Have you seen "Who Killed the Electric Car?" If not, I highly HIGHLY recommend it. We hosted it for our Second Saturday group in January and it's very instructive.
We pretty much had the perfect, affordable electric car about 10 years ago, but for various reasons (enumerated in the movie), the car was scrapped (and not for the reasons you might think). American car companies sunk their future in the SUV and Toyota, fearing the future of the electric car developed by GM, began working on what would become the Prius...cementing them at the top of the auto market and ensuring what will most likely be the eventual demise of the Big 3 (unless they make some radical changes).
So the irony? The plug-in electric car led to the development of the electric hybrid car, which will ultimately lead to...the plug-in electric car.
(Note: When I say, "We pretty much had the perfect, affordable electric car about 10 years ago...", understand that I don't mean we personally had one, just that we, the American car-driving public did. Or at least, had the possibility of one. Anyway...just Netflix/rent that movie. And spread the word.)
The electric car completely misses the point. That electricity has to come from somewhere. Since we're not building any more nuclear plants, it's probably going to be coming from coal, which is even worse than gasoline in terms of polutants.
Granted, it would be good for getting us out of the Middle East, but that's a going to mean little when ice-caps melt and the Middle East is underwater anyway.
Scientists from the Electric Power Research Institute -- a nonprofit think tank funded mainly by electric utilities -- and the Natural Resources Defense Council used computer models to simulate what would happen to emissions. They tested different scenarios based on how quickly Americans embraced the new hybrids and what type of energy -- clean or dirty -- was used by utilities.
The study found that if 60 percent of Americans shifted to plug-in hybrids by 2050, it would lead to an increase in electricity usage of 7 to 8 percent -- a relatively small increase, indicating that hybrids would not necessarily require a surge of new power plant construction. Plug-in hybrids are charged mostly at night, when demand for electricity is low.
At the same time, the report estimates that electric hybrids would displace the need for 3 million to 4 million barrels of oil per day by 2050, more than twice what the United States imports each day from Saudi Arabia.
Researchers also found that plug-in hybrids reduced greenhouse gases no matter what energy source was used to produce the electricity, whether coal, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind or solar. Electric hybrids generated 40 to 65 percent less greenhouse gas than gas-fueled vehicles and 7 to 46 percent less than conventional hybrids.
The article (and the report it references) goes on to point out that while there would be an increase in particulate emissions from increased coal-fired plant output, this can be mitigated with well-applied regulation. (BTW, we already have the capability to filter the increased particulate, but thanks to the, ahem, "Clean Air Act", have allowed power plants to evade those regulations.) Additionally, it's much easier to regulate/upgrade/check the output of hundreds (thousands?) of massive power plants than it is to regulate/upgrade/check the output of millions and millions of tailpipes.
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sforzinda
no subject
Date: 2007-07-26 12:56 am (UTC)Have you seen "Who Killed the Electric Car?" If not, I highly HIGHLY recommend it. We hosted it for our Second Saturday group in January and it's very instructive.
We pretty much had the perfect, affordable electric car about 10 years ago, but for various reasons (enumerated in the movie), the car was scrapped (and not for the reasons you might think). American car companies sunk their future in the SUV and Toyota, fearing the future of the electric car developed by GM, began working on what would become the Prius...cementing them at the top of the auto market and ensuring what will most likely be the eventual demise of the Big 3 (unless they make some radical changes).
So the irony? The plug-in electric car led to the development of the electric hybrid car, which will ultimately lead to...the plug-in electric car.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-26 12:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-26 03:28 am (UTC)Granted, it would be good for getting us out of the Middle East, but that's a going to mean little when ice-caps melt and the Middle East is underwater anyway.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-26 03:43 am (UTC)http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/20/MNGT7R3OH81.DTL
Scientists from the Electric Power Research Institute -- a nonprofit think tank funded mainly by electric utilities -- and the Natural Resources Defense Council used computer models to simulate what would happen to emissions. They tested different scenarios based on how quickly Americans embraced the new hybrids and what type of energy -- clean or dirty -- was used by utilities.
The study found that if 60 percent of Americans shifted to plug-in hybrids by 2050, it would lead to an increase in electricity usage of 7 to 8 percent -- a relatively small increase, indicating that hybrids would not necessarily require a surge of new power plant construction. Plug-in hybrids are charged mostly at night, when demand for electricity is low.
At the same time, the report estimates that electric hybrids would displace the need for 3 million to 4 million barrels of oil per day by 2050, more than twice what the United States imports each day from Saudi Arabia.
Researchers also found that plug-in hybrids reduced greenhouse gases no matter what energy source was used to produce the electricity, whether coal, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind or solar. Electric hybrids generated 40 to 65 percent less greenhouse gas than gas-fueled vehicles and 7 to 46 percent less than conventional hybrids.
The article (and the report it references) goes on to point out that while there would be an increase in particulate emissions from increased coal-fired plant output, this can be mitigated with well-applied regulation. (BTW, we already have the capability to filter the increased particulate, but thanks to the, ahem, "Clean Air Act", have allowed power plants to evade those regulations.) Additionally, it's much easier to regulate/upgrade/check the output of hundreds (thousands?) of massive power plants than it is to regulate/upgrade/check the output of millions and millions of tailpipes.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-26 07:52 pm (UTC)