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Article
| Open Access
A low-carbon electricity sector in Europe risks sustaining regional inequalities in benefits and vulnerabilities
The low-carbon electricity sector in Europe can bring overall benefits of new investment, employment, and decreased emissions, but could sustain regional inequalities between Northern and Southern Europe.
- Jan-Philipp Sasse
- & Evelina Trutnevyte
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Article
| Open Access
U.S. West Coast droughts and heat waves exacerbate pollution inequality and can evade emission control policies
Heat waves and droughts increase air pollution from power plants in California, which disproportionately damages counties with a majority of people of color. Droughts cause chronic increases in pollution damages. Heat waves are responsible for the days with the highest damages.
- Amir Zeighami
- , Jordan Kern
- & August A. Bruno
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Article
| Open Access
Decarbonization, population disruption and resource inventories in the global energy transition
As coal is phased out, this will have an effect on mining towns. Here the authors find that in these locations ramping up energy transition metals will be more disruptive to demographic systems than ramping down coal.
- Kamila Svobodova
- , John R. Owen
- & Benjamin K. Sovacool
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Article
| Open Access
Air pollution disparities and equality assessments of US national decarbonization strategies
Decarbonization is essential to achieving climate goals, but myopic decarbonization policies that ignore co-pollutants may leave Black and high-poverty communities with 26-34% higher PM2.5 exposure over the energy transition.
- Teagan Goforth
- & Destenie Nock
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Article
| Open Access
Sharing the effort of the European Green Deal among countries
An ethically-based method for allocating climate change mitigation effort among subsidiaries, applicable worldwide, is proposed. Applied to the EU Green Deal, this results in a wider range of targets than the Commission’s proposal of 2021.
- Karl W. Steininger
- , Keith Williges
- & Keywan Riahi
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Article
| Open Access
Unveiling hidden energy poverty using the energy equity gap
In the summer, low-income households in the Arizona, US wait 4 - 7 °F (2.6–4.2 °C) longer than high-income households to turn on their AC units to save money on energy bills. This energy limiting behavior indicates a hidden form of energy poverty.
- Shuchen Cong
- , Destenie Nock
- & Bo Xing
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Article
| Open Access
A measurement strategy to address disparities across household energy burdens
Net energy metrics reveal disparities in United States household energy burdens. Here the authors find that at least five million households are excluded from current accounting methods, with race, education, and housing tenure accounting for large differences in energy burden.
- Eric Scheier
- & Noah Kittner
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Article
| Open Access
Household cooking fuel estimates at global and country level for 1990 to 2030
Household air pollution derived from cooking fuels is a major source of health and environmental problems. Here, the authors provide detailed global, regional and country estimates of cooking fuel usage from 1990 to 2030 and project that 31% of people will still be mainly using polluting fuels in 2030.
- Oliver Stoner
- , Jessica Lewis
- & Heather Adair-Rohani
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Article
| Open Access
Regional impacts of electricity system transition in Central Europe until 2035
Implementation of Central European electricity targets will redistribute regional benefits and burdens. Here the authors show that the aims of cost-efficiency, regional equality, and renewable electricity generation have vastly different implementation pathways, impacts, and trade-offs.
- Jan-Philipp Sasse
- & Evelina Trutnevyte
Incentive based emergency demand response effectively reduces peak load during heatwave without harm to vulnerable groups