Clean energy could save hundreds of billions in health costs every year

As an advanced economy, the U.S. is expected to lead in making the required emissions reductions, which would be roughly 80 percent by midcentury compared with 2005. This would entail moving a large portion of U.S. power generation off fossil fuels and shifting the majority of our vehicles to electric power.

Part of the difficulty in turning our pledges into tangible actions is creating enough motivation to drive a wholesale transformation of our energy and transportation systems. Global climate change is typically perceived as a problem that’s mostly in the distant future and worse in other parts of the world, so is not prioritized relative to whatever pressing issues are dominating current political discourse. In essence, many people believe climate change mitigation policies require a change in our lifestyle and paying costs now for benefits that predominantly go to people living elsewhere and in future generations.

But focusing on the immediate health benefits of moving to cleaner energy has the potential to change the way people view climate change. In the authors study, they found that slashing emissions from transportation and power generation would prevent about 175,000 early deaths caused by air pollution in the U.S. by 2030. They also concluded that the health benefits would be valued at US$250 billion per year, likely more than the cost of changing the energy system. These benefits alone likely exceed the costs of the transition to clean power generation and transportation. Adding in the monetary value of the longer-term, worldwide climate impacts, such as damages to infrastructure, agriculture and human health, benefits roughly quintuple, becoming between five and 10 times larger than the estimated implementation costs.

Clean transportation could prevent about 120,000 premature deaths by 2030 and about 14,000 annually thereafter. Importantly, these benefits are realized almost immediately and largely within the U.S. We then put a dollar value on these benefits based on economic analyses that reveal how much society is willing to pay to decrease the risk of premature death, for example through occupational safety or health care. By not including environmental impacts in the economy, we are leaving out the most efficient way to create incentives to decrease pollution.

Citation: http://theconversation.com/clean-energy-could-save-hundreds-of-billions-in-health-costs-every-year-55265