The Regressive Party stubbornly refuses to rescind the Dirty Energy Taxpayer Subsidies and carefully protects its Generous Campaign Contributors from cleaning up their environmental destruction such as Mountaintop Removal, Dirty Tar Sands Oil Spills, Coal Ash that threatens water supplies and Dirty Coal Burning Power Plants that spew soot, mercury and toxic chemicals into our air.
The Dinosaurs deny Global Warming as the evidence surrounds them, betraying poorly educated Americans who willingly goose-step into the convincing propaganda.
The rest of the world is leading!
The rest of the world will enjoy cleaner air, less Dirty Energy Clean-Up costs, healthier environments [hence, lower health care costs] and will lead the future, while the Regressive Party seduces the short-sighted among us.
Look around you!
From: Celsias, Clean Techies, More from this Affiliate
Published January 8, 2014 07:35 AM
Renewables Now Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels in Australia
The study shows that electricity can be supplied from a new wind farm at a cost of AUD 80/MWh (USD 83), compared to AUD 143/MWh from a new coal plant or AUD 116/MWh from a new baseload gas plant, including the cost of emissions under the Gillard government's carbon pricing scheme. However even without a carbon price (the most efficient way to reduce economy-wide emissions) wind energy is 14% cheaper than new coal and 18% cheaper than new gas.
"The perception that fossil fuels are cheap and renewables are expensive is now out of date", said Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. "The fact that wind power is now cheaper than coal and gas in a country with some of the world's best fossil fuel resources shows that clean energy is a game changer which promises to turn the economics of power systems on its head," he said.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance's research on Australia shows that since 2011, the cost of wind generation has fallen by 10% and the cost of solar photovoltaics by 29%. In contrast, the cost of energy from new fossil-fueled plants is high and rising. New coal is made expensive by high financing costs. The study surveyed Australia's four largest banks and found that lenders are unlikely to finance new coal without a substantial risk premium due to the reputational damage of emissions-intensive investments -- if they are to finance coal at all. New gas-fired generation is expensive as the massive expansion of Australia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) export market forces local prices upwards. The carbon price adds further costs to new coal - and gas-fired plant and is forecast to increase substantially over the lifetime of a new facility.
BNEF's analysts conclude that by 2020, large-scale solar PV will also be cheaper than coal and gas, when carbon prices are factored in. By 2030, dispatchable renewable generating technologies such as biomass and solar thermal could also be cost-competitive.
Solar panels and wind turbines image via Shutterstock.
Read more at ENN Affiliate Clean Techies.
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