“Electric cars are coal-powered cars.” These are the words from green venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.
Prager University is out with a new video that asks the question: are electric vehicles really green? Are they really good for the environment?
Environmental economist Bjorn Lomberg dives into the cold hard facts that show electric vehicles aren’t really that good for the environment as the likes of President Obama and Leonardo DiCaprio often argue. In order to produce the car, it requires a lot of energy. In order to keep the car running, it requires a lot of energy. In the lifespan of an electric car, it will emit nearly the same level of C02 as a car running on gasoline.
So, the next time you come across someone who keeps championing the green alternatives to combat man-made global warming, show them this video. Also, ask them if they eat meat or eat foods from local farms (animals produce a lot of harmful effects to the environment and local farms are less energy efficient than bigger farms).
The video is embedded below:
In the real world, the Nissan Leaf and the Nissan Altima, and the Nissan Maxima all come off the same assembly line. People forget engines and transmissions don’t just magically appear to go into cars. It’s a nasty, dirty process that produces a lot of industrial waste. The battery manufacturing process produces very little waste comparatively because the materials are much more expensive.
In the United States no one gets 100% of their energy from coal. Yes, coal is still accounts for the largest portion of the energy mix, but it is rapidly going away. Not because of government mandates, but because of economics. I have a friend at TVA who tells me they, and every other power company in the US right now can’t convert to natural gas fast enough. It’s less than a third the cost of coal, it requires much less environmental mitigation and worst case, including Fracking, produces 40% less pollution than coal. Gasoline is another commodity that doesn’t just magically appear. It takes about 9kWh to get get a gallon of gasoline out of the ground and into a finished, refined product. This is not a pollution free process. Then, it has to get to the gas station, which requires more energy. Producing yet more waste/pollution. Then it’s burned in an ICE that produces pollution. According to the EPA the Nissan Leaf gets the gasoline equivalent of over 100 mpg. Most BEVs do. According to the Union Of Concerned Scientists a BEV produces the same pollution as a comparable ICE getting 94 mpg.
So, which pollutes the environment more: A 90 mpg ICE or a 30 mpg ICE? True, 100% battery electric cars ARE better for the environment than petroleum burning vehicles. Period. I don’t understand how people continue to believe big oil voodoo science.
I’m continually amazed by all the people who are horrified their neighbors are charging their cars with coal power and then go back in their own all electric house.
Concerned about coal damaging the environment? Quit using your electric water heater, your washer & dryer, your electric stove, your air conditioner or heat pump. You realize your refrigerator runs all the time right? Don’t forget to turn off all the lights too.
Robsez, I like your post, but the refrigerator does not run all the time, it has a thermostat and timer. I went on vacation for 3 months during last summer and the only thing I left on was the refrigerator. It cost me $10 per month, no one was home opening and closing the doors, but modern refrigerators do not use very much energy in any 24 hour period. Anyone using incandescent lighting today with so many cheaper lighting options is very stupid. I bet all my lighting accounts for about 10% of my power bill. I have been using CFLs since they came out in the 1990s. Now switching to LEDs in many lamps.
That being said, I live in MT and we have cheaper hydroelectric power, so when I purchase a Used VOLT next year and drive it on electric power 80% of the time, it will be very clean. Also, it is the only car I can buy for $15,000 and get half the cost of the car or more back in fuel cost over the 10 year ownership.
This article dose not and will not factor in the total pollution cost of getting oil out of the ground, turned into fuel, delivered to gas stations and pumped into car gas tanks. You have to remember with Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics you can prove anything.