EPA Avoided Emissions and Generation Tool (AVERT)
Description
Tool to evaluate changes in emissions from power plants and vehicles resulting from energy policies and programs such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, electric vehicles, and energy storage. The tool can be run online or downloaded as a spreadsheet model. Each has somewhat different functionality.
Questions this resource can help answer
- What are the emissions changes resulting from state-wide or multi-state energy policies and programs?
- What are the public health benefits of energy policies and programs?
How do I use this resource?
For the online version, the user selects a geographic region, and then enters information about the emissions reduction policy they would like to analyze. This requires providing information about energy efficiency, renewable energy (wind and solar), targets for electric vehicle (light duty and buses) and energy storage. AVERT provides an estimate of the power load over the year resulting from the policy. You then click on "Get Results" at the bottom right of the page. After a few moments, the tool displays information on emissions changes and energy impacts, including tables and graphs. Data can be downloaded at the county level. You can also download graphics by clicking on the 3 lines at the top right of each graph. You can generate health benefits of the policies through a link to EPA's Co-Benefits Risk Assessment Health Impacts Screening and Mapping Tool. When you link to COBRA, it is already pre-populated with the information from AVERT. Selected "Run Scenario" at the bottom right of the page (do not make adjustments to the panel on the left). COBRA will provide a table of health benefits including change incidence of health effects and the monetary value of those effects. The table can be exported using the link in the footnote at the bottom of the table. COBRA also provide a map of results, but it cannot be downloaded.
The downloadable version is more complex and requires multiple file downloads. It is recommended for users to refer to the user's manual for instructions.
Pro tips
Most users should use the online version. The downloadable version is for sophisticated users only, and requires users to generate energy profiles for every hour of the year.
Resource information
Technical specifications
Detailed information available in User's Manual: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-04/avert-user-manual-v4.3.pdf
AVERT uses several different methods including eGRID emissions rates, capacity factors, historical hourly emissions rates based on data from the Acid Rain Program, and sophisticated energy modeling that simulate unit by unit dispatch and generation.
The offline spreadsheet version is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet model that requires enabling of macros. There is also a stand alone MATLAB based statistical module that evaluates historical data and creates data files for the main Excel module.
