Affordable, reliable, clean scorecard: natural gas wins over wind & solar.
“Natural gas is easily the cheapest source of electric power, coal the second cheapest.” – James Taylor, RealClearEnergy
Policymakers on both sides of the political spectrum increasingly favor affordable, reliable and clean energy. There is good reason for this: modern society requires energy that is affordable and available when needed. Environmental concerns also matter. Together, affordability, reliability and clean are the three pillars of ideal energy policy.
Two new analyses evaluate competing electricity sources, resulting in an affordable, reliable and clean scorecard . The two analyses, one published by Northwood University and the Mackinac Center , the other published by The Heartland Institute , both independently reached nearly the same conclusion.
Both analyses find that natural gas is the most affordable, reliable and clean source of electricity. Not far behind come nuclear, hydro and coal. At the bottom of the scorecard dangle wind and solar electricity.
Despite some claims that wind and solar are cheaper than conventional electricity, the opposite is true. Wind and solar benefit from much higher subsidies than other sources of electricity. Thus, their high costs are shifted to taxpayers rather than directly to customers’ electricity bills.
Thereby, the variable and often unpredictable nature of wind and solar electricity creates substantial costs on the grid. This requires other sources of electricity that can switch on and off frequently, rather inefficiently, to compensate for the variability of wind and solar.
Finally, wind turbines and solar panels often have to be built far from population centers. This in turn requires extensive and expensive networks of transmission cables to get the electricity to the customer.
Read more under the Renewable section .