Electricity Production
US
Production of electricity in 2010 was 4,125,060 megawatt hours. The production
portions by plant type was as follows:
(http://205.254.135.7/electricity/annual/html/tablees1.cfm)
Coal Fired 44.6%
Natural Gas Fired 23.9
Nuclear 14.7
Hydroelectric 6.3
Other Renewable 4.1
Present Production Costs
Since
the above productions are from existing plants, let's consider only their
operating costs (cents/kilowatt hour), which are fuel and maintenance:
Nuclear
(1) 2.3
Coal (1) 3.0
Hydroelectric (2) 2-5 Natural
Gas (1) 8.2
Other Renewables (2) 5-125
Notes:
(1) http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf02.html
(2) http://www.hydro21.org/div_media/pdf/pdf_economie_en.pdf
Observations
The US economy is
primarily based on manpower using cheap energy. Our cheapest available energy
source is our nuclear plants, but we don't have enough to supply all our
electricity needs.
Our next cheapest source is coal. Providing we don't burden
it with unnecessary regulations that will increase cost. Coal-fired plants have been our traditional
electricity source and we already have many of them. With proper maintenance,
they don't wear out. We should be using our existing coal-fired plants to their
maximum capability.
Similar to nuclear, our hydroelectric plants are cheap to
operate, but their total production capacity is limited. We should again be
using them to their maximum capability and again fall back to coal, as will be
necessary.
Electricity production from natural gas has been
traditionally high in cost, and the number of existing plants is limited.
However, with fracking, natural gas prices will fall. and we may be able to use
the existing natural gas-fired plants more efficiently.
Future Growth
We will not have
sufficient electricity as our population continues to grow, and we develop more
efficient production of goods through use of electricity. Therefore, we will
need to build new electricity generating facilities. This is especially true,
if we convert much of our internal combustion vehicles to electricity.
With production of new electricity generation facilities,
amortization costs on capital for normal plant construction and special
equipment required by government regulation are added to the operating costs of
fuel and maintenance. Costs for various facility types have been estimated for
construction in 2016. The electricity production costs for each type have been
"levelized" to a consistent annual cost over plant life expectancy.
The
estimated electricity costs in $/megawatt hour are as follows:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_cost_of_electricity_generated_by_different_sources)
Natural Gas 66-124
Hydro 86
Coal 95-136
Wind 97-243
Biomass 113
Nuclear 114
Solar 211-311
Observations
New natural gas-fired plants are the apparent first
choice for electricity expansion, providing the new construction is not loaded
with mandated federal control, which would appear to increase the cost to the higher
$124. The apparent low cost for natural
gas is likely based on the simplicity of the equipment.
New hydro production looks good, but the
geographical limitations reduce the practicability.
The reference explains that coal is loaded with
carbon capture and sequestration equipment, but even without that, the cost is
higher than for natural gas. This may be because coal plants handle solid fuel,
which is more difficult to handle than pipeline gas.
Even the low value for wind is above the other
three. It also has the disadvantage of geographical limitation and the erratic
behavior of wind.
Overall, our best course of action is to operate
existing coal, nuclear and hydro facilities to maximum capacity, while
minimizing unnecessary government mandates. Carbon control on coal plants
through sequestration is a prime example.
New plants should favor natural gas. Again with the
avoidance of government mandated controls.
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