Comparison of Coal-fired and Natural Gas-fired Power Plants as Economically Viable and Ecologically Sustainable Power Generation Systems

To achieve a sustainable power generation industry it is necessary to study the environmental impacts and economic costs of all aspects of a power generation plants’ lifecycle - from mining to electricity distribution, and, ultimately, decommission (from cradle to grave). One key component in improving and maintaining quality of life for consumers is the application of the Green Productivity Index (GPI) in order to evaluate the related factors of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC). The goal of this research is to appraise the efficacy of decision-making tools in accurately assessing the potential results of ‘green’ improvements to coal-fired and natural gas-fired power plants in both ecological and economic terms. The recently developed Numerical Eco-load Total Standardization (LCA-NETS) evaluates environmental impacts by identifying and quantifying input energy and output waste released to the environment throughout the life cycle of a power plant. Environmental impacts caused by global and regional environmental issues are numerically calculated in the units of NETS. Environmental assessment tools such as LCA, LCC and GPI can be used to improve the ‘environmental friendliness’ of electricity generation by demonstrating the future sustainability of ‘green’ power generation plants and their contribution to the quality of life of consumer.