The true costs of conventional energy.

• Author: Pelosse, Helene

Myth Renewable energy is expensive

Reality Market price of conventional energy does not tell the truth

"Renewable energy is expensive--we cannot afford it." I have heard this argument many times over. But those who bring it up are wrong. The costs of renewable energy are not higher than those for conventional energy. Instead people confuse costs with prices and need to be better aware that the market price of conventional energy does not tell the truth.

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COSTS VS. PRICES

The price of the most commonly used energies--electricity and automobile fuel--is listed on your monthly electricity bill or displayed at the gas station. This price is well known and the consumer pays for it individually. At first glance, renewable energy really seems more expensive than conventional energy. This chances as soon as one looks at the complete energy-supply chain where renewables are in a better position cost-wise than conventional energies. In addition, renewable energy protects air, water, soil, flora and fauna from pollutants, saves resources and uses less land. Clearly, renewable energy installations can be deconstructed and recycled easily at the end of their lifetime, while societies worldwide are burdened with financial liabilities caused by the use of such conventional energies as nuclear and coal and by the environmental damages resulting from uranium and coal mining and the storage of radioactive waste.

Carbon emissions from fossil and nuclear energy are considerably higher than those from most renewables. Costs to mitigate climate change, 50 per cent of which is causes by carbon emissions, have only recently been brought to the attention of a broader public by the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. The use of renewables on the other hand, as the report says, leads to decreasing costs. For instance, wind, hydropower and biomass emit an average of 40 grammes, [CO.sub.2] per kilowatt-hour of electricity (kWh), while a nuclear power plant, depending on the origin of the uranium fuel, emits 31-130g [CO.sub.2] per kWh and a coal-fired power plant emits 800-1400g [CO.sub.2] per kWh.

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Add-on costs caused by conventional energies, such as remedying environmental, climate and health damages, are not yet reflected, for instance, in monthly electricity bills. Nevertheless, the general public has had to share the burden of these add one. We therefore start out on the wrong foot it we only look at prices...