Pro-Ecological Exergy Tax of Electricity

Abstract

The concept of the pro-ecological tax or support is proposed in this article. It could replace the existing subsidy mechanisms for renewable power technology or could represent the ecological taxes burdening the fabrication of consumer products based on nonrenewable resources, e.g., electricity from the conventional fossil fuel power plants. Moreover, the proposed concept for renewable power technologies could represent a new system of subsidy based on physical laws. The proposed pro-ecological tax or support is defined as proportional to the thermo-ecological cost (TEC). TEC expresses the cumulative consumption of nonrenewable exergy burdening the fabrication of the considered consumption of the product with the additional inclusion of necessity of compensating adverse environmental effects due to harmful waste products rejection. It is assumed that calculating new exergy tax or subsidy for electricity, the total cost burdening the final consumer remains the same. This principle determines the coefficient of proportionality between the cumulative consumption of nonrenewable exergy (TEC) and the value of the tax or subsidy. In the case of nonrenewable electricity generation, the TAX causes the largest price growth. The higher is the efficiency of power technology, and the lower is the TEC of fuel, the lower tax is provided. In this paper, the prices of electricity produced from renewable and nonrenewable resources are calculated, taking into account the unavoidable consumption of resources. The unavoidable exergy consumption is caused due to the power plant construction, which is distributed through the whole life cycle of the plant. Results of calculation of proposed subsidies are compared with the current Polish system for supporting renewable power technologies.