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Economic and health benefits of the co-reduction of air pollutants and greenhouse gases

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Abstract

This study examines the monetary value of social costs—private costs and negative externalities—that could be avoided by energy conservation actions. A novel Air Resource Co-Benefits (ARCoB) model has been developed in this study to assess the comprehensive social benefits of greenhouse gas GHG mitigation policy. The rollback model is used to estimate changes in air pollutant concentrations attributed to the emission reductions. Change in ozone concentration is converted from non-methane hydrocarbons based on the maximum ozone increment reactivity. In addition to saved medical expenditure, years of potential life lost (YPLL) is estimated based on the exposure-response coefficients for mortality and is calculated with abridged life table. Two cases of energy efficiency improvement in different scales are analyzed to estimate the annual co-benefits of abatements of air pollutants and greenhouse gas in 2009: 1) the energy intensity reduction in the industrial sector and 2) energy saving at Taipei Taiwan City Hall. Results indicate the saved energy cost accounted for 66 % and 70 % in the first and second case, respectively, and was a major part of the total benefit from energy conservation. The saved air pollution fee was 7.8–8.5 times lower than the averted health cost of medical expenditure, which was US$10.34 million in the first case, in which there were also averted YPLL of 3,478 person-years or averted deaths of 311 persons per year.

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Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the National Science Council of the Republic of China, Taiwan, for financially supporting this research under Contract No. NSC 94-2211-E-027-004 and NSC 96-2221-E-027-016. Ted Knoy is appreciated for his editorial assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Engineering and Management, National Taipei University of Technology, No. 1, Sec. 3, Chung-Hsiao E. Rd., Taipei, 106, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Yu-Ling Chen, Yi-Hsuan Shih, Chao-Heng Tseng, Sy-Yuan Kang & Huang-Chin Wang

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  1. Yu-Ling Chen
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  2. Yi-Hsuan Shih
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  3. Chao-Heng Tseng
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  4. Sy-Yuan Kang
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  5. Huang-Chin Wang
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Correspondence to Chao-Heng Tseng.

Appendices

Appendix A

Emission factors of fossil fuels combustion in industrial boilers are based on AP-42 (US EPA 1995), due to lack of domestic data. EFs for electricity are estimated by the Taiwan Emission Data System (TEDS) version 7.0 published by the Taiwan-EPA and annual generated electricity.

Table 7 Emission factors of energies in Taiwan
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Appendix B

National health insurance is compulsory for all citizens of Taiwan. The Bureau of National Health Insurance pays most medical costs to contracted health-care institutions. Medical expenditures are divided into outpatient, emergency visits, and admission/inpatient expenses. Outpatient cases in Taiwan are further divided into Chinese medicine and Western medicine. Table 8 lists the national medical expenditure in 2009.

Table 8 National medical expenditure in 2009 in Taiwan
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Chen, YL., Shih, YH., Tseng, CH. et al. Economic and health benefits of the co-reduction of air pollutants and greenhouse gases. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 18, 1125–1139 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-012-9413-3

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