“The Rising Cost of Energy in South Carolina”
June 10th, 2008: The Director of the South Carolina Energy Office, John Clark, gave a fact-filled and optimistic presentation last week. Mr. Clark is a native of our state, having grown up in Kingstree and then attending college and earning a PhD. The subject of his presentation was of utmost relevance to us all: the rising cost of energy in SC. There are no conventional energy resources in the state, such as coal, oil, natural gas, or uranium. Higher demand is forcing us to look for cleaner and alternative sources. South Carolina ranks 15th in the nation for energy consumption per capita, 5th for electricity usage, and 13th for gasoline usage. The good news is that our kilowatt hour charge is comparatively on the low side: an average of 7 cents. However, the demand in the state is still very high. We also use a lot of coal for electricity. The down side to coal is that it is associated with mercury, sulfur dioxide, other particulates and it can require high water usage.
With alarm bells sounded, South Carolina is looking for alternatives to non-renewable energy sources. One alternative to coal is the already popular nuclear energy. Nuclear energy generally produces low emissions, but it requires a lot of water, can be expensive, and there are unresolved waste disposal issues. As many as four new nuclear power plants are in the works to be opened by 2020. Some other renewable energy ideas are wood wastes, landfill gases, and animal and human waste. There has been talk about using wind power, however Mr. Clark notes that it is a better idea for West of the Mississippi. However, the idea may work off shore in South Carolina.
There is a lot of excitement over plug-in vehicles, bio-diesel and ethanol. The pressure to perfect this idea grows as it becomes more apparent that the vast majority of oil resources are held in the Middle-East, Russia, Venezuela, and several other nations. Ideally, we would switch to hybrid vehicles that run on a mix of battery power and fuel. The batteries would be charged by electricity. Hypothetically such a system could reduce our energy cost to 63 cents per gallon (based on a price of $3.75 per gallon for gasoline). Plug-in vehicles are one of the most exciting ideas. However, Mr. Clark notes, with honesty, that there is no instant or easy panacea for the energy crises we are facing.
Reported by Jackie Grau, Keyway Committee