K Chen WebA gas-fired power plant is a type of fossil fuel power station in which chemical energy stored in natural gas, which is mainly methane, is converted successively into: thermal energy, mechanical energy and, finally, electrical energy.Although they cannot exceed the Carnot cycle limit for conversion of heat energy into useful work the excess heat may be used in In fact, the rise of natural gas to become the leading U.S. fuel for generating electricity has lowered CO 2 emissions to their lowest levels in a generation. Official websites use .gov Data from California Air Resources BoardEmissions Projection Analysis. When you sign up you'll become a member of NRDC's Activist Network. VPTD was defined as a birth that occurred before 32 weeks of gestation. When stratified by fuel type, coal had the strongest association with all adverse birth outcomes. Natural gas is a relatively clean burning fossil fuel. This pattern remained consistent when daily PM2.5 concentrations near different types of power plants were examined. et al. The graph below compares the key demographics ofcommunities near power plants to national averages. Buonocore Some towns in Texas have setbacks of up to 1,000 feet from a home, fresh water well, school, hospital or public park. After adjustment for potential confounders, the associations between proximity to power plants and adverse birth outcomes remained consistent. Caton However, proximity was our best available surrogate for exposure, and it potentially captures all the pollutants emitted by different types of power plants. The pamphlet I got in the mail the other day shows drawings that include three gas turbines, three step up transformers, gas compressor building and three stack towers coming off the turbines. Prenatal exposure was assigned to each birth as the average daily PM2.5 concentration over the first trimester for the grid in which it falls. J For term LBW, only those living between 10 and 20 km away from any power plant had increased odds. B Anenberg Accessed December 6, 2014, US Power Plant Global Warming Emissions Rising in 2013 AfterYears of Decline, Birth defects in the vicinity of nuclear power plants in Germany, Congenital anomalies, prematurity, and low birth weight rates in relation to nuclear power plant proximity, Pregnancy outcome of women in the vicinity of nuclear power plants in Taiwan, Increased risk of preterm delivery in women residing near thermal power plants in Taiwan, Using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model to estimate public health impacts of PM, Maternal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) and pregnancy outcomes: a meta-analysis, The effects of air pollution on adverse birth outcomes, Fuel sources and carbon dioxide emissions by electric power plants in the United States, Published March 2009. Comprehensive data summaries, comparisons, analysis, and projections integrated across all energy sources. Note: The demographic information is obtained from the U.S. Census Bureaus American Community Survey (ACS) 2014-2018 5-year summary file data, which is based on 2018 Census boundaries. UCS recently co-sponsored a bill in the California legislature that was designed to shed light on pollution from natural gas power plants and require better planning for pollution reductions from plants. Quadrant A shows power plants located in or near communities with a low-income percentage greater than the national average and less than the people of color national average. Natural gas processing can be complex and usually involves several steps to remove oil, water, HGLS, and other impurities such as sulfur, helium, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide. Bell The sample prevalence was 2.4% for term LBW, 8.2% for PTD, and 1.5% for VPTD. Greenhouse gas data, voluntary reporting, electric power plant emissions. T Notethat this applies to the site boundary, not to theactual well site.". Low-income populations generally have been found to have a higher prevalence of pre-existing diseases, limited access to medical treatment, and increased nutritional deficiencies, which can increase this populations susceptibility to pollution-related effects. Characteristics of 423,719 Singleton Births in Florida From 2004 to 2005. This is especially true because the by-products of coal plants also include toxic components including sulfur dioxide and nitric oxides, all of which are also associated with negative health outcomes (32). On the other hand, the process of getting natural gas from where it's mined to the power plants leads to considerable release of methane HR However, emissions from natural gas power plants are only a fraction of the emissions from stationary sources, so NOx emissions from natural gas power plants end up being roughly 1% of total NOx emissions in California. Because there was evidence of spatial clustering of power plants, distance from power plants may not be the best measure of exposure. Now, I know that 1% does not sound like very much, but give me a moment to explain why this is still significant. et al. J Given that power plants are major sources of particulate matter, the present results are consistent with those of our recent study, which found that prenatal PM2.5 exposure was positively associated with LBW, PTD, and VPTD (23). To describe exposures to PM2.5 during pregnancy and throughout the study period according to nearest power plants, we used scatterplots with locally weighted scatterplot smoothing (LOESS) functions (smooth = 0.5) to display averaged daily concentrations during the first trimester (y-axis) by date of delivery (x-axis), as well as daily concentrations (y-axis) by date during the study period (x-axis). State energy information, including overviews, rankings, data, and analyses. The main outcomes of interest in this study include the terms LBW, PTD, and VPTD, all of which were assessed through Florida Vital Records data. Ha The 50 mile safe distance that the U.S. government recommended to Americans was shown on the map. Our results for covariates were consistent with those of other studies. JD First, analysis of proximity as both a continuous variable and as a categorical variable addresses exposure-response relationships, but it does so in different ways with different assumptions. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Simpson WebNatural gas power plants produce considerable carbon dioxide, although less than coal plants do. Oudin S These findings are consistent with the fact that coal and solid waste power plants produce relatively larger amounts of particulate emissions compared with other types of power plants. et al. In addition, nitric oxides have also been linked to term LBW and PTD (30, 31). When stratified by type of plants in order to compare birth outcomes among women who lived close to or farther from different types of power plants, our data showed that solid waste plants had associations with all adverse birth outcomes. We observed a 1.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3, 2.3) increased odds for PTD, 2.2% (95% CI: 1.0, 3.4) for VPTD, and 1.1% (95% CI: 0.2, 2.0) for term LBW for each 5 km closer to any power plant. Peng Manzanares Cons. L What is a safe distance to live from a nuclear power plant? Forms EIA uses to collect energy data including descriptions, links to survey instructions, and additional information. In conclusion, our study found evidence of increased odds of adverse birth outcomes among women who lived closer to power plants. For example, you could filter the data to only display the largest emitting coal-fired plants with neighboring communities above the 80th percentile nationally of low-income population. Mangones We chose first trimester because 1) first trimester exposure to PM2.5 has a strong association with adverse birth outcomes (26), and 2) it ensures that the time over which PM2.5 is averaged is similar for cases and controls. Second, just because the electric sector is cleaner than the transportation sector does not mean the electric sector is not dirty. Sign up or text "SCIENCE" to 67369. ommunities with a people of color percentage greater than the national average and a low-income percentage less than the national average. Coal was strongly associated with all adverse birth outcomes (Table4). These keydemographicsand information about nearby power plants may help identify a community's potential vulnerability to environmental concerns. Midwest Senior Policy Manager. These steps and processes may be integrated into one unit or operation, be performed in a different order or at alternative locations (such as a (lease separator, field facilities, or natural gas processing plants), or not be required at all. Still, being aware of the characteristics of communities closest to power plants is a starting point in understanding the potential sources of pollution that may impact a community and how changes in a power plants air emissions may affect the air quality experienced by some of those already vulnerable to environmental burdens. Do not touch the fence because it might be electrified, and the guards might mistake you for an anti-nuclear activist trying to break in. Apart fr Williams Explore additional graphs that show distributions of generation and emissions for each of the demographics. Closing large fossil fuel-fired plants may have immediate and lasting effects on the surrounding communities and should be considered when evaluating a community's future potential vulnerability for environmental justice concerns. These emissions really can affect local air quality, and that is why this is a problem. Bremner Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The Author 2015. M Moreover, these associations showed an exposure-response relationship with closer residents having the higher odds. Martinez A Better Way of Paying for a Reliable Electricity Grid, Minnesota Proves Its Readiness for Carbon-Free Electricity. It is based on nationally consistent data and uses an approach that combines environmental indicatorsand demographics in maps and reports. 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