At first glance this appears to be true — that is, the Levelized Cost of Energy for both natural gas-fired and utility-scale solar PV power plants are very similar.
However, upon further analysis, this is ONLY true if you do NOT take into account the costs of the short and long-term health effects of burning these fossil fuels:
- Short-term costs include $100’s of Billions to treat serious diseases from breathing air pollution, including lung cancer, heart disease, strokes, asthma and emphysema.
- Medium-term costs should also include the environmental cleanup associated with drilling wells and mining coal. For example, as the third article below indicates, some oil producers in Alberta are leaving wells abandoned for others to clean up.
- Long-term costs are practically infinite — after all, what is the cost of a rising ocean, 50 to 80 years from now, submerging much of the Netherlands, Bangladesh, 60% of New York & Greater London, 35% of India, 20% of China, 100% of the State of Florida in the US, 90% of the Caribbean, etc., etc.
And that’s if you have the audacity & lack of sensitivity to equate having to relocate an entire City or Country of people in ONLY financial terms.
Now, more than ever, we need to carefully examine the evidence, and take immediate action if we believe 95% of the world’s leading climate scientists:
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair
