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The Greening of IT
254 How Companies Can Make a Difference for the Environment

Table C.1 Traditional Power Generation—Lowest Price Listed First
Method Cents/KWH Limitations and Externalities
Nuclear
Currently supplies around 11.1–14.5 cents/ Political difficulties in using
24% of the global KWH nuclear in some nations. Risk of
electricity demand. widespread (and potentially
lethal) contamination upon con-
tainment failure. Fuel is plenti-
ful, but problematic. Waste
disposal remains a significant
problem, and de-commissioning
is costly (averaging approxi-
mately US $320 million per
plant in the U.S.).

Conventional, Renewable Power Generation
Table C.2 lists conventional, renewable power-generation methods
along with the 2005 cost range to generate electricity for each method.
ptg
Table C.2 Conventional, Renewable Power Generation
Method Cents/KWH Limitations and Externalities
Wind
Currently supplies 4.0–6.0 cents/ Wind is currently the only cost-
approximately 1.4% of KWH effective alternative energy
the global electricity method, but has a number of
demand. Wind is problems. Wind farms are highly
considered to be about subject to lightning strikes, have
30% reliable. high mechanical fatigue failure,
are limited in size by hub stress,
do not function well, if at all,
under conditions of heavy rain,
icing conditions or very cold
climates, and are noisy and
cannot be insulated for sound
reduction due to their size and
subsequent loss of wind velocity
and power.