Air pollution co-benefits from strengthening electric transmission and distribution systems

Lauren Janicke, Destenie Nock, Kavita Surana and Sarah M. Jordaan

Energy, 2023, vol. 269, issue C

Abstract: Inefficiencies in the transmission and distribution (T&D) of electricity between suppliers and customers can lead to higher compensatory electricity generation and unanticipated air pollution. Using both life cycle assessments and uncertainty analyses, we estimate the compensatory air pollutants – CO2eq, SOx, NOx, and PM2.5 – associated with aggregate and non-technical T&D losses at national and subnational scales. Our global analysis estimates that 1 Gigatonne of CO2eq and 1.3 Megatonnes (Mt) NOx, 1.6 Mt SOx, and 2 Mt PM2.5 are associated with annual aggregate T&D losses. We also find that approximately 274 Mt CO2eq, 367 kilotonnes (kt) NOx, 486 kt SOx, and 535 kt PM2.5 are emitted due to non-technical T&D losses. Our subnational analysis in the United States demonstrates the variation of emissions savings across regulatory jurisdictions. We present an initial deployment cost analysis for CO2eq reduction which compares deploying smart meters (i.e., reducing non-technical T&D losses) to renewable energy generation expansion. Investments in T&D infrastructure are beneficial in a completely decarbonized system because improvements in the T&D grid can make investments in renewable energy more cost-effective.

Keywords: Life cycle emissions; Sustainability; Electricity; Greenhouse gas emissions; Air pollution; Energy transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223001299
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:269:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223001299

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.126735

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().