Environmental Burden of Disease due to Emissions of Hard Coal- and Lignite-Fired Power Plants in Germany

Michaela Liebig-Gonglach; Lina Neunhäuserer; Jeroen Kuenen; Barbara Hoffmann; Vanessa Soppa; Volker Diegmann; Claudia Hornberg

doi:10.3389/ijph.2023.1606083

Environmental Burden of Disease due to Emissions of Hard Coal- and Lignite-Fired Power Plants in Germany

Int J Public Health. 2023 Aug 14:68:1606083. doi: 10.3389/ijph.2023.1606083. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Michaela Liebig-Gonglach¹, Lina Neunhäuserer², Jeroen Kuenen³, Barbara Hoffmann⁴, Vanessa Soppa⁴, Volker Diegmann², Claudia Hornberg¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sustainable Environmental Health Sciences, Medical School East Westphalia-Lippe, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
² IVU Umwelt GmbH, Freiburg, Germany.
³ Department of Climate, Air and Sustainability, TNO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek), Utrecht, Netherlands.
⁴ Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Abstract

Objectives: The study estimated the environmental burden of disease (EBD) attributable to a long-term exposure of the population to nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) emissions from hard coal- and lignite-fired power plants in Germany for the year 2015. Methods: The contribution of coal-fired power plants to the total air pollutant concentration was modelled using a chemical transport model and then combined with population data to assess the corresponding population exposure. We calculated years of life lost (YLL), years of life with disability, or disability-adjusted life years for different health outcomes with a strong evidence for an association with the exposure. Results: The burden of disease from PM_2.5 emissions from lignite is 1.2 times higher than that from hard coal emissions (7,866 YLL compared to 6,412 YLL). NO₂ emissions from lignite, cause a burden of disease 2.3 times higher than hard coal NO₂-emission (13,537 YLL compared to 5,906 YLL). The EBD for both pollutants is dominated by diseases of the cardiovascular system. Conclusion: Abandoning energy generation by coal-fired power plants would lower the burden of disease in Germany.

Keywords: chemical transport model; coal-fired power plants; environmental burden of disease; nitrogen dioxide (NO2); particulate matter (PM2.5).

MeSH terms

Coal*
Cost of Illness
Germany / epidemiology
Humans
Nitrogen Dioxide*
Particulate Matter
Power Plants

Substances

Coal
Nitrogen Dioxide
Particulate Matter

Grants and funding

The authors declare that this study received funding from the German Environment Agency, grant number 3717622020. The funder was not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this article or the decision to submit it for publication.