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Poster Session 6, 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM: Room 163 [C21]

Presenter: Nexus Sean Attiogbe

Faculty Sponsor: Erin D. Baker

School: UMass Amherst

Research Area: Industrial Engineering

ABSTRACT

Carbon capture (CC) is central to U.S. decarbonization strategies, yet its implications for co-pollutants and environmental justice remain uncertain. We evaluate how major federal policy instruments—including the Inflation Reduction Act’s 45Q subsidy, EPA CO₂ performance standards, the Good Neighbor Rule, and a carbon tax—shape investment, dispatch, emissions, and spatially resolved health damages in a networked power system with transmission constraints. Using an optimal power flow capacity-expansion model coupled to atmospheric transport and demographic data for case studies in Alabama and Texas, we show that CC subsidies drive retrofits and increased fossil generation, reducing CO₂ but raising total co-pollutant emissions above business-as-usual levels. Subsidies slightly lower aggregate health damages through sulfur dioxide reductions but perform substantially worse than standards or a carbon tax, which achieve the largest declines in both emissions and damages. Combining a carbon tax with 45Q produces the highest pollution and health burdens. Disparities between demographic groups are small relative to differences across policies. These results demonstrate that CC policy design must account for power-system dynamics and co-pollutant outcomes to achieve equitable decarbonization.