Modeling health impacts of air pollutant emissions from the coal-fired power industry based on LCA and oriented by WTP: a case study

Coal-fired power plants are one of the major sources of coal consumption in China; they discharge various air pollutants and cause serious human health damage. There is an urgent need to focus on the associated health effects. Thus, this study aims to advance an integrated life cycle assessment (LCA)–based health damage model to quantify the health burden of air pollutant emissions from coal-fired power generation (CFPG) and to achieve an economic interpretation of health damage. A case study of the Zaozhuang coal-fired power project was conducted to better visualize and mitigate the impacts. The results reveal that willingness to pay (WTP) for health damage caused by the CFPG project in 1 year amounted to USD 15.71 million, and the total amount of life lost was 155.81 years. During the CFPG process, coal combustion caused the most health damage, respiratory disease was the type of damage with the greatest influence on health, and SO2 was the air pollutant that causes the most serious health damage. The model developed in this study can be broadly applied to assess the potential life loss due to air pollutant emissions from CFPG systems. The identified key points for health damage prevention can also be used as practical solutions for decision-making regarding the prioritization of control sources for environmental management.