Regional impacts on air quality and health of changing a manufacturing facility’s grid-boiler to a combined heat and power system

Abstract

ABSTRACT Poor air quality is linked to numerous adverse health effects including strokes, heart attacks, and premature death. Improving energy efficiency in the industrial sector reduces air emissions and yields health benefits. One of these strategies, replacing an existing grid boiler (GB) with a combined heat and power (CHP) system, can improve a facility’s energy efficiency but can also increase local air emissions, which in turn can affect health outcomes. Previous studies have considered air-emissions and health outcomes of CHP system installation at a single location, but few studies have investigated the regional air quality and health impacts of replacing an existing GB with new CHP system. This study estimates the emission changes and associated health impacts of this shift in 14 regions in the US, representing different electricity generation profiles. It assumes that one manufacturing facility in each region switches from an existing GB to a CHP system. The monetized annual US health benefits of shifting a single GB to a CHP in each of the 14 regions range from $-5.3 to 0.55 million (2022 USD), while including CHP emission control increases the benefits by 100–170% ($9,000 to 1.15 million (2022 USD)). This study also includes a sensitivity analysis, which suggests that the facility location (region, state, and county), boiler efficiency, and emission control of the CHP are key factors that would determine whether shifting from a GB to CHP system would result in health benefits or burdens. Implications: Combined heat and power (CHP) systems offer industrial facilities the opportunity to improve their energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, CHP systems also combust more fuel on site and can also increase local air emissions. This study evaluates how converting an existing grid boiler (GB) system to a CHP system (with or without emission control) affects local (from combustion) and regional emissions (from electricity consumption) and the associated health burdens in different US regions. A facility can use this study’s analysis as an example for estimating the tradeoffs between local emission changes, regional emission changes, and health effects. It also provides a comparison between the incremental cost of adding SCR (compared to uncontrolled CHPs) and the NPV of the monetized health benefits associated with adding the SCR.