The search for most cost-effective way of achieving environmental sustainability status in electricity generation: Environmental life cycle cost analysis of energy scenarios

All alternative energy scenarios showed environmental life cycle improvement from 47 to 92% for global warming, 46-90% for human health, and 47-91% for ecosystem impacts, when compared to a reference coal-fired generation scenario. On the other hand, the coal-fired electricity generation scenario demonstrated approximately 63-83% lower life cycle cost impact than alternative scenarios. The life cycle cost of wood biomass-based alternatives demonstrated 83-87% and 22-45% lower than the maximum and minimum average historical electricity generation cost for Alberta, respectively. Bioenergy can support the transition and transformation of coal power plants to a more sustainable power production.