On
a dollars-per-kilowatt-hour basis, renewable energy is still generally more
expensive than fossil fuels, although its cost is decreasing all the time. In
some energy markets, new wind turbines are already less expensive than new
conventional power plants. As fossil fuels become scarcer in the future,
renewable energy will be more economically attractive. While recent growth in
the renewable energy industry is in part due to government and utility
incentives, it must be noted that conventional fuels also benefit from direct
and indirect subsidies, including externalization of the social costs created
by polluting power plants. |
