tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316620175533588844.post9213272554305695567..comments2023-10-31T10:57:55.482-04:00Comments on Energy and Environment: Emissions from using electric vehiclesCraig Bolonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569851577673286112noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316620175533588844.post-29204495240916596362008-11-16T14:34:00.000-05:002008-11-16T14:34:00.000-05:00The URL for the DOE-sponsored study on powering EV...The URL for the DOE-sponsored study on powering EVs and PHEVs with today's US electrical grid got messed up.<BR/><BR/>Here are links to the <A HREF="http://www.pnl.gov/news/release.asp?id=204" REL="nofollow">summary</A> and the <A HREF="http://www.pnl.gov/energy/eed/etd/pdfs/phev_feasibility_analysis_combined.pdf" REL="nofollow">full report</A>.<BR/><BR/>I apologize for the mistake.Tom Saxtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00076156018977951446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316620175533588844.post-29548860496595919512008-11-16T13:47:00.000-05:002008-11-16T13:47:00.000-05:00I see you have corrected the math errors in the or...I see you have corrected the math errors in the original version of this post that had the CO2 emissions from the two Civic models too low by a factor of 5, so you had to scale back your conclusion from "EVs produce four to seven times" the emissions to simply "more."<BR/><BR/>That was a nice improvement.<BR/><BR/>However, you still have a large error in your analysis: coal is not the only source of incremental power on the US grid. Natural gas is also a big contributor and 40% cleaner than coal.<BR/><BR/>A more careful DOE-sponsored analysis found that there is enough excess off-peak capacity in today's electrical grid to power the conversion of "up to 84% of U.S. cars, pickup trucks, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs)" to plug-in hybrids with a 33-mile pure electric range. That's about 200 million vehicles.<BR/><BR/>http://www.pnl.go//news/release.asp?id=204<BR/><BR/>Under that scenario, the study found that overall greenhouse emissions would decrease by up to 27%. Emissions of volatile organic gases and carbon monoxide would drop over 90%. Without improving generation technology, particulate and SOx emissions would increase, but we have a lot of time to solve that problem. It's a lot easier to solve a pollution problem at a few hundred power plants than it is with hundreds of millions of tailpipes.<BR/><BR/>Even with full commitment by the world auto industry, it would take decades to reach that level of conversion to EV/PHEV drive vehicles. During that time, our electrical grid will surely evolve to greener energy and electric vehicles will become greener in lockstep with those improvements.<BR/><BR/>If we stick to gas-powered vehicles, we'll never be able to power them from clean renewable energy sources like wind, solar and geothermal. We really don't want to be stuck with that problem forever.<BR/><BR/>We need to start the slow conversion to electric vehicles now, so that by the time our grid is cleaned up, our transportation sector will be also. The modest benefits we get now are just icing on the cake, an extra incentive to do the right thing for future generations.<BR/><BR/>Plus, electric vehicles are a blast to drive.Tom Saxtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00076156018977951446noreply@blogger.com