Literature Survey on Economics of Environmental Friendly Electricity Production

Abstract

To cope with the global warming problem, it is important choose a cost-effective technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Because of the diversity of available electricity production technologies, such as fuel cells (FC), natural gas combined cycles (NGCC), integrated gasification combined cycles (IGCC), biomass gasification, and wind turbines, there is a need to choose a suitable technology according to regional circumstances with regards to applicability and availability of technologies and resources. This chapter discusses two technologies, NGCC and a proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEFC), from the perspective of greenhouse gases emission reduction costs. Based on data for capital cost and energy conversion efficiency from IIASA's carbon dioxide technology database (CO2DB), the costs of electricity and greenhouse gas emissions were calculated. Hydrogen was assumed to be produced from natural gas or biomass sources. In the future, the capital costs of PEFC could be considerably reduced as a consequence of mass production. However, the costs of electricity and the amount of emissions emitted from PEFC might be higher than in the case of NGCC, particularly if PEFC is not utilized as a co-generation system. Among all natural gas power plants, this chapter concludes that NGCC without CO2 capture might be the most cost-effective option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.