Affordable power is more vital now than ever (did you see the stock market today?)

Tomorrow's presidential debate here in Nashville will be town hall-style. Given the stock market's free fall, we're bound to hear a lot about the economy.

Remember, coal is by far our most affordable fuel source. Here’s how some of our major energy sources stack up based on the average cost in dollars per million Btu for 2007 (annual average for the full year):

Coal — $1.78
Natural gas — $7.45
Petroleum liquids — $9.21

Here in Tennessee, site of tomorrow's presidential debate, 64.8 percent of electricity comes from coal. Remember: it's abundant, affordable and increasingly clean.

Comments

[Kelly Beninga]

Your cost numbers do not include the cost of the environmental destruction caused by fossil fuels, the most destructive by far being coal. As long as we continue to treat the atmosphere like an open sewer with no charge for dumping waste into it, coal power will be cheap.