Equity Metrics for Renewable Energy Deployment

Renewable energy deployment is central to the clean energy transition. Developing renewable energy infrastructure will have a significant impact on communities, as solar panels, wind farms, hydropower, and other renewable energy technologies are installed across the United States. Decisions around where to deploy these technologies impact real people – communities can benefit from cleaner and cheaper power, but can also suffer economic and employment losses.

Explore this page to see equity metrics based on the three dimensions of health, access, and livelihood. This framework can be used as a starting point to evaluate the equity and justice impacts of renewable energy deployment initiatives. 

Health Dimension

Indicator

Proximity to hazard

Pollutant Exposure

Health outcome

Health monetization

Metric

Proximity to renewable energy infrastructure

Occupational pollutant concentration and exposure

Environmental pollutant  concentration

Avoided premature mortality

Sleep disturbance and psychological effects

Monetized health benefits or costs

Measurement

Cumulative population living near RE infrastructure (#), proportion of population living near RE infrastructure (%)

Air concentration of pollutants (mg m -3), maximum worker exposure concentration (kg m -3)

Proportion of samples exceeding environmental quality standards (%), relative pollutant concentrations

Cumulative avoided premature mortalities (#), annual avoided premature mortalities (# year -1)

Proportion of respondents reporting sleep disturbance (%), sleep quality index, mental health score

Cumulative health benefits ($), annual health benefits ($ year -1), health benefits per ton of CO2 reduced ($ tCO2 -1), health benefits per unit of energy produced ($ MWh -1)

  • Under a high electrification scenario, approximately 12%–15% of the current western US population (9.5 12.5 million people) could live within 16 km of a wind plant or 3 km of a solar plant to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 (Wu et al 2023)

  • In a manufacturing facility for solar PV components, air concentration samples of indium, a toxic metal, ranged from 0.072 mg m^−3 to 5.4 mg m^−3 compared to accepted occupational exposure limits of 0.1 mg m^−3 (Hines et al 2013)

  • A study of cadmium concentrations near mining sites in China found that between 64.6% and 94.1% of soil samples across four sites exceeded Chinese environmental quality standards for soil (Zhou et al 2018)

    Soil samples from China’s Lanping mining valley revealed lead concentrations 56 times higher and zinc concentrations 47 times higher than global averages, and downstream soil samples also revealed higher concentrations of lead (eight times), zinc (eight times), and cadmium (18 times) compared to global averages (Li et al 2019)

  • US renewable energy deployment between 2007 and 2015 resulted in an estimated 3000–12 700 avoided premature mortalities associated with avoided SOx, NOx, and PM2.5 emissions from other generation sources (Millstein et al 2017)

  • Reported sleep disturbance increases with increasing sound pressure levels from nearby wind turbines, and at levels over 45 dB(A), 48% of survey respondents report sleep disturbances. For comparison, the World Health Organization recommends less than 40 dB(A) for night noise (Bakker et al 2012) 

    In a study of residents living near industrial wind turbines in Maine, respondents with the nearest residential proximity reported a mean Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score of 8.7 compared to scores ranging from 6.0 to 7.8 for further distances, as well as worse mental health as evidenced by a mean SF36-V2 Mental Component Score (MCS) of 40.7 compared to the furthest group’s score of 52.9 (Nissenbaum et al 2012)

  • US renewable energy deployment between 2007 and 2015 led to approximately $29.7–112.8 billion in health benefits associated with avoided SOx, NOx, and PM2.5 emissions from other generation sources (Millstein et al 2017)

    In 2013, new renewable energy deployed to meet state renewable energy targets in the US led to $5.2 billion in health and environmental benefits, equivalent to 5.3¢ kWh^−1 of new renewable energy (Barbose et al 2016) Renewable energy targets enforced in the Rust Belt region of the US are expected to produce health benefits of $94 per ton of CO2 reduced in 2030 (Dimanchev et al 2019) In the US Pennsylvania–New Jersey–Maryland (PJM) Interconnection region, projected annual benefits of various decarbonization pathways range from $14 to 170 MWh^−1 , varying substantially by renewable energy project type and location (Buonocore et al 2016)

Access Dimension

Resource availability

Resource cost

Technology adoption

Program participation

Solar PV installation limitations

Solar PV cost

Solar PV adoption

Solar PV penetration (adoption as a share of potential)

Renewable energy incentive allocation

Solar PV leasing program participation

Proportion of solar PV systems installed by building type (%), proportion of solar PV systems installed by homeownership status (%)

Total solar PV system cost ($), willingness to pay for solar PV system ($), LCOE from solar PV by country ($)

Median income of solar adopters compared to US household median income ($), share of solar adopters classified as low-to-moderate income (%), relative solar PV adoption across census tracts by race/ethnicity (%), relative solar adoption shares across census tracts by disadvantage scores

Low-to-moderate income (LMI) solar PV penetration rate (# LMI solar systems per 1000 owner-occupied LMI households per quarter), change in rooftop PV penetration by English proficiency, LMI market share, and other factors (%)

Solar incentive distribution by income (%), share of solar incentives distributed from low-income incentive programs (%)

Decision representation

Representation in energy/utility company leadership

Proportion of solar adopters leasing PV systems (%)

Proportion of executives by race, sector, and gender (%)

  • Approximately 3% of US solar systems have been installed on multifamily buildings (including condos), most of which were owner-occupied (Forrester et al 2022)

    According to the 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), approximately 97% of solar systems on single family and mobile homes in the US (excluding apartment buildings) are on owner-occupied housing units and 3% are on renter-occupied units (EIA 2022a) According to a 2019–2020 survey, approximately 6% of Australian rental properties had solar PV compared to 30% of owner-occupied properties (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2022)

  • In Ireland, a study found that homeowners were willing to pay an average of €6200 for a 3 kW solar PV system, when the actual cost for that system was between €20 000 and 25 000 (Claudy et al 2011)

    Researchers calculated country-specific levelized costs of electricity (LCOE) from solar PV in Africa to demonstrate the importance of regional context in energy transition planning, finding that Liberia, Sudan, and Sierra Leone have LCOE 2.5 times higher than those in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Morocco (Mulugetta et al 2022)

  • In 2020, US households who installed solar PV had a median income of $115 000 compared to the US household median income of $63 000 (Forrester et al 2022) 

    In 2020, 20% of US solar adopters were considered low-to-moderate income at <80% of area median income (AMI) while 6% of solar adopters were at <150% of the federal poverty level (FPL) (Forrester et al 2022)

    The median solar-adopter income ranges from 130% to 175% of the county-median household income, though this income skew is gradually decreasing over time indicating an increase in adoption among less affluent households (Forrester et al 2022) 

    For the same median household income, Black-majority census tracts installed 69% fewer rooftop PV and Hispanic-majority census tracts installed 30% fewer rooftop PV compared to no-majority census tracts; this trend was similar when controlling for home ownership (Sunter et al 2019) 

    In California, the most disadvantaged census tracts have more than eight times lower deployment rates than the least disadvantaged census tracts (Lukanov and Krieger 2019)

  • For 2010–2018, the average LMI solar PV penetration rate was approximately 2.1 LMI adoptions per 1000 households per quarter; analysis of interventions suggest that LMI incentives increase LMI PV penetration by 0.7 adoptions per quarter and leasing increases LMI PV penetration by 1.5 adoptions per quarter (O’Shaughnessy et al 2021) 

    In San Bernardino, California, a 10% increase in limited English proficiency and a 10% increase in LMI market share (the proportion of suitable rooftops that are occupied by low-to-moderate income households) were both associated with 36% lower rooftop penetration (Reames 2020) 

    In Riverside, California, a 10% increase in households without internet access was associated with 33% lower rooftop penetration (Reames 2020)

  • Between 2006 and 2012, the bottom 50% of tax filers received only 10% of all renewable energy credits, while the top 5% received approximately 20% of all credits (Borenstein and Davis 2016) Approximately 1% of all incentives distributed are from low-income incentive programs (Paulos 2017, O’Shaughnessy et al 2021)

  • Approximately 49% of solar adopters in low-income communities utilized solar PV leasing programs compared to 42% of solar adopters in other areas (O’Shaughnessy et al 2021)

  • A 2019 report of the solar industry found that 88% of senior executives were White and 80% were men (The Solar Foundation 2019) 

    Women make up approximately 13.9% of senior management within the global energy and utilities sectors and 10.8% within the renewable energy sector (IEA, 2021d)

Indicator

Metric

Measurement

Livelihood Dimension

Employment

Energy security

Safety and security

Wealth

Number of jobs

Property value 

Energy asset ownership

Energy expenditures

Displacement

Natural resource security

Conflict and/or violence

Change in workforce availability (%), employee turnover rate (%)

Proportion of female workers in workforce (%), proportion of Black workers in workforce (%)

Change in property value associated with proximity to energy development (%)

Proportion of energy assets owned by women, BIPOC, or local residents (%)

Average utility rate increase ($ kWh -1), average annual utility rate increase ($ year -1)

Cumulative estimate of displaced population (#), estimate of affected population (#), share of affected population identified as Indigenous (%)

Change in annual fish harvest (%), change in fish habitat area (%), cumulative estimate of affected population (#)

Total reported mining-related conflicts (#), share of mining-related conflicts by mineral type (%)

Compensation

Workforce changes

Workforce representation

  • Models suggest that all low-carbon energy technologies create more jobs per unit of energy than their coal and natural gas counterparts—e.g. solar PV creates an average of 0.87 job-years per GWh compared to 0.11 job-years per GWh for natural gas (Wei et al 2010) 

    A well-below two degree transition scenario could result in an increase in direct energy jobs from the current 18 million to approximately 26 million by 2050, compared to job growth to 21 million under current policy scenarios (Pai et al 2021) 

    A net zero transition is projected to lead to an average of approximately 3 million annual direct jobs in the first decade and 4–8 million direct jobs during the 2040s (Mayfield et al 2021)

  • While natural gas and coal employees have a median hourly wage of $30.33 and $28.69, respectively, wind and solar employees are at $25.95 and $24.48 (NASEO, EFI and BW Research 2021)

  • During the construction of the Belo Monte dam in Brazil, nearby rural communities experienced a 50% decrease in farm labor compared to the pre-construction period, which farmers believed to be motivated by job opportunities from the dam and its associated urban growth (Calvi et al 2020) 

    Employment data from the dam’s construction period reveal that 76% of construction hires had a maximum employment time of three months indicating a high employee turnover rate (Calvi et al 2020)

  • Women make up approximately 30% of the US solar workforce and 31% of the wind power workforce compared to compared to 47% of the national workforce (NASEO and EFI 2020) 

    Black Americans make up approximately 8% of the solar and wind workforce compared to 12% of the national workforce (NASEO and EFI 2020)

  • Wind energy projects within 2 km reduced residential property value 4%–5% in the UK and 1.4%–5.4% in the Netherlands compared to control groups, with values dependent on turbine height and proximity (Dröes and Koster 2016, 2021, Jarvis 2021) 

    The effect of solar development on property value is less clear; some studiesreport no effect while others estimate reductions of 1.7% in certain US states and 2.6% in the Netherlands compared to control groups (Dröes and Koster 2016, 2021, Gaur and Lang 2020, Jarvis 2021)

  • On average, women make up only 22% of owners in citizen-owned renewable energy plants in Germany (Fraune 2015)

  • US states with renewable portfolio standards (RPS) have experienced greater increases in electricity prices by 0.91 cents per kWh (or 11.6%) compared to non-RPS states (Upton and Snyder 2017) 

    In California, researchers estimate that solar incentive policies led to an average rate increase of 3–5 cents per kWh, which translates into an annual household bill increase of $124–230 (Borenstein et al 2021)

  • Large hydropower development has resulted in an estimated 40–80 million people displaced worldwide (WCD 2000) Brazil’s Belo Monte dam project was projected to displace approximately 20 000 of the 25 000 Indigenous people living adjacent to the Xingu River (VanCleef 2016)

    Hydropower developments led to approximately 25 million people displaced in India and another 15 million people deprived of land or livelihood without physical displacement, with over 40% of affected individuals belonging to a tribal group (Fernandes 2004)

  • Annual harvest of four major commercial carp species declined by 50%–70% after the construction of Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River (Xie et al 2007) 

    In Washington, large hydropower dams on the Elwha River reduced salmon habitat by 90% (Pess et al 2008) 

    Large hydropower projects may affect an estimated 472 million people living downstream through altered river flows, reduced food security, or loss of ecosystem services (Richter et al 2010)

  • According to data from the International Council for Mining and Metals (ICMM), there were 167 mining-related conflict incidents reported from 2012 to 2013, with 26% of those conflicts associated with aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc—minerals that are critical to renewable energy technologies (Andrews et al 2016)

Indicator

Metric

Measurement

Jobs per unit of energy (job-years GWh -1), cumulative direct jobs (#), annual direct jobs (# year -1),

Relative median hourly wage ($ h -1)