You are the mayor of a very large city whose regional electrical utilities are struggling to keep up with demand

Question

A new power plant must be built in the area, and you are faced with having to make a recommendation as to which kind of power plant should be built (coal, natural gas, or nuclear). Which would you recommend? Provide a rationale for your recommendation, and include reasons why you did not choose the other two options.

Answer 1

(Note: Any of the three choices could be correct, depending on the student's explanation.) As mayor of the city, I would probably not have the final say in which kind of power plant would be built, but I would certainly have an opinion in the matter and would make my recommendation known. If it is not possible to expand the capacity of the power plants that already exist, and if conservation efforts would not be expected to sufficiently decrease demand, I would recommend a natural gas power plant. Supplies of natural gas are expected to last long into the future, so I do not expect the power plant to become obsolete or too expensive to run. Natural gas burns more cleanly than coal, so a natural gas power plant would contribute less to the air pollution in the metropolitan area. Since transportation of natural gas can be accomplished through underground pipes, and since natural gas burns clean, there would be less truck and train traffic hauling in coal and hauling out ash that would have to be disposed of. Coal also produces 40% more carbon dioxide emissions than the energetically equivalent amount of natural gas, so natural gas would be a wiser choice with regard to greenhouse gas emissions. Although nuclear power produces negligible amounts of pollution and carbon dioxide emission at the power plant, it would not be wise to recommend a nuclear power plant. If the power plant has to be built in the area, it would probably be political suicide to recommend a nuclear power plant because of the real and perceived dangers of nuclear accidents. A nuclear accident would jeopardize the health and lives of thousands of citizens, and although the risks of a catastrophic accident are quite low, I would not want to be perceived as putting anything above the welfare of my citizens.