Comparing Energy Sources
We use a lot of different fuels because, unfortunately, there is not a single “best” energy source. Fuels differ greatly on economic costs, environmental impacts, and the ease with which they can be harvested. In this section, we’ll compare energy sources for electric power generation along with a number of different criteria. We’ll focus on power generation because we use the greatest diversity of fuels for electricity and because the power sector has been a major target of environmental regulation over the last several decades.