Denise L. Mauzerall

Princeton University | PU · Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Civil and Environmental Engineering department

Severe PM2.5 pollution threatens public health in India. Atmospheric stagnation traps emitted pollutants, worsening their health impacts. Global warming is anticipated to alter future stagnation patterns, impacting the effectiveness of air quality policies. Here, we develop a region-specific index that characterizes meteorological conditions drivin...

Runtime and memory requirements for typical formulations of energy system models increase non-linearly with resolution, computationally constraining large-scale models despite state-of-the-art solvers and hardware. This scaling paradigm requires omission of detail which can affect key outputs to an unknown degree. Recent algorithmic innovations emp...

Improving air quality amid rapid industrialization and population growth is a huge challenge for India. To tackle this challenge, the Indian government implemented the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to reduce ambient concentrations of particulate matter with diameters less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and 10 μm (PM10) in hundreds of non-attainment citi...

China’s clean heating policy since 2017 has notably improved air quality. However, the share of non-fossil sources in China’s urban district heating systems remain low, and many new coal-fired combined heat and power plants are being built. Strategic choices for district heating technologies are necessary for China to reach peak carbon emissions by...

Secondary inorganic aerosols play an important role in air pollution and climate change, and their formation modulates the atmospheric deposition of reactive nitrogen (including oxidized and reduced nitrogen), thus impacting the nitrogen cycle. Large-scale and long-term analyses of secondary inorganic aerosol formation based on model simulations ha...

Energy systems models, critical for power sector decision support, incur non-linear memory and runtime penalties when scaling up under typical formulations. Even hardware improvements cannot make large models tractable, requiring omission of detail which affects siting, cost, and emission outputs to an unknown degree. Recent algorithmic innovations...

Transport is a major contributor to carbon emissions and air pollution in China. Ongoing urbanization provides a unique opportunity for Chinese cities to abate emissions by reducing transport demand via compact urban development (CUD). Here we systematically evaluate the implications of CUD for climate, energy use, air quality and human health in 2...

China’s coal chemical sector uses coal as both a fuel and feedstock and its increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are hard to abate by electrification alone. Here we explore the GHG mitigation potential and costs for onsite deployment of green H2 and O2 in China’s coal chemical sector, using a life-cycle assessment and techno-economic analyses....

Battery storage is critical for integrating variable renewable generation, yet how the location, scale, and timing of storage deployment affect system costs and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is uncertain. We improve a power system model, SWITCH-China, to examine three nationally uniform battery deployment strategies (Renewable-connected, Grid-conn...

The development of urban transportation is affected by city population size, wealth, urban typology, the built environment, and fuel price, and has significant implications for urban sustainability. We analyze data of 297 Chinese cities between 2017-2019 using both simple regressions to examine the relationships between metrics of public and privat...

Industrial parks are emerging priorities for carbon mitigation. Here we analyze air quality, human health, and freshwater conservation co-benefits of decarbonizing the energy supply of 850 China's industrial parks. We examine a clean energy transition including early retirement of coal-fired facilities and subsequent replacement with grid electrici...

Vehicle electrification is critical to enabling countries to develop more sustainably. Wider electric vehicle (EV) adoption relies on the deployment of EV charging stations (EVCSs). However, the local benefits associated with offering more charging opportunities to nearby residents remain unexplored. Here we provide empirical evidence on the impact...

The United Kingdom (UK) government's National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) is used to provide UK greenhouse gas emission data to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The NAEI bottom-up approach estimated 2019 methane (CH4) emissions from the extraction and transport of oil and natural gas (O&G) from offshore sources...

In 2017, the Chinese government launched a clean heating campaign that replaced millions of rural coal stoves with various clean heaters. The clean heating program contributed to remarkable improvements in air quality. However, the benefits of reducing heating demand by improving building envelope efficiency were not sufficiently considered. This s...

Symbiotic infrastructure systems facilitate deep decarbonization and efficient water use more than independent improvements in each type of infrastructure. Here we analyse strategies for bridging the coal power and wastewater treatment sectors in China by using sludge and reclaimed water from municipal wastewater treatment as alternative fuels and...

China is now one of the world’s largest financiers and investors in the global electric power sector. While a number of important qualitative analyses have examined the determinants of Chinese energy finance, this paper deploys new data to perform the first econometric analysis to examine the determinants of Chinese overseas financing for electric...

Dietary shifts from staples toward meats, fruits, and vegetables increase environmental impacts. Excessive red meat intake and micro-nutrient deficiencies also raise health concerns. Previous research examined environmental and health consequences of alternative diets but overlooked impacts on air pollution and land use change. Here we examine impl...

Worldwide efforts to switch away from coal have increased the reliance on natural gas imports for countries with inadequate domestic production. In preparing for potential gas import disruptions, there have been limited attempts to quantify the environmental and human health impacts of different options and incorporate them into decision-making. He...

The Chinese government accelerated the clean residential heating transition in northern China as part of a successful effort to improve regional air quality. Meanwhile, China has committed to carbon neutrality by 2060, making strategic choices for long-term decarbonization of the residential sector necessary. However, the synergies and trade-offs f...

The Chinese government accelerated the clean residential heating transition in northern China as part of a successful effort to improve regional air quality. Meanwhile, China has committed to carbon neutrality by 2060, making strategic choices for long-term decarbonization of the residential sector necessary. However, the synergies and trade-offs f...

Coal combustion for power generation made up 30% of global CO2 emissions in 2018. To achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement to keep global average temperatures below 2°C, power generation must be decarbonized globally by mid‐century. This requires a rapid phase‐out of coal‐fired power generation. However, global coal power expansion continues, mos...

Large-scale carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) requires development of critical infrastructure to connect capture locations to geological storage sites. Here, we investigate what government policies would be required to make the development of CO2 pipelines and large-scale CCUS in the power sector economically viable. We focus on the t...

Power sector decarbonization requires a fundamental redirection of global finance from fossil fuel infrastructure towards low carbon technologies. Bilateral finance plays an important role in the global energy transition to non-fossil energy, but an understanding of its impact is limited. Here, for the first time, we compare the influence of overse...

China is the world's largest carbon emitter and suffers from severe air pollution, which results in approximately one million premature deaths/year. Alternative energy vehicles (AEVs) (electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and natural gas vehicles) can reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality. However, climate, air quality, and health benefits of AE...

Methane mitigation is essential for addressing climate change, but the value of rapidly implementing available mitigation measures is not well understood. In this paper, we analyze the climate benefits of fast action to reduce methane emissions as compared to slower and delayed mitigation timelines. We find that the scale up and deployment of great...

Hydrogen fuel cells, as an energy source for heavy duty vehicles, are gaining attention as a potential carbon mitigation strategy. Here we calculate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the Chinese heavy-duty truck fleet under four hydrogen fuel cell heavy-duty truck penetration scenarios from 2020 through 2050. We introduce Aggressive, Moderate,...

Global power generation must rapidly decarbonize by mid-century to meet the goal of stabilizing global warming below 2°C. To meet this objective, multilateral development banks (MDBs) have gradually reduced fossil fuel and increased renewable energy financing. Meanwhile, globally active national development finance institutions (DFIs) from Japan an...

Full text available through Nature's sharing plan at https://rdcu.be/b8v30. The link provides Enhanced PDF features but cannot be printed or downloaded. China’s gains in food production over the past four decades have been associated with substantial agricultural nitrogen losses, which contribute to air and water pollution, greenhouse gas emission...

China is now one of the world’s largest financiers and investors in the global electric power sector, and has made major inroads into global coal and hydropower electricity markets in developing countries. Drawing on and analyzing two new datasets, this paper is among the first to perform an econometric analysis to examine the determinants of Chine...

Natural gas vehicles (NGVs) have been promoted in China to mitigate air pollution, yet our measurements and analyses show that NGV growth in China may have significant negative impacts on climate change. We conducted real-world vehicle emission measurements in China and found high methane emissions from heavy-duty NGVs (90% higher than current emis...

Air pollution and dust prevail over many regions that have rapid growth of solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation, potentially reducing PV generation. Here we combine solar PV performance modelling with long-term satellite-observation-constrained surface irradiance, aerosol deposition and precipitation rates to provide a global picture of t...

Recent studies have reported methane (CH4) emissions from abandoned oil and gas wells across the United States and the United Kingdom. These emissions can reach hundreds of kg CH4 per year per well and are important to include in greenhouse gas emission inventories and mitigation strategies. Emission estimates are generally based on single, short-t...

To address severe air pollution, the Chinese government plans to replace most residential coal stoves in northern China with clean heating devices by 2021. Coal stove replacement started in the “Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH)” region and is expanding throughout northern China. Removing coal stoves reduces air pollutant emissions and hence is beneficia...

Urban air pollution features large spatial and temporal variations due to the high heterogeneity in emissions and ventilation conditions, which render the pollutant distributions in complex urban terrains difficult to measure. Current urban air pollution models are not able to simulate pollutant dispersion and distribution at a low computational co...

Since 1850 the atmospheric mixing ratio of methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas, has doubled. This increase is directly linked to an escalation in emissions from anthropogenic sources. An inexpensive means to identify and monitor CH4 emission sources and evaluate the efficacy of mitigation strategies is essential. However, sourcing reliable, low-...

Desertification in Northern China degrades air quality in China's eastern cities by causing frequent dust storms. To stop desert expansion, China's government initiated the Three-North Shelterbelt Program, a large-scale reforestation project. Many issues with the project have been raised, from the choice of ill-adapted species to planting methods....

We analyze the spatial and technological distribution of China's overseas electric power investments around the world, and the pollution intensity of Chinese coal fired power plants relative to those held by non-Chinese entities. We find that Chinese firms hold approximately $115 billion USD in electric power assets globally, with an average of 73%...

Well plugging, the main strategy for reducing methane emissions from millions of unplugged abandoned oil and gas (AOG) wells in the U.S. and abroad, is expensive and many wells remain unplugged. In addition, plugging does not necessarily reduce methane emissions and some categories of plugged wells are high emitters. We analyze strategies and costs...

Since 1850 the concentration of atmospheric methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas, has more than doubled. Recent studies suggest that emission inventories may be missing sources and underestimating emissions. To investigate whether offshore oil and gas platforms leak CH4 during normal operation, we measured CH4 mole fractions around eight oil and...

Black carbon (BC) mitigation can reduce adverse environmental impacts on climate, air quality, human health, and water resource availability. To facilitate the identification of mitigation priorities, we use a state-of-the science global chemistry-climate coupled model (AM3), with additional tagged BC tracers representing regional (East Asia, South...

Recent studies suggest oil and natural gas production facilities in North America may be underestimating methane (CH4) emissions during extraction. This, coupled with unusually high CH4 mole fractions observed at coastal sites during onshore winds in the UK, suggests CH4 emissions from oil and gas extraction activities in the North Sea could be hig...

China needs to manage its coal-dominated power system to curb carbon emissions, as well as to address local environmental priorities such as air pollution and water stress. Here we examine three province-level scenarios for 2030 that represent various electricity demand and low-carbon infrastructure development pathways. For each scenario, we optim...

China needs to manage its coal-dominated power system to curb carbon emissions, as well as to address local environmental priorities such as air pollution and water stress. Here we examine three province-level scenarios for 2030 that represent various electricity demand and low-carbon infrastructure development pathways. For each scenario, we optim...

Recent studies have reported methane (CH4) emissions from abandoned and active oil and gas infrastructure across the United States, where measured emissions show regional variability. To investigate similar phenomena in West Virginia, we measure and characterize emissions from abandoned and active conventional oil and gas wells. In addition, we rec...

Both energy production and consumption can simultaneously affect regional air quality, local water stress and the global climate. Identifying the air quality–carbon–water interactions due to both energy sources and end-uses is important for capturing potential co-benefits while avoiding unintended consequences when designing sustainable energy tran...

Solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation can greatly reduce both air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuel electricity generation. The Chinese government plans to greatly scale up solar PV installation between now and 2030. However, different PV development pathways will influence the range of air quality and climate...

Electrification with decarbonized electricity is a central strategy for carbon mitigation. End-use electrification can also reduce air pollutant emissions from the demand sectors, which brings public health co-benefits. Here we focus on electrification strategies for China, a country committed to both reducing air pollution and peaking carbon emiss...

Rationale Previous estimates of methane (CH 4) emissions from abandoned oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania, have assumed constant emission (Kang et al. 2014; 2016). However, recent studies have observed time varying CH 4 emissions from active oil and gas operations (Lavoie et al., 2017). To investigate temporal variability in emissions from abandone...

China is the world's top carbon emitter and suffers from severe air pollution. We examine near-term air quality and CO2 co-benefits of various current sector-based policies in China. Using a 2015 base case, we evaluate the potential benefits of four sectoral mitigation strategies. All scenarios include a 20% increase in conventional air pollution c...

Significance Enormous growth in solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation in China is planned, with a goal to provide 10% of total electricity demand by 2030. However, over much of China, aerosol pollution scatters and absorbs sunlight, significantly reducing surface solar radiation suitable for PV electricity generation. We evaluate the impac...

China is the world's top carbon emitter and suffers from severe air pollution. It has recently made commitments to improve air quality and to peak its CO2 emissions by 2030. We examine one strategy that can potentially address both issues—utilizing long-distance electricity transmission to bring renewable power to the polluted eastern provinces. Ba...

Significance China’s coal-based synthetic natural gas (SNG) projects can reduce air pollution and associated premature mortality by substituting for direct coal use in power, industry, and households. These benefits, however, come with increased CO 2 emissions unless carbon capture and storage (CCS) is applied in SNG production. Even with CCS, SNG...

Ground-level ozone, harmful to most living things, is produced from both domestic and foreign emissions of anthropogenic precursors. Previous estimates of the linkage from distant sources rely on the sensitivity approach (i.e., modeling the change of ozone concentrations that result from modifying precursor emissions) as well as tagging approach (i...

Black carbon (BC) aerosol strongly absorbs solar radiation, which warms climate. However, accurate estimation of BC’s climate effect is limited by the uncertainties of its spatiotemporal distribution, especially over remote oceanic areas. The HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observation (HIPPO) program from 2009 to 2011 intercepted multiple snapshots of BC prof...

Ammoniated aerosols are important for urban air quality, but emissions of the key precursor NH3 are not well quantified. Mobile laboratory observations are used to characterize fleet-integrated NH3 emissions in six cities in the US and China. Vehicle NH3:CO2 emission ratios in the US are similar between cities (0.33–0.40 ppbv/ppmv, 15% uncertainty)...

Significance Millions of abandoned oil and gas wells exist across the United States and around the world. Our study analyzes historical and new field datasets to quantify the number of abandoned wells in Pennsylvania, individual and cumulative methane emissions, and the attributes that help explain these emissions. We show that ( i ) methane emissi...

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important greenhouse gas and ozone depleting substance. Previous projections of agricultural N2O (the dominant anthropogenic source) show emissions changing in tandem, or at a faster rate than changes in nitrogen (N) consumption. However, recent studies suggest that the carbon dioxide (CO2) fertilization effect may increas...

Climate change can influence fine particulate matter concentrations (PM2.5) through changes in air pollution meteorology. Knowledge of the extent to which climate change can exacerbate or alleviate air pollution in the future is needed for robust climate and air pollution policy decision-making. To examine the influence of climate on PM2.5, we use...

Significance China suffers from severe outdoor air pollution and associated public health impacts. In response, the government has imposed restrictions on major pollution sources such as vehicles and power plants. We show that due to uncontrolled and inefficient combustion of solid fuels in household devices, emission reductions from the residentia...