Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Rising Natural Gas Costs
Although the cost of natural gas may not be the single deciding factor in choosing
to build a wind power station, the average cost of natural gas received by electric power
plants has been in an upward trend since 990. The average cost of natural gas reached a
peak NYMEX futures cost of $5 per million Btu in 2005, and it has approached that level
again in 2008. Higher electricity prices, driven by higher natural gas and other fossil fuel
costs, improve wind's competitive position and make investment in wind power more prof-
itable, particularly as developers speculate that future natural gas costs may rise further.
Water Savings
Water scarcity is a significant problem in many parts of the country. Few realize that
fossil-fuel electricity generation now accounts for nearly half of all water withdrawals in the
nation, with irrigation coming in second at 34 percent, according to the U.S. Geological Ser-
vice in 2005. Water is used for cooling power plants fueled by natural gas, coal, and nuclear
energy, and the availability of sufficient cooling water is an increasing challenge to further
development of these energy sources.
Although a significant portion of the cooling water for electricity production is recycled
back through the system, approximately 2 to 3 percent of this water is consumed through
evaporative losses and must be replaced. Even this small fraction adds up to approximately
.6 to .7 trillion gallons of water consumed for power generation each year. As additional
wind generation displaces fossil-fuel generation, each megawatt-hour generated by wind
could save as much as 600 gallons of water that would otherwise be lost in a fossil-fuel plant.
Because wind energy generation uses a negligible amount of water, by 2030 annual water
savings could be as much as 450 billion gallons. In addition, water pollution is reduced by
decreasing coal washing effluent and chemical additives in feed water.
Emissions and Global Warming Concerns
Concerns over the potential impact of global warming have resulted in some states
and regions establishing commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To illustrate,
0 northeastern states formed the
Northeastern States Regional Greenhouse Gas Initia-
tive (RGGI)
with the nation's first multistate cap-and-trade system for carbon [Capoor and
Ambrosi 2008]. RGGI raised $38.5 million in its first auction of carbon dioxide emissions
credits held on September 25, 2008, with allowance being sold at a clearing price of $3.07
per ton on carbon monoxide. Also, California, Oregon and Washington have banded together
to form the
West Coast Governors Global Warming Initiative
to reduce global warming.
Development of wind power to meet electricity demand can help states and localities meet
these commitments. The
European Union
emission trading scheme commenced operation
in January 2005.
Wind power generation offsets or eliminates
air pollution
that otherwise would be
caused by conventional power plants, a health and economic benefit often not accounted for
quantitatively in the cost of energy. Most wind power stations offset generation from con-
ventional plants fired with natural gas, reducing atmospheric emissions of nitrogen oxides,
sulfur oxides, mercury, and carbon monoxide. A study performed at
Brookhaven National
Laboratory
on the benefits of nuclear power in offsetting air pollution found that gas-fired
plants caused 50 deaths per gigawatt-year of generation, coal plants 220 deaths, oil-fired
plants 40 deaths, and wood-fired plants 57 deaths [Hamilton 984]. Based on these find-
ings, wind power stations are saving more than 600 lives each year of operation since 2006.
This invaluable benefit is difficult to quantify in economic terms.
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