College of Economics and Management & Research Center for Soft Energy Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, China.
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
J Environ Manage. 2019 Sep 15;246:758-767. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.06.047. Epub 2019 Jun 19.
Biomass power in China is usually regarded as less economically competitive than coal power, partially because the external costs of power generation technologies' effects on human health and the environment are always neglected. To understand the real economic performance of biomass- and coal-fired power in China, a hybrid life cycle inventory modeling approach was developed to estimate the fuel-to-electricity environmental emissions and complete (direct and external) economic costs of the two fuel options. The results show that the direct economic cost of biomass power is 0.44 Chinese yuan (CNY) per kilowatt-hour, about 25%-37% higher than that of coal power. However, because of the significant emissions of greenhouse gas and PM pollutants during power generation, the external cost of coal-fired power is estimated at 0.17 CNY/kWh on average, substantially higher than that of biomass power (0.06 CNY/kWh). Thus, the economic situations of biomass power reverse when environmental externalities are considered. Specially, wood residue-fired electricity has the lowest complete economic cost (0.48 CNY/kWh), approximately 2%-14% less than that of coal power. Therefore, a reasonable and comprehensive cost accounting mechanism is crucial for the development of the biomass power sector in China. Additionally, win-win policies could be developed to improve the environmental and economic performance of the country's power generation industry.
在中国，生物质能通常被认为不如煤炭经济竞争力强，部分原因是人们总是忽略了发电技术对人类健康和环境的外部成本。为了了解生物质能和燃煤发电的真实经济表现，开发了一种混合生命周期清单建模方法来估算两种燃料方案的燃料到电力的环境排放和完整（直接和外部）经济成本。结果表明，生物质能的直接经济成本为每千瓦时 0.44 元人民币，比煤炭发电高 25%-37%左右。然而，由于发电过程中温室气体和 PM 污染物的大量排放，燃煤发电的外部成本平均估计为每千瓦时 0.17 元人民币，远高于生物质能的外部成本（每千瓦时 0.06 元人民币）。因此，当考虑环境外部性时，生物质能的经济情况会发生逆转。特别是，木质残余物发电的完整经济成本最低（每千瓦时 0.48 元人民币），比煤炭发电低 2%-14%左右。因此，对于中国生物质能发电部门的发展，建立合理和全面的成本核算机制至关重要。此外，可以制定双赢政策来提高国家发电行业的环境和经济绩效。
