in Saudi Arabia's economy over 1971-2016. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model is used to estimate long-run dynamics followed by Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) to detect the direction of causality. The result of the study reveals that financial instability has an insignificant impact on CO₂ emissions. However, electricity consumption has an adverse impact on environmental quality by producing a huge amount of CO₂ emissions in the atmosphere. The coefficients of oil and non-oil GDPs also suggest that both oil and non-oil GDPs contribute to producing a massive amount of CO₂ emissions. Bi-directional causality is observed among all the core variables of the study. Moreover, the reliability and validity are confirmed by applying several diagnostic tests. This study provides novel findings which not only help to advance the existing literature but can be a particular interest to the country's policymakers regarding financial sector and its role in environmental degradation.

What Are the Net Benefits of Reducing the Ozone Standard to 65 ppb? An Alternative Analysis

In October 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lowered the level of the ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) from 0.075 ppm to 0.070 ppm (annual 4th highest daily maximum 8-h concentration, averaged over three years). The EPA estimated a 2025 annual national non-California net benefit of $1.5 to $4.5 billion (2011$, 7% discount rate) for a 0.070 ppm standard, and a −$1.0 to $14 billion net benefit for an alternative 0.065 ppm standard. The purpose of this work is to present a combined toxicological and economic assessment of the EPA’s benefit-cost analysis of the 2015 ozone NAAQS. Assessing the quality of the epidemiology studies based on considerations of bias, confounding, chance, integration of evidence, and application of the studies for future population risk estimates, we derived several alternative benefits estimates. We also considered the strengths and weaknesses of the EPA’s cost estimates (e.g., marginal abatement costs), as well as estimates completed by other authors, and provided our own alternative cost estimate. Based on our alternative benefits and cost calculations, we estimated an alternative net benefit of between −$0.3 and $1.8 billion for a 0.070 ppm standard (2011 $, 7% discount rate) and between −$23 and −$17 billion for a 0.065 ppm standard. This work demonstrates that alternative reasonable assumptions can generate very difference cost and benefits estimates that may impact how policy makers view the outcomes of a major rule.

Relationship between urbanisation and pollutant emissions in transboundary river basins under the strategy of the Belt and Road Initiative

Urbanisation has increased the discharge of pollutants, altered water flow regimes, and modified the morphology of transboundary river basins. All these actions have resulted in multiple pressures on aquatic ecosystems of transboundary river basins, undermining the healthy development of their aquatic ecosystems as well as impairing the sustainable economic and social development associated therewith. Quantifying the relationship between socio-economic factors, and water environment systems, and understanding the multiple pressures in their combined impact on environmental fairness of transboundary river basins is challenging, and it is crucial to the strategic planning of the Belt and Road strategy. Here, the Songhua River basin, which is the largest branch of the China-Russia boundary river is taken as the study area. The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model, which is coupled with the integrated model (pollutant emissions intensity, pollutant discharge efficiency, and pollutant emissions per capita), are used to reveal the spatio-temporal variations in regional pollutant emissions in the SRB. The results show that the features of the EKC are present in the pollutant emissions during economic development of the SRB. It also demonstrates that the turning point value of the EKC appeared when the GDP per capita is around ¥40,000 (CNY) in the SRB, which means that the pollutant emissions show an increasing trend, when the GDP per capita is less than ¥40,000. Our findings could contribute to a better understanding of the coupling relationship between pollutant emissions in transboundary river basins and urbanisation process in water stress to help address water allocation problems.

Spatiotemporal Assessment of PM2.5-Related Economic Losses from Health Impacts during 2014⁻2016 in China

Background: Particulate air pollution, especially PM_2.5, is highly correlated with various adverse health impacts and, ultimately, economic losses for society, however, few studies have undertaken a spatiotemporal assessment of PM_2.5-related economic losses from health impacts covering all of the main cities in China. Methods: PM_2.5 concentration data were retrieved for 190 Chinese cities for the period 2014–2016. We used a log-linear exposure–response model and monetary valuation methods, such as value of a statistical life (VSL), amended human capital (AHC), and cost of illness to evaluate PM_2.5-related economic losses from health impacts at the city level. In addition, Monte Carlo simulation was used to analyze uncertainty. Results: The average economic loss was 0.3% (AHC) to 1% (VSL) of the total gross domestic product (GDP) of 190 Chinese cities from 2014 to 2016. Overall, China experienced a downward trend in total economic losses over the three-year period, but the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, Shandong Peninsula, Yangtze River Delta, and Chengdu-Chongqing regions experienced greater annual economic losses. Conclusions: Exploration of spatiotemporal variations in PM_2.5-related economic losses from long-term health impacts could provide new information for policymakers regarding priority areas for PM_2.5 pollution prevention and control in China.

Economic impacts from PM2.5 pollution-related health effects in China's road transport sector: A provincial-level analysis

Economic impact assessments of air pollution-related health effects from a sectoral perspective in China is still deficient. This study evaluates the PM_2.5 pollution-related health impacts of the road transport sector on China's economy at both national and provincial levels in 2030 under various air mitigation technologies scenarios. Health impacts are estimated using an integrated approach that combines the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) model, a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and a health model. Results show that at a national level, the road transport sector leads to 163.64 thousand deaths per year, increases the per capita risk of morbidity by 0.37% and accounts for 1.43 billion Yuan in health care expenditures. We estimate 442.90 billion Yuan of the value of statistical life loss and 2.09 h/capita of work time loss in 2015. Without additional control measures, air pollution related to the transport sector will cause 177.50 thousand deaths in 2030, a 0.40% per capita increase in the risk of morbidity, accounting for 4.12 billion Yuan in health care expenditures, 737.15 billion Yuan of statistical life loss and 2.23 h/capita of work time loss. Based on our model, implementing the most strict control strategy scenario would decrease mortality by 42.14%, morbidity risk by 42.14%, health care expenditures by 41.94%, statistical life loss by 26.22% and hours of work time loss by 42.65%, comparing with the no control measure scenario. In addition, PM_2.5 pollution from the road transport sector will cause 0.68% GDP loss in 2030. At a provincial level, GDP losses in 14 out of 30 provinces far exceed the national rate. Henan (1.20%), Sichuan (1.07%), Chongqing (0.99%), Hubei (0.94%), and Shandong (0.90%) would experience the highest GDP loss in 2030. Implementing control strategies to reduce PM_2.5 pollution in the road transport sector could bring positive benefits in half of the Chinese provinces especially in provinces that suffer greater health impacts from the road transport sector (such as Henan and Sichuan).

Energy savings, emission reductions, and health co-benefits of the green building movement

Buildings consume nearly 40% of primary energy production globally. Certified green buildings substantially reduce energy consumption on a per square foot basis and they also focus on indoor environmental quality. However, the co-benefits to health through reductions in energy and concomitant reductions in air pollution have not been examined.We calculated year by year LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification rates in six countries (the United States, China, India, Brazil, Germany, and Turkey) and then used data from the Green Building Information Gateway (GBIG) to estimate energy savings in each country each year. Of the green building rating schemes, LEED accounts for 32% of green-certified floor space and publically reports energy efficiency data. We employed Harvard's Co-BE Calculator to determine pollutant emissions reductions by country accounting for transient energy mixes and baseline energy use intensities. Co-BE applies the social cost of carbon and the social cost of atmospheric release to translate these reductions into health benefits. Based on modeled energy use, LEED-certified buildings saved $7.5B in energy costs and averted 33MT of CO₂, 51 kt of SO₂, 38 kt of NO_x, and 10 kt of PM_2.5 from entering the atmosphere, which amounts to $5.8B (lower limit = $2.3B, upper limit = $9.1B) in climate and health co-benefits from 2000 to 2016 in the six countries investigated. The U.S. health benefits derive from avoiding an estimated 172-405 premature deaths, 171 hospital admissions, 11,000 asthma exacerbations, 54,000 respiratory symptoms, 21,000 lost days of work, and 16,000 lost days of school. Because the climate and health benefits are nearly equivalent to the energy savings for green buildings in the United States, and up to 10 times higher in developing countries, they provide an important and previously unquantified societal value. Future analyses should consider these co-benefits when weighing policy decisions around energy-efficient buildings.

A New TS Algorithm for Solving Low-Carbon Logistics Vehicle Routing Problem with Split Deliveries by Backpack-From a Green Operation Perspective

In order to promote the development of low-carbon logistics and economize logistics distribution costs, the vehicle routing problem with split deliveries by backpack is studied. With the help of the model of classical capacitated vehicle routing problem, in this study, a form of discrete split deliveries was designed in which the customer demand can be split only by backpack. A double-objective mathematical model and the corresponding adaptive tabu search (TS) algorithm were constructed for solving this problem. By embedding the adaptive penalty mechanism, and adopting the random neighborhood selection strategy and reinitialization principle, the global optimization ability of the new algorithm was enhanced. Comparisons with the results in the literature show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The proposed method can save the costs of low-carbon logistics and reduce carbon emissions, which is conducive to the sustainable development of low-carbon logistics.

Carbon emissions tax policy of urban road traffic and its application in Panjin, China

How to effectively solve traffic congestion and transportation pollution in urban development is a main research emphasis for transportation management agencies. A carbon emissions tax can affect travelers’ generalized costs and will lead to changes in passenger demand, mode choice and traffic flow equilibrium in road networks, which are of significance in green travel and low-carbon transportation management. This paper first established a mesoscopic model to calculate the carbon emissions tax and determined the value of this charge in China, which was based on road traffic flow, vehicle speed, and carbon emissions. Referring to existing research results to calibrate the value of time, this paper modified the traveler’s generalized cost function, including the carbon emissions tax, fuel surcharge and travel time cost, which can be used in the travel impedance model with the consideration of the carbon emissions tax. Then, a method for analyzing urban road network traffic flow distribution was put forward, and a joint traffic distribution model was established, which considered the relationship between private cars and taxis. Finally, this paper took the city of Panjin as an example to analyze the road traffic carbon emissions tax’s impact. The results illustrated that the carbon emissions tax has a positive effect on road network flow equilibrium and carbon emission reduction. This paper will have good reference value and practical significance for the calculation and implementation of urban traffic carbon emissions taxes in China.

Shipping emission forecasts and cost-benefit analysis of China ports and key regions' control

China established Domestic Emission Control Area (DECA) for sulphur since 2015 to constrain the increasing shipping emissions. However, future DECA policy-makings are not supported due to a lack of quantitive evaluations. To investigate the effects of current and possible Chinese DECAs policies, a model is presented for the forecast of shipping emissions and evaluation of potential costs and benefits of an DECA policy package set in 2020. It includes a port-level and regional-level projection accounting for shipping trade volume growth, share of ship types, and fuel consumption. The results show that without control measures, both SO₂ and particulate matter (PM) emissions are expected to increase by 15.3-61.2% in Jing-Jin-Ji, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta from 2013 to 2020. However, most emissions can be reduced annually by the establishment of a DECA that depends on the size of the control area and the fuel sulphur content limit. Costs range from 0.667 to 1.561 billion dollars (control regional shipping emissions) based on current fuel price. A social cost method shows the regional control scenarios benefit-cost ratios vary from 4.3 to 5.1 with large uncertainty. Chemical transportation model combined with health model method is used to get the monetary health benefits and then compared with the results from social cost method. This study suggests that Chinese DECAs will reduce the projected emissions at a favorable benefit-cost ratio, and furthermore proposes policy combinations that provide high cost-effective benefits as a reference for future policy-making.

Health Impacts of Ambient Air Pollution in Finland

Air pollution has been estimated to be one of the leading environmental health risks in Finland. National health impact estimates existing to date have focused on particles (PM) and ozone (O₃). In this work, we quantify the impacts of particles, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) in 2015, and analyze the related uncertainties. The exposures were estimated with a high spatial resolution chemical transport model, and adjusted to observed concentrations. We calculated the health impacts according to Word Health Organization (WHO) working group recommendations. According to our results, ambient air pollution caused a burden of 34,800 disability-adjusted life years (DALY). Fine particles were the main contributor (74%) to the disease burden, which is in line with the earlier studies. The attributable burden was dominated by mortality (32,900 years of life lost (YLL); 95%). Impacts differed between population age groups. The burden was clearly higher in the adult population over 30 years (98%), due to the dominant role of mortality impacts. Uncertainties due to the concentration-response functions were larger than those related to exposures.

The impact of internet use on air pollution: Evidence from emerging countries

The goal of this study is to analyze the impact of Internet use, employed as a proxy for information and communications technologies (ICTs), on CO₂ emissions. Using a panel of 20 emerging economies spanning the period 1990 to 2015, this paper finds that increased Internet access results in lower levels of air pollution. Moreover, panel causality test results highlight a unidirectional causality running from Internet use to CO₂ emissions. This result also has crucial policy implications for the governments in emerging markets. For instance, increased investment in the ICT sector could be a plausible channel to reduce air pollution level.

Does trade matter for carbon emissions in OECD countries? Evidence from a new trade openness measure

This paper analyzes the impacts of the per capita income, the per capita energy consumption, and the trade openness on the level of per capita carbon emissions in the panel dataset of 35 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries over the period 1960-2013. Along with the nominal trade openness, the paper uses a different trade openness measure, so called as the "trade potential index" (TPI). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that uses the TPI in the empirical environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis literature. The paper finds that the EKC hypothesis is valid and there is an "inverted-U" relationship between the income and the carbon emissions. In addition, the paper observes that there is a positive effect of the energy consumption on the carbon emissions. Furthermore, the results indicate that both trade openness measures are negatively associated with the carbon emissions in the OECD countries in the long run.

Socio-economic costs of indoor air pollution: A tentative estimation for some pollutants of health interest in France

An evaluation of the socio-economic costs of indoor air pollution can facilitate the development of appropriate public policies. For the first time in France, such an evaluation was conducted for six selected pollutants: benzene, trichloroethylene, radon, carbon monoxide, particles (PM_2.5 fraction), and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). The health impacts of indoor exposure were either already available in published works or were calculated. For these calculations, two approaches were followed depending on the available data: the first followed the principles of quantitative health risk assessment, and the second was based on concepts and methods related to the health impact assessment. For both approaches, toxicological data and indoor concentrations related to each target pollutant were used. External costs resulting from mortality, morbidity (life quality loss) and production losses attributable to these health impacts were assessed. In addition, the monetary costs for the public were determined. Indoor pollution associated with the selected pollutants was estimated to have cost approximately €20 billion in France in 2004. Particles contributed the most to the total cost (75%), followed by radon. Premature death and the costs of the quality of life loss accounted for approximately 90% of the total cost. Despite the use of different methods and data, similar evaluations previously conducted in other countries yielded figures within the same order of magnitude.

Human health cost of hydrogen sulfide air pollution from an oil and gas Field

Introduction and objective. The Karachaganak oil and gas condensate field (KOGCF), one of the largest in the world, located in the Republic of Kazakhstan (RoK) in Central Asia, is surrounded by 10 settlements with a total population of 9,000 people. Approximately73% of this population constantly mention a specific odour of rotten eggs in the air, typical for hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) emissions, and the occurrence of low-level concentrations of hydrogen sulfide around certain industrial installations (esp. oil refineries) is a well known fact. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the impact on human health and the economic damage to the country due to H₂S emissions. Materials and method. Dose-response dependency between H₂S concentrations in the air and cardiovascular morbidity using multiple regression analysis was applied. Economic damage from morbidity was derived with a newly-developed method, with Kazakhstani peculiarities taken into account. Results.Hydrogen sulfide air pollution due to the KOGCF activity costs the state almost $60,000 per year. Moreover, this is the reason for a more than 40% rise incardiovascular morbidity in the region. Conclusion. The reduction of hydrogen sulfide emissions into the air is recommended, as well as successive constant ambient air monitoring in future. Economic damage evaluation should be made mandatory, on a legal basis, whenever an industrial facility operation results in associated air pollution.

An agent-based model for an air emissions cap and trade program: A case study in Taiwan

To determine the actual status of individuals in a system and the trading interaction between polluters, this study uses an agent-based model to set up a virtual world that represents the Kaohsiung and Pingtung regions in Taiwan, which are under the country's air emissions cap and trade program. The model can simulate each controlled industry's dynamic behavioral condition with the bottom-up method and can investigate the impact of the program and determine the industry's emissions reduction and trading condition. This model can be used elastically to predict the impact of the trading market through adjusting different settings of the program rules or combining the settings with other measures. The simulation results show that the emissions trading market has an oversupply, but we find that the market trading amounts are low. Additionally, we find that increasing the air pollution fee and offset rate restrains the agents' trading decision, according to the simulation results of each scenario. In particular, NO_x and SO_x trading amounts are easily impacted by the pollution fee, reduction rate, and offset rate. Also, the more transparent the market, the more it can help polluters trade. Therefore, if authorities want to intervene in the emissions trading market, they must be careful in adjusting the air pollution fee and program rules; otherwise, the trading market system cannot work effectively. We also suggest setting up a trading platform to help the dealers negotiate successfully.

Assessment of health and economic effects by PM2.5 pollution in Beijing: a combined exposure-response and computable general equilibrium analysis

Assessment of the health and economic impacts of PM2.5 pollution is of great importance for urban air pollution prevention and control. In this study, we evaluate the damage of PM2.5 pollution using Beijing as an example. First, we use exposure-response functions to estimate the adverse health effects due to PM2.5 pollution. Then, the corresponding labour loss and excess medical expenditure are computed as two conducting variables. Finally, different from the conventional valuation methods, this paper introduces the two conducting variables into the computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to assess the impacts on sectors and the whole economic system caused by PM2.5 pollution. The results show that, substantial health effects of the residents in Beijing from PM2.5 pollution occurred in 2013, including 20,043 premature deaths and about one million other related medical cases. Correspondingly, using the 2010 social accounting data, Beijing gross domestic product loss due to the health impact of PM2.5 pollution is estimated as 1286.97 (95% CI: 488.58-1936.33) million RMB. This demonstrates that PM2.5 pollution not only has adverse health effects, but also brings huge economic loss.

Costs of Health Damage from Atmospheric Emissions of Toxic Metals: Part 2-Analysis for Mercury and Lead

In this part of the series we explain the detailed literature review and the calculations of impacts and damage costs of mercury and lead. Methodology and general assumptions are explained in the companion article, Part 1 of this series, and the spreadsheet with the calculations is available as a supplementary file of Part 1.³ For mercury, the damage cost is 22,937 €₂₀₁₃ /kg if there is a no-effect threshold, 52,129 €₂₀₁₃ /kg if there is none; 91% is due to mortality from heart disease, the rest from loss of IQ points. For lead, the damage cost is 29,343 €₂₀₁₃ /kg, about 80% due to mortality and 20% due to IQ loss; there does not seem to be a no-effect threshold. These costs are per kg of emitted pollutant.

Public Health Impact and Economic Costs of Volkswagen's Lack of Compliance with the United States' Emission Standards

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a notice of violation against Volkswagen (VW) for installing a defective device in certain models of diesel cars to circumvent emission tests for nitrogen oxides (NO_x). We quantified the health and economic impacts of extra NO_x emissions attributable to non-compliant vehicles in the U.S. using the EPA’s Co-Benefits Risk Assessment model. We estimated that the total extra NO_x emitted over one year of operation would result in 5 to 50 premature deaths, 687 to 17,526 work days with restricted activity, and economic costs of $43,479,189 to $423,268,502, based on various assumptions regarding emission scenarios and risks. This study highlights the potential impacts of VW vehicles’ lack of compliance on the health and well-being of the U.S. population.

Health Impact Assessment of Air Pollution in São Paulo, Brazil

Epidemiological research suggests that air pollution may cause chronic diseases, as well as exacerbation of related pathologies such as cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity and mortality. This study evaluates air pollution scenarios considering a Health Impact Assessment approach in São Paulo, Brazil. We have analyzed abatement scenarios of Particulate Matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter <10 μm (PM₁₀), <2.5 μm (PM_2.5) and ozone concentrations and the health effects on respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in the period from 2009 to 2011 through the APHEKOM tool, as well as the associated health costs. Considering World Health Organization (WHO) standards of PM_2.5 (10 μg/m³), São Paulo would avoid more than 5012 premature deaths (equivalent to 266,486 life years’ gain) and save US$15.1 billion annually. If São Paulo could even diminish the mean of PM_2.5 by 5 μg/m³, nearly 1724 deaths would be avoided, resulting in a gain of US$ 4.96 billion annually. Reduced levels of PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and ozone could save lives and an impressive amount of money in a country where economic resources are scarce. Moreover, the reduced levels of air pollution would also lower the demand for hospital care, since hospitalizations would diminish. In this sense, Brazil should urgently adopt WHO air pollution standards in order to improve the quality of life of its population.

Air pollution and respiratory diseases: ecological time series

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE

Exposure to air pollutants is one of the factors responsible for hospitalizations due to respiratory diseases. The objective here was to estimate the effect of exposure to particulate matter (such as PM2.5) on hospitalizations due to certain respiratory diseases among residents in Volta Redonda (RJ).

DESIGN AND SETTING

Ecological time series study using data from Volta Redonda (RJ).

METHODS

Data on hospital admissions among residents of Volta Redonda (RJ), between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2012, due to pneumonia, acute bronchitis, bronchiolitis and asthma, were analyzed. Daily data on PM2.5 concentrations were estimated through the CCATT-BRAMS model. The generalized additive Poisson regression model was used, taking the daily number of hospitalizations to be the dependent variable and the PM2.5 concentration to be the independent variable, with adjustment for temperature, relative humidity, seasonality and day of the week, and using lags of zero to seven days. Excess hospitalization and its cost were calculated in accordance with increases in PM2.5 concentration of 5 µg/m3.

RESULTS

There were 752 hospitalizations in 2012; the average concentration of PM2.5 was 17.2 µg/m3; the effects of exposure were significant at lag 2 (RR = 1.017), lag 5 (RR = 1.022) and lag 7 (RR = 1,020). A decrease in PM2.5 concentration of 5 µg/m3 could reduce admissions by up to 76 cases, with a decrease in spending of R$ 84,000 a year.

CONCLUSION

The findings from this study provide support for implementing public health policies in this municipality, which is an important steelmaking center.

An Analysis of Costs and Health Co-Benefits for a U.S. Power Plant Carbon Standard

Reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants can have important "co-benefits" for public health by reducing emissions of air pollutants. Here, we examine the costs and health co-benefits, in monetary terms, for a policy that resembles the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan. We then examine the spatial distribution of the co-benefits and costs, and the implications of a range of cost assumptions in the implementation year of 2020. Nationwide, the total health co-benefits were $29 billion 2010 USD (95% CI: $2.3 to $68 billion), and net co-benefits under our central cost case were $12 billion (95% CI: -$15 billion to $51 billion). Net co-benefits for this case in the implementation year were positive in 10 of the 14 regions studied. The results for our central case suggest that all but one region should experience positive net benefits within 5 years after implementation.

Economic evaluation of health losses from air pollution in Beijing, China

Aggravated air pollution in Beijing, China has caused serious health concern. This paper comprehensively evaluates the health losses from illness and premature death caused by air pollution in monetary terms. We use the concentration of PM10 as an indicator of the pollution since it constitutes the primary pollutant in Beijing. By our estimation, air pollution in Beijing caused a health loss equivalent to Ұ583.02 million or 0.03 % of its GDP. Most of the losses took the form of depreciation in human capital that resulted from premature death. The losses from premature deaths were most salient for people of either old or young ages, with the former group suffering from the highest mortality rates and the latter group the highest per capital losses of human capitals from premature death. Policies that target on PM10 emission reduction, urban vegetation expansion, and protection of vulnerable groups are all proposed as possible solutions to air pollution risks in Beijing.

Spatial Differences and Costs of Emissions at U.S. Airport Hubs

As local governments plan to expand airport infrastructure and build air service, monetized estimates of damages from air pollution are important for balancing environmental impacts. While it is well-known that aircraft emissions near airports directly affect nearby populations, it is less clear how the airport-specific aircraft operations and impacts result in monetized damages to human health and the environment. We model aircraft and ground support equipment emissions at major U.S. airports and estimate the monetized human health and environmental damages of near airport (within 60 miles) emissions. County-specific unit damage costs for PM, SOx, NOx, and VOCs and damage valuations for CO and CO2 are used along with aircraft emissions estimations at airports to determine impacts. We find that near-airport emissions at major U.S. airports caused a total of $1.9 billion in damages in 2013, with airports contributing between $720 thousand and $190 million each. These damages vary by airport from $1 to $9 per seat per one-way flight and costs per passenger are often greater than airport charges levied on airlines for infrastructure use. As the U.S. aviation system grows, it is possible to minimize human and environmental costs by shifting aircraft technologies and expanding service into airports where fewer impacts are likely to occur.

The impact of CO2 emissions on economic growth: evidence from selected higher CO2 emissions economies

The main purpose of this work is to analyze the impact of environmental degradation proxied by CO2 emissions per capita along with some other explanatory variables namely energy use, trade, and human capital on economic growth in selected higher CO2 emissions economies namely China, the USA, India, and Japan. For empirical analysis, annual data over the period spanning between 1971 and 2013 are used. After using relevant and suitable tests for checking data properties, the panel fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method is employed as an analytical technique for parameter estimation. The panel group FMOLS results reveal that almost all variables are statistically significant, whereby test rejects the null hypotheses of non cointegration, demonstrating that all variables play an important role in affecting the economic growth role across countries. Where two regressors namely CO2 emissions and energy use show significantly negative impacts on economic growth, for trade and human capital, they tend to show the significantly positive impact on economic growth. However, for the individual analysis across countries, the panel estimate suggests that CO2 emissions have a significant positive relationship with economic growth for China, Japan, and the USA, while it is found significantly negative in case of India. The empirical findings of the study suggest that appropriate and prudent policies are required in order to control pollution emerging from areas other than liquefied fuel consumption. The ultimate impact of shrinking pollution will help in supporting sustainable economic growth and maturation as well as largely improve society welfare.

Economic development and multiple air pollutant emissions from the industrial sector

This study analyzed the relationship between economic growth and emissions of eight environmental air pollutants (carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur oxide (SOx), carbon monoxide (CO), non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC), and ammonia (NH3)) in 39 countries from 1995 to 2009. We tested an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for 16 individual industry sectors and for the total industrial sector. The results clarified that at least ten individual industries do not have an EKC relationship in eight air pollutants even though this relationship was observed in the country and total industrial sector level data. We found that the key industries that dictated the EKC relationship in the country and the total industrial sector existed in CO2, N2O, CO, and NMVOC emissions. Finally, the EKC turning point and the relationship between economic development and trends of air pollutant emissions differ among industries according to the pollution substances. These results suggest inducing new environmental policy design such as the sectoral crediting mechanism, which focuses on the industrial characteristics of emissions.

Indirect CO2 Emission Implications of Energy System Pathways: Linking IO and TIMES Models for the UK

Radical changes to current national energy systems-including energy efficiency and the decarbonization of electricity-will be required in order to meet challenging carbon emission reduction commitments. Technology explicit energy system optimization models (ESOMs) are widely used to define and assess such low-carbon pathways, but these models only account for the emissions associated with energy combustion and either do not account for or do not correctly allocate emissions arising from infrastructure, manufacturing, construction and transport associated with energy technologies and fuels. This paper addresses this shortcoming, through a hybrid approach that estimates the upstream CO2 emissions across current and future energy technologies for the UK using a multiregional environmentally extended input-output model, and explicitly models the direct and indirect CO2 emissions of energy supply and infrastructure technologies within a national ESOM (the UK TIMES model). Results indicate the large significance of nondomestic indirect emissions, particularly coming from fossil fuel imports, and finds that the marginal abatement cost of mitigating all emissions associated with UK energy supply is roughly double that of mitigating only direct emissions in 2050.

Relationship between recycling rate and air pollution: Waste management in the state of Massachusetts

This study examines the relationship between recycling rate of solid waste and air pollution using data from a waste municipality survey in the state of Massachusetts during the period 2009-2012. Two econometric approaches are applied. The first approach is a fixed effects model, while the second is a Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) with fixed effects model. The advantage of the first approach is the ability of controlling for stable time invariant characteristics of the municipalities, thereby eliminating potentially large sources of bias. The second approach is applied in order to estimate the technical efficiency and rank of each municipality accordingly. The regressions control for various demographic, economic and recycling services, such as income per capita, population density, unemployment, trash services, Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) program and meteorological data. The findings support that a negative relationship between particulate particles in the air 2.5 μm or less in size (PM2.5) and recycling rate is presented. In addition, the pollution is increased with increases on income per capita up to $23,000-$26,000, while after this point income contributes positively on air quality. Finally, based on the efficiency derived by the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) model, the municipalities which provide both drop off and curbside services for trash, food and yard waste and the PAYT program present better performance regarding the air quality.

Environmental Health Risks and Housing Values: Evidence from 1,600 Toxic Plant Openings and Closings

Regulatory oversight of toxic emissions from industrial plants and understanding about these emissions' impacts are in their infancy. Applying a research design based on the openings and closings of 1,600 industrial plants to rich data on housing markets and infant health, we find that: toxic air emissions affect air quality only within 1 mile of the plant; plant openings lead to 11 percent declines in housing values within 0.5 mile or a loss of about $4.25 million for these households; and a plant's operation is associated with a roughly 3 percent increase in the probability of low birthweight within 1 mile.

Opportunity for offshore wind to reduce future demand for coal-fired power plants in China with consequent savings in emissions of CO2

Although capacity credits for wind power have been embodied in power systems in the U.S. and Europe, the current planning framework for electricity in China continues to treat wind power as a nondispatchable source with zero contribution to firm capacity. This study adopts a rigorous reliability model for the electric power system evaluating capacity credits that should be recognized for offshore wind resources supplying power demands for Jiangsu, China. Jiangsu is an economic hub located in the Yangtze River delta accounting for 10% of the total electricity consumed in China. Demand for electricity in Jiangsu is projected to increase from 331 TWh in 2009 to 800 TWh by 2030. Given a wind penetration level of 60% for the future additional Jiangsu power supply, wind resources distributed along the offshore region of five coastal provinces in China (Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Fujian) should merit a capacity credit of 12.9%, the fraction of installed wind capacity that should be recognized to displace coal-fired systems without violating the reliability standard. In the high-coal-price scenario, with 60% wind penetration, reductions in CO2 emissions relative to a business as usual reference could be as large as 200.2 million tons of CO2 or 51.8% of the potential addition, with a cost for emissions avoided of $29.0 per ton.

How well have China's recent five-year plans been implemented for energy conservation and air pollution control?

This study evaluates how well China's 11th and 12th Five-Year Plans have been implemented in terms of energy conservation and air pollution control and deconstructs the effects of the economic, energy, and environmental policies included in the Plans. A "counterfactual" comparative-scenario method is deployed, which assumes a business as usual scenario in which the changes in economic, energy, and environmental parameters are "frozen", and then reactivates them one by one, with the help of LEAP modeling. It is found that during the 11th Five-Year Plan period, the binding targets were basically achieved. Economic growth put a great strain upon the energy demand and the environment, but energy policy made a decisive contribution by promoting energy efficiency and structure. Environmental policy promoted the deployment of end-of-pipe treatment which led to the control of certain air pollutants but at the expense of an increase in energy use and in the emission of other pollutants. During the ongoing 12th Five-Year Plan period, energy policy's potential for efficiency improvement is shrinking, but economic policy is restraining economic growth thus making a positive contribution. Environmental policy attempts to enforce multipollutant reduction, but there is still insufficient focus on the cocontrol of different pollutants and CO2.

Abatement cost of GHG emissions for wood-based electricity and ethanol at production and consumption levels

Woody feedstocks will play a critical role in meeting the demand for biomass-based energy products in the US. We developed an integrated model using comparable system boundaries and common set of assumptions to ascertain unit cost and greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of electricity and ethanol derived from slash pine (Pinus elliottii) at the production and consumption levels by considering existing automobile technologies. We also calculated abatement cost of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with respect to comparable energy products derived from fossil fuels. The production cost of electricity derived using wood chips was at least cheaper by 1 ¢ MJ⁻¹ over electricity derived from wood pellets. The production cost of ethanol without any income from cogenerated electricity was costlier by about 0.7 ¢ MJ⁻¹ than ethanol with income from cogenerated electricity. The production cost of electricity derived from wood chips was cheaper by at least 0.7 ¢ MJ⁻¹ than the energy equivalent cost of ethanol produced in presence of cogenerated electricity. The cost of using ethanol as a fuel in a flex-fuel vehicle was at least higher by 6 ¢ km⁻¹ than a comparable electric vehicle. The GHG intensity of per km distance traveled in a flex-fuel vehicle was greater or lower than an electric vehicle running on electricity derived from wood chips depending on presence and absence of GHG credits related with co-generated electricity. A carbon tax of at least $7 Mg CO₂e⁻¹ and $30 Mg CO₂e⁻¹ is needed to promote wood-based electricity and ethanol production in the US, respectively. The range of abatement cost of GHG emissions is significantly dependent on the harvest age and selected baseline especially for electricity generation.

Integrated evaluation of cost, emissions, and resource potential for algal biofuels at the national scale

Costs, emissions, and resource availability were modeled for the production of 5 billion gallons yr(-1) (5 BGY) of renewable diesel in the United States from Chlorella biomass by hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). The HTL model utilized data from a continuous 1-L reactor including catalytic hydrothermal gasification of the aqueous phase, and catalytic hydrotreatment of the HTL oil. A biophysical algae growth model coupled with weather and pond simulations predicted biomass productivity from experimental growth parameters, allowing site-by-site and temporal prediction of biomass production. The 5 BGY scale required geographically and climatically distributed sites. Even though screening down to 5 BGY significantly reduced spatial and temporal variability, site-to-site, season-to-season, and interannual variations in productivity affected economic and environmental performance. Performance metrics based on annual average or peak productivity were inadequate; temporally and spatially explicit computations allowed more rigorous analysis of these dynamic systems. For example, 3-season operation with a winter shutdown was favored to avoid high greenhouse gas emissions, but economic performance was harmed by underutilized equipment during slow-growth periods. Thus, analysis of algal biofuel pathways must combine spatiotemporal resource assessment, economic analysis, and environmental analysis integrated over many sites when assessing national scale performance.

A model for interprovincial air pollution control based on futures prices

Based on the current status of research on tradable emission rights futures, this paper introduces basic market-related assumptions for China's interprovincial air pollution control problem. The authors construct an interprovincial air pollution control model based on futures prices: the model calculated the spot price of emission rights using a classic futures pricing formula, and determined the identities of buyers and sellers for various provinces according to a partitioning criterion, thereby revealing five trading markets. To ensure interprovincial cooperation, a rational allocation result for the benefits from this model was achieved using the Shapley value method to construct an optimal reduction program and to determine the optimal annual decisions for each province. Finally, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was used as a case study, as this region has recently experienced serious pollution. It was found that the model reduced the overall cost of reducing SO2 pollution. Moreover, each province can lower its cost for air pollution reduction, resulting in a win-win solution. Adopting the model would therefore enhance regional cooperation and promote the control of China's air pollution.

IMPLICATIONS

The authors construct an interprovincial air pollution control model based on futures prices. The Shapley value method is used to rationally allocate the cooperation benefit. Interprovincial pollution control reduces the overall reduction cost of SO2. Each province can lower its cost for air pollution reduction by cooperation.

Air quality and climate impacts of alternative bus technologies in Greater London

The environmental impact of diesel-fueled buses can potentially be reduced by the adoption of alternative propulsion technologies such as lean-burn compressed natural gas (LB-CNG) or hybrid electric buses (HEB), and emissions control strategies such as a continuously regenerating trap (CRT), exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), or selective catalytic reduction with trap (SCRT). This study assessed the environmental costs and benefits of these bus technologies in Greater London relative to the existing fleet and characterized emissions changes due to alternative technologies. We found a >30% increase in CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions for CNG buses, a <5% change for exhaust treatment scenarios, and a 13% (90% confidence interval 3.8-20.9%) reduction for HEB relative to baseline CO2e emissions. A multiscale regional chemistry-transport model quantified the impact of alternative bus technologies on air quality, which was then related to premature mortality risk. We found the largest decrease in population exposure (about 83%) to particulate matter (PM2.5) occurred with LB-CNG buses. Monetized environmental and investment costs relative to the baseline gave estimated net present cost of LB-CNG or HEB conversion to be $187 million ($73 million to $301 million) or $36 million ($-25 million to $102 million), respectively, while EGR or SCRT estimated net present costs were $19 million ($7 million to $32 million) or $15 million ($8 million to $23 million), respectively.

Impact of air pollution control costs on the cost and spatial arrangement of cellulosic biofuel production in the U.S

Air pollution emissions regulation can affect the location, size, and technology choice of potential biofuel production facilities. Difficulty in obtaining air pollutant emission permits and the cost of air pollution control devices have been cited by some fuel producers as barriers to development. This paper expands on the Geospatial Bioenergy Systems Model (GBSM) to evaluate the effect of air pollution control costs on the availability, cost, and distribution of U.S. biofuel production by subjecting potential facility locations within U.S. Clean Air Act nonattainment areas, which exceed thresholds for healthy air quality, to additional costs. This paper compares three scenarios: one with air quality costs included, one without air quality costs, and one in which conversion facilities were prohibited in Clean Air Act nonattainment areas. While air quality regulation may substantially affect local decisions regarding siting or technology choices, their effect on the system as a whole is small. Most biofuel facilities are expected to be sited near to feedstock supplies, which are seldom in nonattainment areas. The average cost per unit of produced energy is less than 1% higher in the scenarios with air quality compliance costs than in scenarios without such costs. When facility construction is prohibited in nonattainment areas, the costs increase by slightly over 1%, due to increases in the distance feedstock is transported to facilities in attainment areas.

Effect of process parameters and operational mode on nitrous oxide emissions from a nitritation reactor treating reject wastewater

Nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane emissions were monitored in a continuous granular airlift nitritation reactor from ammonium-rich wastewater (reject wastewater). N2O emissions were found to be dependent on dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in the range of 1-4.5 mg O2/L, increasing within this range when reducing the DO values. At higher DO concentrations, N2O emissions remained constant at 2.2% of the N oxidized to nitrite, suggesting two different mechanisms behind N2O production, one dependent and one independent of DO concentration. Changes on ammonium, nitrite, free ammonia and free nitrous acid concentrations did not have an effect on N2O emissions within the concentration range tested. When operating the reactor in a sequencing batch mode under high DO concentration (>5 mg O2/L), N2O emissions increased one order of magnitude reaching values of 19.3 ± 7.5% of the N oxidized. Moreover, CH4 emissions detected were due to the stripping of the soluble CH4 that remained dissolved in the reject wastewater after anaerobic digestion. Finally, an economical and carbon footprint assessment of a theoretical scaled up of the pilot plant was conducted.