High-tech coal energy cheaper than Texas wind power

摘要

Popular wisdom is that wind power is the best choice for electricity generation, especially if the goal is to reduce the emissions of mercury, SO_2, NO_x, or CO_2. However, in a paper published in this issue of ES & T (pp 8578-8583), researchers report that consumers in Texas paid about 5.7 cents per kilowatt hour (￠/kWh) more for renewable power in 2002 than if the same power had been produced by state-of-the-art coal-powered plants designed to reduce these 4 significant air pollutants.