Colorado Alternative Energy

A new study by the National Research Council found that the country’s current energy mix has “hidden costs” of an estimated $120 billion per year, which includes health, environmental security and infrastructural external costs – and this doesn’t even count the costs of climate change or greenhouse gas emissions (estimated from $1 to $100 per ton of CO2 emitted). From the Wall Street Journal:

The $120 billion figure boils down to coal and cars. Transport costs the country $56 billion. Coal-fired electricity costs the country $62 billion per year, largely in health impacts from particulate matter. Natural gas for power generation, in contrast, adds about $740 million a year in hidden costs.

Looked at another way, coal’s hidden pricetag adds up to 3.2 cents per kilowatt hour. Compare that to the 2 cents-per-kilowatt hour that wind power gets from the government—that’s less a subsidy than a partial attempt to level the playing field.