Dr. Conca reports that building a combination of new natural gas and new nuclear plants, while maintaining existing hydroelectric and nuclear plants as long as possible, gives the U.S. the cheapest and most reliable energy future.
With the exception of hydroelectric, all of the U.S. electricity generation will need to be replaced by mid-century, most of it within the next 25 years. He says that we all have our favorite mix of energy sources, but we really need to know how much each energy source will cost before we can plan on what this replacement energy mix should be for the country.
The Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) is a way to combine all the construction, fuel and operational costs into a form that can be compared among all energy sources. The LCOE also has assumptions about financing periods, taxation, depreciation and owner costs that are hard to compare between short-lived systems like wind and solar, and long-lived systems like large hydroelectric systems and nuclear power.
Legislators and other decision-makers use the LCOE as the primary means to compare power plant costs for electricity generation when planning for the future. One point is the reason that all power plants should be run for their complete life-spans and not shut down prematurely for other reasons. In fact, their lives should be extended for as long as possible. This is especially true for hydro and nuclear.
Cost and/or environmental impact are the two most important factors to Americans, so some variation on this mix as a solid base could be very effective. You can then add on other renewables to round out the final mix to replace even more fossil fuel such as coal and natural gas down the road.
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Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-