{"id":12541,"date":"2018-06-23T02:33:28","date_gmt":"2018-06-23T02:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=12541"},"modified":"2018-06-24T02:35:56","modified_gmt":"2018-06-24T02:35:56","slug":"the-public-health-benefits-of-adding-offshore-wind-to-the-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/the-public-health-benefits-of-adding-offshore-wind-to-the-grid\/","title":{"rendered":"The public health benefits of adding offshore wind to the grid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Buonocore<\/a>, Harvard University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

New plans to build two commercial offshore wind farms<\/a> near the Massachusetts and Rhode Island coasts have sparked a lot of discussion<\/a> about the vast potential of this previously untapped source of electricity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But as an environmental health and climate researcher<\/a>, I\u2019m intrigued by how this gust of offshore wind power<\/a> may improve public health. Replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar energy<\/a>, research shows, can reduce risks of asthma, hospitalizations and heart attacks<\/a>. In turn, that can save lives. <\/p>\n

So my colleagues and I calculated the health impact of generating electricity through offshore wind turbines<\/a> \u2013 which until now the U.S. has barely begun to do.<\/p>\n

Greening the grid<\/h2>\n

New England gets almost none of its electricity from burning coal and more than three-quarters of it from burning natural gas and operating nuclear reactors<\/a>. The rest is from hydropower and from renewable energy, including wind and solar power and the burning of wood and refuse. <\/p>\n