In the last century, the discovery of power sources has created several methods to generate electricity, including chemical reactions, heat, light, or mechanical energy. Consequently, scientists, organizations, and government bodies have debated about the ideal method of power production. This essay will argue that the best way of generating electricity is natural gas due to its lower overall costs, efficient power distribution, and greater protection to international security and the environment than other power plant sources.
Power generated from natural gas plants involves lower capital and fuel costs than other methods of electricity. The capital costs of a gas turbine are $350-600 per kW, which represents the lowest costs of building and maintaining a plant for any turbine-generated form of electricity. In comparison, the costs for hydroelectric and coal-driven plants range from $1200-1700 per kW, while the highest costs for building and maintaining a power plant involves the construction of a nuclear generator. Furthermore, newer energy sources, such as wind, biomass, and geothermal, entail very high capital costs despite their environmental benefits. The construction time required to build a power plant also merits consideration. In comparison to nuclear, coal and hydro plants, gas plants require the least amount of time to build. The time savings not only lowers construction costs but increases plant efficiency. Hence, natural gas entails the lowest capital costs of all energy sources. While the fixed costs of natural gas are extremely low, the variable costs range toward the higher end of the spectrum, being similar to that of nuclear and coal-generated plants while wind, solar, and thermal energy fuel costs have virtually negligible expenses. Although this comparison represents a disadvantage for natural gas, its very low capital costs offset the moderate fuel costs. Therefore, considering the expenses of building and fuelling a plant-driven energy source, natural gas is the most overall cost-efficient method.
