Electric Cars Won't Save The Planet

"ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)" (adabofoppo)
01/23/2014 at 09:26 • Filed to: Tips, Rants, Torchinksy

New research !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! this month has concluded that the widespread adoption of hybrid and all-electric vehicles wouldn't drastically reduce the emission of harmful gases in the United States. Looking at carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, the study's authors point out that "passenger vehicles make up a relatively small share of total emissions" — only 20 percent of all carbon dioxide — so even if we all jumped into a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , that wouldn't by itself fix the problem of air pollution. Moreover, the research reiterates the perennial complaint about electric cars: they nullify the pollutants coming out of the car itself, but also increase pollution from power plants that have to produce their energy.

Produced by North Carolina State University, this study is based on modeling the gas emission patterns over the next 40 years while altering energy system variables like oil prices and battery cost. At its most optimistic, it suggests that by 2050 some 40 percent of cars in the US would be either hybrids or entirely electric, however even then the researchers "do not see a noticeable reduction compared to even 0 percent EDV deployment."

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/23/5337…

DISCUSSION (14)

Scorpio GTX1 > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
01/23/2014 at 09:33

Back when I was in high school, I was doing a research project on hybrid vehicles, and I was also trying to determine if they would have any significant impact on global warming. Ultimately, I came to the same conclusion. Although the 20% of total carbon dioxide emissions that vehicles contribute is nothing to scoff at, reducing these emissions by 50% with hybrid vehicles is not anywhere near enough to offset the ever increasing emissions caused by the increased use of vehicles in developing nations, nor the other 80% of emissions, much of which comes from industry. It was a joke to ever think that Hybrids would save us.

spanfucker retire bitch > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
01/23/2014 at 09:33

Of course they won't. Not until the power plants that supply the electricity begin cleaning up. But the U.S. is completely unwilling to invest in clean nuclear energy like LFTRs because of the fear retards like GreenPeace try and preach about 60+ year old Nuclear Generation technology and acting as if there have been absolutely no new innovations since. China and India are dumping billions into LFTR research for future clean energy. I wonder why?

Kinja'd!!!

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > spanfucker retire bitch
01/23/2014 at 09:36

Agreed.

Nuclear is the best way to go, we just need to do a better job not cutting corners.

So...basically Nuclear will never happen in the US because we're lazy and won't actually do the job right anymore.

With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
01/23/2014 at 09:40

Duh-freakin'-uh.

Joe_Limon > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
01/23/2014 at 09:46

It has been my belief for a while now that the majority of Prius drivers believe that they were the cause of their parents divorce. It is this kind of thinking that justifies their purchase.

Jayhawk Jake > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
01/23/2014 at 09:46

NO SHIT

Jeez, I've been harping this point for years. The general public, along with many politicians, are extremely short sighted and narrow minded.

'I drive a hybrid, it's good for the environment'. No it fucking isn't. You still need energy, which likely comes from a coal plant. Not to mention your Prius came from Japan and was built from raw material mined in other parts of the world. So to get your precious planet saving plug-in Prius to you in Florida, in the very least a boat (running on fuel ) took your car across the pacific, where it was likely loaded onto a train (probably running on diesel ) which crossed the US.

Meanwhile, the electricity that you are charging your batteries from probably came from a coal plant. Where did the coal come from? It was probably mined in West Virginia. So now on top of all the pollution that was generated bringing your hybrid to you, you also have all the pollution from mining the coal in West Virginia and transporting it (likely by train, again) to your neighborhood coal plant, where it is burned and turned into electricity.

Cars aren't the problem, which means changing them isn't the solution. Getting people into electric and hybrid cars is great, but it doesn't do shit until you change where the electricity comes from. That's why I push for nuclear and wind power, but no, the same people who want hybrids to save the planet don't want either of those. They complain that wind turbines are ugly, and that nuclear plants are dangerous. The view of the hills won't be great when it gets clogged up with smog...

jsmizira > spanfucker retire bitch
01/23/2014 at 09:52

my personal dream is small scale LFTR for semi trucks and eventually cars. then you plug your car in to your home... And charge your freaking house. such cool.

spanfucker retire bitch > jsmizira
01/23/2014 at 10:00

I don't know if I'd go that far. I just think we're missing out on a great opportunity here. Unless we get Fusion working or we discover a way to make Solar Cells 80%+ efficient or higher - our best bet (at current technological levels) are Gen IV (or V, I can't remember which) Nuclear Reactors like LFTRs.

I wouldn't recommending putting them in vehicles though, seeing as one of the main safety mechanisms for stopping an out of control reaction is just simply dumping the thorium liquid into a concrete basin. Not sure how you'd do that on a moving vehicle.

Casper > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
01/23/2014 at 10:08

Duh? This has been the entire point of people who had been arguing against the illogical EV assumptions being made. There is also a complete avoidance of the topic of the batteries environmental impacts.

When people look at the entire picture, mass EV deployment does virtually nothing positive and creates many negatives.

overdrv > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
01/23/2014 at 10:21

But according to the TV clean coal is the future !!

jsmizira > spanfucker retire bitch
01/23/2014 at 10:28

that's true that it definitely has its constraints in cars. but think of the possibilities for semi trucks, large equipment and trains. it can be done if we are smart about it.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
01/23/2014 at 11:04

Everyone driving i8?
Including me?

yay!

Steve Zissou > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
01/23/2014 at 12:08

While not completely wrong, I feel like this is a little short sighted and misleading. It sounds like they assume that no one is doing research for cleaner energy sources at power plants. You have to do the research in parallel, otherwise you could get to the point where you have a cleaner source of energy at a power plant, but the cars aren't ready (or vice versa, which it seems like this study assumes).

And 20% doesn't make a difference? Take a 20% pay cut and let me know if you notice.

mandarin123 > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
01/23/2014 at 12:34

Gas ones wont either