Coal
Costs, Comparative Costs to other sources of Power, and Comparative to average costs.
ECON201
Becca Howard
Tristen Z.
Ashley Mathis
Emily Ruckle
Coal
It costs approximately 500 billion dollars a year to create energy with coal. That is approximately $0.027 a kilowatt per hour. To create nuclear power, it is only $0.019 a kWh and natural gas is $0.081 a kWh. Wind energy is $0.030 a kWh, hydroelectric energy is only $0.009 a kWh, and solar energy is $8.9 a kWh. Biomass energy costs 7 to 9 cents a kWh. In 2008, the energy companies sold energy for 9.74 cents per kWh on average, which means they are making a lot compared to what they’re selling coal energy, nuclear energy, natural gas, wind energy, and hydroelectric energy for. They are not making very much money selling solar energy and biomass energy though. In 2010, the U.S. EIA said $557 billion was spent to subsidize fossil fuels globally in 2008, while only $43 billion was spent in support of renewable energy.
Coal is not a clean energy source; it is a cheap energy source. It is cheaper than most energy sources but it does not provide clean energy. It gives off a lot of carbon dioxide and puts excess CO2 into the air. However, because it is so cheap it is the world’s most used energy source.