That's a ridiculous line of questioning. Scientists don't know anything about costs, if they wanted to know the true costs/benefits of transition from coal to solar, wind or even nat-gas ask a friggin economist don't has a scientist. Of course their are capital costs associated with any start up energy system.
The capital costs of a wind farm are about $1.3 M per kw, compared to around $2 - $3M for a nuc plant but the operation costs are extremally different with a nuc plant being very high in comparison. Steam plants aren't much better.
There also economic benefits to newer forms of energy production, it isn't like the entire things is nothing more than a zero sum game with governments paying for it like Kennedy was implying. Geezzz
Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency - Analysis and key findings. A report by the International Energy Agency.
www.iea.org