Air Quality Implications of an Energy Scenario for California Using High Levels of Electrification

Electrification replaces local combustion of fossil fuels with electric devices while maintaining the same services, such as replacing furnaces with heat pumps and gasoline vehicles with electric vehicles. Combined with non-emitting generation, electrification has previously been shown to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This analysis extends previous work to investigate the effects of electrification on air quality. The results show that there are significant improvements in air quality due to electrification, which lead to substantial health benefits. This report also discusses the potential for electrification to be applied in environmental justice communities which are most heavily affected by pollution.