World Environment Day: Beating Air Pollution
Andreas Wade
Sustainability Imagineer l Co-creating living spaces for generations to come l Born at 337 ppm
June 5th is World Environment Day and this year’s theme is to take action to #BeatAirPollution. According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is the single largest environmental health risk and accounts for around 7 million premature deaths globally each year. Approximately 4 million of these deaths occur in the Asia-Pacific region. Today, 9 out of 10 people worldwide breathe polluted air.
Air pollution is caused by a number of factors including the indoor burning of wood and fossil fuels for cooking (primarily in developing countries), energy production, livestock and agricultural waste, car emissions, open waste burning and organic waste in landfills. Energy use and production is the primary contributor of major air pollutants and accounts for two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions. With global electricity demand projected to grow 70% by 2035 according to the International Energy Agency, decoupling energy production from emissions has become imperative.
Unlike thermal electric power plants, solar photovoltaics (PV) generate clean electricity for 25+ years with no emissions. First Solar PV modules have the lowest carbon footprint of all PV technologies on a life cycle basis (up to 6 times lower than conventional crystalline silicon solar modules), primarily due to our highly efficient manufacturing process which requires less grid electricity.
In the United States, Ohio emits the highest emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter primarily due to the high concentration of coal-burning power plants in the Ohio River Valley. These emissions are linked to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer and early death.
Annual Mean Particulate Matter (PM2.5) Levels Attributable to Electricity Generation in 2016 (μg/m3)
Source: Environmental Quality and the U.S. Power Sector: Air Quality, Water Quality, Land Use and Environmental Justice (2017) Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL/SPR-2016/772
Health impacts represent the largest portion of economic damages from air pollution. The carbon and air quality benefits of avoided GHG and particulate matter emissions from displacing fossil fuel power plants with solar in the Midwest is estimated to amount to 22.3￠/kWh, based on the EPA’s Co-Benefits Risk Assessment (COBRA) model. The value of solar generation is especially high in regions with higher population densities and greater power sector emissions.
Wiser et al., 2016. On the Path to SunShot: The Environmental and Public Health Benefits of Achieving High Penetrations of Solar Energy in the United States.
Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL/TP-6A20-65628. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy16osti/65628.pdf
To celebrate this year’s World Environment Day, First Solar’s sustainability ambassadors are taking action to beat air pollution by promoting the use of electric vehicles and carpooling programs, reducing single use plastic and encouraging fellow associates to evaluate clean energy programs in Ohio and make the switch to go 100% renewable.
Life Cycle Researcher at National Renewable Energy Laboratory
5 年A wonderful article! The electricity grid will witness an explod in demand especially with the electrification of transportation in the next few decades. Solar is one of the main respondants, but unfortunately Si is still dominating the market, both expensive and less energy efficient than thin film modules. So much work is pending.