> If you want the cheapest power, then burn lots of coal and don't hold power plants accountable for their emissions. That's not the cheapest, because the pric

> If you want the cheapest power, then burn lots of coal and don't hold power plants accountable for their emissions. That's not the cheapest, because the price for the emissions gets paid (whether or not we choose to account for it). The cheapest is the source of new power capacity that provides the lowest total levelized cost - including its externalities - at a given level of reliability (firmness). Right now, that's a race between renewables+storage and combined cycle natural gas.