Electric cars don't deserve halo yet: study

[one...two...tree 2,762]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Electric cars will not be dramatically cleaner than autos powered by fossil fuels until they rely less on electricity produced from conventional coal-fired power plants, scientists said on Monday.

"For electric vehicles to become a major green alternative, the power fuel mix has to move away from coal, or cleaner coal technologies have to be developed," said Jared Cohon, the chair of a National Research Council report released on Monday called "Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use."

About half of U.S. power is generated by burning coal, which emits many times more of traditional pollutants, such as particulates and smog components, than natural gas, and about twice as much of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

Nuclear and renewable power would have to generate a larger portion of U.S. power for electric cars to become much greener compared to gasoline-powered cars, Cohan, who is also president of Carnegie Mellon University, said in an interview.

Advances in coal burning, like capturing carbon at power plants for permanent burial underground, could also help electric cars become a cleaner alternative to vehicles powered by fossil fuels, he said.

Pollution from energy sources did $120 billion worth of damage to human health, agriculture and recreation in 2005, said the NRC report, which was requested by the U.S. Congress in 2005 and sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Electricity was responsible for more than half of the damage, the report said.

Electric cars have other benefits such as reducing imports of foreign oil. But they can also have hidden costs

Materials in electric car batteries are hard to produce, which adds to the energy it takes to make them. In fact, the health and environmental costs of making electric cars can be 20 percent greater than conventional cars, and manufacturing efficiencies will have to be achieved in order for the cars to become greener, the report said.

Emissions from operating and building electric cars in 2005 cost about 0.20 cents to 15 cents per vehicle mile traveled, it said. In comparison, gasoline-powered cars cost about 0.34 cents to 5.04 cents per vehicle mile traveled.

The report estimated that electric cars could still cost more than gasoline-powered cars to operate and manufacture in 2030 unless U.S. power production becomes cleaner.

Hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles with batteries that are charged by the driver hitting the brakes scored slightly better than both gasoline-powered cars and plug-in hybrid cars, which have batteries that are charged by the power grid.

(Editing by Christian Wiessner)

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article....ars-dont-deserv

[Dakine 26]

Yep If you have to burn something to charge the batterries then you are actually causing more pollution than powering the engines direct with fossils fuels.

Nuclear, solar, hydroelectric and wind for charging are the way to go.

[Ban Hammer 13,397]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Electric cars will not be dramatically cleaner than autos powered by fossil fuels until they rely less on electricity produced from conventional coal-fired power plants, scientists said on Monday.

there's a duh moment, eh?

if anything, we need to research clean coal power plants. it's asinine to ignore the vast quantities of coal we have in this country.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Electric cars will not be dramatically cleaner than autos powered by fossil fuels until they rely less on electricity produced from conventional coal-fired power plants, scientists said on Monday.

there's a duh moment, eh?

if anything, we need to research clean coal power plants. it's asinine to ignore the vast quantities of coal we have in this country.

Please go here.

[Heracles 417]

This is why hydrogen needs to be looked at again.

Electric cars are not just about being clean, they're also about getting us away from having to rely on buyimg oil from countries that hate our guts.

Edited October 22, 2009 by Booyah!

[Ban Hammer 13,397]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Electric cars will not be dramatically cleaner than autos powered by fossil fuels until they rely less on electricity produced from conventional coal-fired power plants, scientists said on Monday.

there's a duh moment, eh?

if anything, we need to research clean coal power plants. it's asinine to ignore the vast quantities of coal we have in this country.

Please go here.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Everyone screws up a hyperlink every now and then

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Everyone screws up a hyperlink every now and then

That was no mistake, my capitalist friend.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Then explain.

[SuperDuper! 230]

Then explain.

Are you slow tonight?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Then explain.

Are you slow tonight?

yes, because i just got it.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Then explain.

Are you slow tonight?

yes, because i just got it.

(homage to Charles)