Energy Storage Will Soon Replace Simple Cycle Combustion Turbine Peaker Plants. Power grids need extra generating capacity to work properly. For example, about 20 percent of New York Stateâs generation fleet runs less than 250 hours a year. Because they donât run much, âpeaker plantsâ are by design the cheapest and least efficient fossil generators.
The largest source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are currently  from electric generation through the combustion of fossil fuels.  Particularly the burning of coal is mos â¦ t pollutive, as compared to  oil or natural gas generation.
Others, like CO2, largely result from natural processes like respiration and from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. The production of electricity is the source of 70 percent of the United States' sulfur dioxide emissions, 13 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions, and 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the EPA.