Cheap Electricity

Kentucky has some of the cheapest electrical rates in the country. This is mainly because there is a cheap supply of coal nearby. I was reading an article this morning in the March 2011 Kentucky Living magazine which is put out by the local power company. It made me think about a few things. It was written by the editor of the magazine. He was pointing out how Kentucky's energy is created. He used the example of $1.00 which was broken into 100 pennies. Here are the totals: 

3 pennies-amt electricity generated from by burning petroleum

2 pennies-amt electricity generated from hydroelectric dams

1 penny-amt electricity generated from natural gas

less than 1 penny-amt electricity generated from renewable sources such as wind, solar, wood and methane from landfill gas

93 pennies-amt electricity generated from coal

His point in this that even with a lot more money spent, coal would still be the bigger pile of coins when it came to generating electricity. His suggestion is that the best way to cut back on coal use was to cut back on electrical consumption. 

These numbers to me were very interesting. I do believe we need to maximize the use of renewable sources for energy generation. The more important part of these statistics is that it still comes back to energy conservation. We, as a nation, have become energy glutens. We each need to look at where we can do our part to decrease energy consumption. Little things do add up.