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Originally Posted by ai_vin
Thermodynamic efficiency doesn't mean much when the fuel is free. What matters is the cost(dollars, environmental, etc.) of collecting it.
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Exactly my point. If you reduce the thermodynamic efficiency, you increase the cost per watt generated, both in dollars (plant construction & maintenance), and the amount of land destroyed to build the plant.
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Up until now coal has been "cheap" because the real costs have been externalized; now that we'll have to pay for cleaning up the mess coal power made the cost of solar looks better.
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Isn't this just what this kind of centralized solar plant is trying to do: externalize the cost of land and all the other environmental effects such as depletion of scarce water? If they had to pay fair prices for all that, they couldn't compete.