Comments on: Visual Comparison of Electricity Generation Technologies

By: Lea Courtney

Lea Courtney — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:25:00 +0000

“What people want to believe is that so-called “clean” or “renewable” energy is the future. The reality is that although there have been recent advancements in technology on a number of levels; we are still a long way off from efficient vs. cost. Once the government incentives drop off or are reduced we’ll be back to slow motion once again. This is not to mention all the other problems with renewable as we know them today such as irradiance or what happened when there is no wind.”-Indeed true.

By: windmill

windmill — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:50:54 +0000

windmill…

[...]Visual Comparison of Electricity Generation Technologies « Clean Energy Wonk[...]…

By: Kilovars

Kilovars — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 23:52:56 +0000

What people want to believe is that so-called “clean” or “renewable” energy is the future. The reality is that although there have been recent advancements in technology on a number of levels; we are still a long way off from efficient vs. cost. Once the government incentives drop off or are reduced we’ll be back to slow motion once again. This is not to mention all the other problems with renewable as we know them today such as irradiance or what happened when there is no wind.

By: oko strom

oko strom — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:48:20 +0000

ike this can be a very effective tool for reaching carbon emission reductions.

By: john

john — Sat, 08 May 2010 09:29:43 +0000

Thank you Tom
John

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:57:46 +0000

John,
From the utility planning perspective, there are two ways to make sure there is enough electricity supply to meet demand.

1) You can build new power plants to increase supply
2) You can pay your customers to to buy more efficiency appliances, or keep their equipment running efficiently so that they still get all the things they want from electricity while using less of it, reducing demand. This is often call “Demand Side Management” or DSM… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_demand_management

DSM is basically what I mean by efficiency.

By: john

john — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:56:46 +0000

Hi Tom,
I live in France, I am not an engeneer, and I am trying to have a simple comparison of the cost to produce energy through various methods for a short speach to a group of people.
Your study and observations is one of the only comprehensive tentative table that I could find. Bravo. That is quite a job.
However, I dont quite understand your table. What does “efficiency” have to do amongs coal, wind etc.. How do I read this ?
Thanks for a simple explanation
John

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:13:29 +0000

Neither cost/power (kW) or cost per energy (kWh) is a complete metric taken alone. The conversion depends on the capacity factor, discount rate, and life of the technology.

The best performing EE technologies on a per kW basis are demand response, and I present some numbers here:
http://www.altenergystocks.com/archives/2009/06/large_scale_energy_storage_technologies_compared_1.html

However, some EE technologies don’t do much in terms of reducing peak demand (such as CFLs) for these technologies, cost per kWh (or MWh) is the most appropriate measure.

By: Ari B.

Ari B. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:05:51 +0000

Tom, I don’t understand the cost per MWh metric…the more accurate number for assessing financeability of a given technology is cost per kw of installed capacity. To convert the cost per installed capacity to cost per MWh (and are we talking retail or wholesale?) for any technology you have know the performance characteristics of the technology, at the very least, and with renewable resources (especially w/ solar PV and wind) the capacity factor is dependent on environmental factors and the power curve. $.05 per kwh is generally around market price for power contracts, with an additional subsidy for RECs or MPR + SEP in california. I’m interested to know if you have any numbers on the cost per kw installed of efficiency/demand reduction. Thanks and I really enjoy your blog.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:48:54 +0000

Stan,
There are some more recent numbers (from a different source) here:
http://www.altenergystocks.com/archives/2009/06/what_does_clean_energy_cost_1.html

By: Stan

Stan — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:25:52 +0000

Excellent comparative review. Is there any more recent info? (has anything changed) Are there differences between countries? developed vs. developing economies?

By: The Case for Efficiency… | Energy 2.0

The Case for Efficiency… | Energy 2.0 — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:00:17 +0000

[...] to a still-useful subway map that predates the MBTA.com trip planner—I rediscovered these slightly dated but insightful graphs comparing different technologies for furnishing additional electric power. Unfortunately, it does [...]

By: Seeking Alpha : What Does Clean Energy Cost? Investing in AECOM, Covanta

Seeking Alpha : What Does Clean Energy Cost? Investing in AECOM, Covanta — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:56:09 +0000

[...] together some slides meant to give a visual comparison of transportation fuels, and another set for electricity generation technologies. These slides were intended to be more qualitative than quantitative, and were based on my personal [...]

By: Luis Carrasco-Salvo

Luis Carrasco-Salvo — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:02:04 +0000

Sir:
I appreciate very much your focusing of this matters, and how are they presented on these two graphs — I understand that the way how you show these aspects of the so many different sources of energy to-day is a very teaching and useful presentation. I will tray to follow your skills. Please accept my thanks. I’m a teacher
Carrasco

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 00:27:45 +0000

The CSP price I show in the chart is actually the Ausra number, but since they have only one collector field, I have reconsidered, and am waiting for the number be shown in the field.

I have little doubt CSP will get to $.08 / kWh, but it may take a few more years before we’re there.

By: davea0511

davea0511 — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 19:44:05 +0000

Thanks for being one of a very few people who are bringing this most critical of information into the forefront. I however disagree with your assessment that you were too optimistic in the price of CSP. Ausra has said with new CSP technologies they expect to reach $0.08/kWh, and some within the company have said that with economies of scale and implementation of developing technologies the cost could be as low as $0.05/kWh. When you make these charts it is important to use expected costs rather than historical costs. The current costs of CSP is already only in the $0.14 range in the newest CSP facilities.

Sad how most of the renewables-earmarked gov’t money has gone to the least promising of technologies. You need to be a squeaky wheel with this info.

By: After Gutenberg » IPCC Recommended Technologies and Practices to mitigate Emissions from Energy Production

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:13:24 +0000

[...] the interconnected electricity system is a great engineering and operational challenge. It also is an opportunity for saving energy rather than buying energy and this blog is a proponent of greater localization and [...]

By: Gordhan Valasai

Gordhan Valasai — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:51:05 +0000

Thank you, for providing much needed information.

By: Transport Fuels and Solar Technologies: Bird’s Eye View « EE/RE Investing

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 04:49:14 +0000

[...] we can get an understanding of the broad trends of energy technologies. Last week, I added to the Visual comparison of Electricity Generation Technologies I did last spring with a new Visual Comparison of Transport [...]

By: Alt Energy Stocks » Blog Archive » Visual Comparison of Alternative Transportation Fuels

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:35:37 +0000

[...] and expand on some graphs I constructed this spring: I created a pair of graphs which give an overview of how different electricity generation technologies compare. These are not precise graphs with anything resembling scientific accuracy, but I think [...]