Environmental co-benefits of energy efficiency improvement in coal-fired power sector: A case study of Henan Province, China

The coal-fired power sector is one of the major contributors to environmental problems and has great potential of air pollution abatement. This study employs Energy Conservation Supply Curves (ECSCs) combined with pollutant surcharge and health benefits to evaluate the environmental co-benefits of energy efficiency improvement in the coal-fired power sector. Health benefits and the pollution surcharge are considered as the environmental co-benefits that reduce costs of conserved energy (CCEs) in ECSCs. The health benefits of energy efficiency improvement are quantified using Intake Fraction method, while the pollutant surcharge is calculated based on the regulation. Three scenarios including a Business As Usual (BAU) scenario, an Energy Efficiency Improvement (EEI) scenario, and an Upgrading Standards and Incentive (USI) scenario is considered in a case study for Henan Province of China. Our results show that costs of conserved energy (CCEs) are reduced by 0.56 and 0.29 USD/GJ under the EEI and USI scenarios due to health benefits and pollutant surcharge reductions related to energy efficient technologies, respectively. In particular, health benefits account for 97% of the reductions in CCEs, while the pollutant surcharge only contributes 3%. Under the EEI and USI scenarios, in 2020, energy efficiency improvement reduces energy consumption in Henan’s coal-fired power sector by 3.3% and 3.5% compared with the BAU scenario, respectively. The EEI and USI scenarios indicates that health benefits of 1.5 × 109 and 2.4 × 109 USD are gained and the reductions of pollutant surcharges of 197 and 226 million USD are realized in 2020, respectively.