Study: coal-fired power plant closures may have saved 26,000 lives and improved crop yields from 2005 to 2016 - Entrepreneur Generations

Estimated lives saved nationwide because of coal-fired power plant closures.
(Map by University of California, San Diego; click the image to enlarge it.)

Regardless of its impact on the job market, the decline of coal as an energy source in the United States may have saved lives.

Electrical utilities have been increasingly switching to natural gas and renewable energy, forcing many coal-fired power plants to close. According to a newly published study in the journal Nature, "More than 26,000 lives in the U.S. were saved over the course of a decade as a result of a drop in carbon emissions, along with smog and other pollutants tied with asthma and other ailments," Rebecca Beitsch reports for The Hill. "From 2005 to 2016, the period analyzed in the study, 334 coal-fired units were shut down, while 612 new natural gas-fired units came online across the U.S."

The study also found that, when coal-fired power plants closed, the drop in pollution tended to increase local crop yields, Beitsch reports. However, the study also notes that natural gas is "not entirely benign" and is a major source of the greenhouse gas methane.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2tEcmX6 Study: coal-fired power plant closures may have saved 26,000 lives and improved crop yields from 2005 to 2016 - Entrepreneur Generations

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