(Photography by Beth Flaherty, CC BY-NC 2.0)
Fourty-six years after the passage of the Clean Air Act, the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago examines the consequences of coal plants on our health and our planet.
Years since the passage of the Clean Air Act: 46
Millions of life-years saved in the United States in the areas studied because of cleaner air, according to the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago: 336
Increase, in years, of the average Chicagoan’s life expectancy since the passage of the Clean Air Act: 2.1
Average percent decrease in home value when an industrial plant opens within a half mile: 11
Percent increase in risk of low birth weight within one mile of an industrial plant: 3
Degrees Fahrenheit by which fossil fuel combustion has already warmed the planet: 1.7