How Much Are We Saving after All? Characterizing the Effects of Commonly Varying Assumptions on Emissions and Damage Estimates in PJM.

In recent years, several methods have emerged to estimate the emissions and health, environmental, and climate change damages avoided by interventions such as energy efficiency, demand response, and the integration of renewables. However, differing assumptions employed in these analyses could yield contradicting recommendations regarding intervention implementation. We test the magnitude of the effect of using different key assumptions-average vs marginal emissions, year of calculation, temporal and regional scope, and inclusion of nonemitting generation-to estimate Mid-Atlantic region power pool (PJM) emissions and damage factors.