- Sep 19, 2020
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Actually, it is difficult to determine which clean energy source is the cheapest and most effective since it depends on various factors such as location, availability, and government incentives.
However, currently, solar and wind energy have become increasingly affordable and competitive, making them some of the most cost-effective clean energy sources.
Moreover, hydropower is also a reliable and cost-effective option, but its availability depends on the geographical features and infrastructure of a given area.
Old Large paid-for hydropower is cheapest, can provide baseload 24/7, can ramp up and down with ease. Plus you get a pretty lake. It's limited, as you say. It's also most dangerous (dam breaks have killed more people than any other power plants.
Wind and solar are unreliable and would not even be built if not for government subsidies, I think.
Coal and nuclear are pretty good. We have hundreds of years of coal in the US, and uranium and thorium aren't about to run out anytime soon.
I think we burn too much natural gas producing electricity. Natural gas is great for heating, and much more efficient for that than producing electricity using combustion turbines.
This chart of prices for new builds from the EIA is astonishing to me...
This one, not so surprising....
A mix of energy sources is best - don't want to put too many eggs in one basket. Europe recently found out - they pretended to supply themselves with green energy while relying heavily on Russian methane.