There’s a new way to value renewable energy. Quantum Energy calculates the human health impacts, ecological health impacts, and health spending impacts of adding renewables based on how much they displace fossil fuels and thus contribute to pollution reduction.
Most SR Inc Member-Clients transact with the Net Zero Consortium for Buyers (NZCB) to mitigate their Scope 2 or Scope 3 emissions, knowing that our “VPPA 2.0” buyer-aggregated procurements are one of the most cost-effective routes to pursuing net zero goals.
Our Member-Clients Corporate Sustainability teams, and the world-leading enterprises they represent, also care about their stakeholders’ long-term ability to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and revel in the biodiversity that makes our planet such a brilliant place to live. They also want to work productively, with as little interference as possible from chronic illness. Their procurements advance those values by promoting human health, biodiversity, and economic savings by causing clean energy development.
The NZCB worked with Quantum Energy’s AI-powered energy modeling algorithms to quantify the impacts of its first gigawatt of new renewable energy. The startup’s integrated life cycle data analytics quantify the profound implications of our energy choices. TotalView Energy Platform calculated the human health, biodiversity, and economic benefits of the NZCB’s first gigawatt of purchaser-caused clean energy capacity.
In their first year of operation, the NZCB projects that were not yet operational in 2023 (the most recent year with full data available at time of calculation) will save:
What do these statistics mean in concrete terms? Quantum provides the following explanations for the industry-standard metrics they use.
The industry standard metric, disability-adjusted life year (DALY), is used to measure the loss of the equivalent of one year of full health. DALYs are the sum of the years of life lost to due to premature death (YLLs) and the years lived with a disability (YLDs) due to cases of a disease in a population.
The industry standard metric, potentially disappeared fraction of species (PDF), is used to measure the potential extinction of species, within a specific time associated with resource uses or emissions, which lead to habitat losses or degradation.
Health and natural resource economics provide a financial valuation of the benefits to the economy from the reduced pollution, including both local and global pollutants, caused by the project.
Health and natural resource economics provide a financial valuation of the benefits to the economy from the reduction in local air pollutants only caused by the project.
For people curious about the project-by-project breakdown, this map illustrates the geographic distribution of NZCB’s U.S. contracted portfolio, alongside a table detailing the projected Year 1 impact of projects. (Two additional NZCB projects, which commenced commercial operation, are not pictured; Quantum detailed them in a separate report.)
As the map illustrates, NZCB’s contracted procurements include clean energy projects on dirtier grids, such as the southern Illinois of MISO, where new clean energy capacity can do the most good for local health outcomes by displacing coal.
These statistics capture only the projected impact of these projects' first year of commercial operation. The numbers will grow across each year of each project's lifespan.
Quantum Energy’s quantification of clean energy’s holistic benefits can be helpful to get clean energy projects to commercial operation faster. One of many reasons SR Inc is thrilled to offer Quantum’s services to NZCB members is that they can use Quantum’s best-in-class data to make the case for purchaser-caused clean energy to their own stakeholders. For an example of how quantifying clean energy’s health benefits helps the business case, look no further than the Doral solar project in Wisconsin.
As highlighted in Solar Builder, Quantum Energy’s ability to calculate a more holistic, comprehensive view of clean energy’s positive impacts has already affected renewable development. Demonstrating the years of life, number of species, and dollars of work the Doral solar project would save helped convince its Wisconsin stakeholders that it would benefit their community. Especially on a grid that includes coal, adding new renewables to a fossil-dependent grid improves local air, water, and soil quality – and protecting what we breathe, what we drink, and where our kids play is a goal that appeals to families across the political spectrum.
We believe Quantum’s quantification communicates the value of clean energy in a way often overlooked by project stakeholders focused too narrowly on carbon accounting or land permitting. While we find clean energy’s ability to displace carbon emissions globally necessary, we know its benefits extend far beyond avoided greenhouse gas emissions. By causing clean energy in a fossil-dependent grid, enterprises promote the health of humans, plants, and – yes – the economy of where they transact.
While addressing the root cause of our atmospheric emergency, clean energy saves human and animal lives—and lungs—every day.
Would your enterprise like to move to clean energy in a way that maximizes its health, biodiversity, and economic impacts?
We are currently considering applications from high-credit buyers at global operating companies. You may be eligible for one of our invitation-only, reverse auction procurements for purchaser-caused clean energy. Schedule your briefing here to learn more about building (and quantifying) a decarbonization strategy that optimizes clean energy’s holistic benefits.