Seminar
Air Quality and Human Health Co-Benefits of a U.S. Climate Policy
Tammy Thompson (MIT)
Friday, November 2, 2012 11:00 AM
ATS 101

We evaluate the impacts of three potential selected climate policies on modeled air quality with respect to national pollution standards and human health. To assess changes in air quality due to climate policy, we couple output from a regional computable general equilibrium economic model (the US Regional Energy Policy [USREP] model), with a regional air quality model (the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions [CAMx]). USREP uses economic variables to determine how potential future U.S. climate policy would change output from ten emissions-heavy sectors of the economy (electricity, coal, gas, crude oil, refined oil, energy intensive industry, other industry, service, agriculture, and transportation [private and commercial]). Modeled changes in economic output are used to scale emissions of pollutants (CO, VOC, NOx, SO2, NH3, black carbon, and organic carbon). The impact of those emissions changes on concentrations of ozone and PM2.5 (particulate matter with a diameter < 2.5 µm) are then estimated for the continental US using CAMx. We find that the national and regional human health impacts of each carbon scenario are similar to the health impacts estimated for the most recently proposed federal air quality rule. Benefits associated with reductions in mortality and morbidity are estimated and we find that the benefits outweigh the economic costs for two of the three climate policy options.