Photo by: Pixabay user Seagul
Renewable electricity projects and energy efficiency measures can improve health and reduce air pollution.
Creating electricity from clean energy sources like wind and solar—and cutting energy demand—reduces the need for fossil fuel power generation. That increases energy independence and lowers emissions of harmful gases like nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide. This helps reduce premature deaths, heart attacks, asthma exacerbations, and hospitalization for cardiovascular or respiratory issues.
Research from the Harvard Chan School is focused on:
- Exploring how different transportation policies could influence health through better air quality and increases in physical activity.
- The energy, economic, environmental, and health outcomes of an illustrative clean energy standard design that reaches 80% clean electricity by 2030.
- Where to install renewable energy to get the greatest climate and health benefits in the U.S. and around the world.
An 80x30 Clean Electricity Standard: Carbon, Costs, and Health Benefits
The energy, economic, environmental, and health outcomes of an illustrative clean energy standard design that reaches 80% clean electricity by 2030.
'We Don't Have To Live This Way': Doctors Call For Climate Action
A sprawling analysis published by The Lancet focuses on public health data from 2019, and finds that heat waves, air pollution and extreme weather increasingly damage human health.
Clean Energy Futures Project shows low or zero carbon emissions policies for the electricity sector are achievable with climate and health benefits by 2040 to 2050
New research from Clean Energy Futures Project shows low or zero carbon emissions policies for the electricity sector are achievable with climate and health benefits by 2040 to 2050
Where to build global renewable energy to do the most good—a guide for sustainable investments
New metrics can guide investors and policymakers working to reach sustainable development goals.
Where to install renewable energy to get the greatest climate and health benefits in the U.S.
A guide for state and national policymakers designing climate plans and for utility and investor decisions.
Health and Climate Benefits of Offshore Wind
Offshore wind facilities could save many lives and billions of dollars.
New EPA rule weakens Obama-era plan to cut coal plant emissions
A new rule from the Trump administration undercuts Obama-era efforts to limit emissions from coal-fired power plants that contribute to climate change. The Obama administration’s “Clean Power Plan,” which never went into effect because of a court challenge, would have required states to meet specific targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, with…
Reliance on coal linked with lung cancer incidence
The more a country relies on coal-fired power plants to generate energy, the greater the lung cancer risk is among its citizens, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study was published on January 28, 2019 in the journal Environmental Health. Most estimates of health risks from coal-fired…
Obama's last EPA director is still optimistic despite everything Trump says
Gina McCarthy, the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency from 2013 to 2017, believes that Donald Trump’s efforts to rollback environmental standards are unlikely to succeed.
The public health benefits of adding offshore wind to the grid
New plans to build two commercial offshore wind farms near the Massachusetts and Rhode Island coasts have sparked a lot of discussion about the vast potential of this previously untapped source of electricity.
Health and Climate Benefits of Offshore Wind
Offshore wind facilities could save many lives and billions of dollars.
What are the Health Benefits of Renewable Energy Choices?
This video breaks down the science behind our paper on the health benefits of a low carbon energy policy, and explores how renewable energy is good for our health.
What Are the Health and Climate Benefits of Offshore Wind Farms?
Imagine an offshore wind farm that could power most of Washington D.C. and save 50 lives per year while generating $690 million per year in climate and health benefits. This scenario could become a reality, according to Dr. Jonathan Buonocore, Research Associate at Harvard Chan C-CHANGE.