The Utility Blog » Cheaper Electricity

Is using biogas to produce electricity cheaper than using coal?

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 02:54:24 +0000

Would it be more efficient (economically) to use biogas rather than coal to produce electricity in third-world countries?

Even a remote, small farm with few cows can be self sufficient in it’s electric and energy needs if is set up to produce bio gas and electricity. It would require a bio gas generator well, weighted inverted tank above it to store gas.and pipes to transfer gas to the electric generator. Cow manure could be fed manually through a chute.
A small gas to electric generator, would be more economic,since, no transmission lines are required, which could add up huge cost, depending upon the relative location, if the electricity is purchased from a central coal fired electric generator.

At what crude oil price are natural gas and coal cheaper to produce electricity?

admin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:34:29 +0000

This question makes no sense.

1. Unlike natural gas and coal, no one burns crude oil. The crude oil is first "refined" which means breaking it up into many different products, ranging from gases, through gasoline and diesel fuel, to heavier materials such as bunker fuel, bitumen, and coke.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_refinery#Major_products

The prices of the various outputs of the refining process depend on the demand. Usually demands for gasoline and diesel are the highest and they drive the cost of crude oil.

Since coke is not useful for much expect burning like coal, it has a much lower price, you can start using "oil" for power generation when the price of coke is low enough, even if the price of crude is still high.

2. Cost isn’t just a matter of fuel. There are two distinct costs for a power plant: initial cost and operating costs. The cost of fuel is the primary operating cost. But the cost of building the power plant is also a major cost that has to be paid off during the life of the plant.

Nuclear power has very low operating costs, but its fixed costs (initial plus cleanup) costs are very high – making nuclear power very expensive.

http://www.energybulletin.net/52023

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/11/business/energy-environment/11power.html

Since no one has built oil fired power plants of any size, it isn’t clear what the fixed costs of an oil plant would be, how long the plant would be able to run, etc.
(Natural gas plants have higher operating costs that coal plants but are much cheaper to build, which is why they exist even though natural gas prices are higher than coal prices on a per unit energy basis.)

3. Prices depend on supply and demand. If you were to suddenly start using oil to produce electricity, then the demand for oil would go up and so would the price.

In the U.S. the electric power market is the largest consumer of energy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USenergy2009.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_States

48% of that comes from coal, 18% from natural gas. Any switch to oil would have major effects on the oil market.

4. In fact, the world is producing enough oil at current prices (much less lower prices) to satisfy demands for both electric power generation and current petroleum product usage.

Is it cheaper to use electricity after 6 PM?

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:09:48 +0000

In order to cut down on the electrical bill, is it cheaper to wash clothes
or use dishwasher or other electrical appliances after 6 PM?
Thanks for your suggestions. George

=== it is all based on the meter and cost per kilowatt hour === time of day has no bearing to the tick-tick of the meter … … make reasonably full loads for washing machines … and line dry what clothes and towels you can … only dryer the towels to fluff … use of lights and electric heaters and the coffee pot [[ unplug the coffee pot if not in use]] are power eaters …. use candles at dinner time and less power overall to save money ……. that how it works ..