While swapping old appliances for energy-efficient ones and turning off the lights can save consumers money, it could also help alleviate health effects attributed to air pollution.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have released a new study that suggests turning lights off saves lives and money due to reduced energy consumption.

“By saving electricity, we can also save lives,” said David Abel professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UW–Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. “There is a range of health benefits. It’s a bonus. We find there are extra health reasons to turn off a light.”

Over the span of three summer months, researchers deployed a suite of three widely used models to calculate power plant emissions, air quality and human mortality. The findings show that a 12% increase in summertime energy efficiency would reduce exposure to air pollution, specifically ozone and fine particulate matter.

To put it another way, cleaner air would save 475 human lives each year in the U.S. and almost five cents per kilowatt hour of energy used.

Air pollution from ozone and fine particles caused by emissions are known to adversely affect human health, increasing the risk of asthma attacks and other respiratory diseases.

The goal of the research is to help build bridges between researchers and policymakers. Generally the people who focus on air pollution and those focused on energy work and live in different worlds. Much-needed common threads and tools to integrate the two groups could help save money, improve human health and equip government and industry to meet air quality goals.