Abstract

In this work, we analyzed correlations between life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and life cycle cost of energy resources. Energy resources studied in this paper include coal, natural gas, nuclear power, hydropower, geothermal energy, wind power, solar thermal energy, and solar photovoltaic energy, and all of them are used to generate electricity. We calculated the mean values, ranges of maximum minus minimum values, and ranges of 90% confidence interval of life cycle GHG emissions and life-cycle cost of each energy resource. Based on the values, we plotted them in two dimensional graphs to analyze a relationship and characteristics between GHG emissions and cost. Besides, to analyze the technical maturity, the GHG emissions and the range of minimum and maximum values were compared to each other. For the electric generation, energy resources are largely inverse proportional to the GHG emission and the corresponding cost.