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"How should we reduce our carbon footprint?"
Reduce Greenhouse Emissions from Electric Car Charging Stations
I am often asked if converting US cars to battery power would result in a net reduction of CO2 emissions. After all the electricity needed to recharge tomorrow’s vehicle batteries will be generated at power plants which themselves have a carbon footprint. Put another way, will the recharging of vehicle batteries from the electrical grid simply transfer the emissions of CO2 from the vehicle tail pipes to the stacks of power generating stations without effecting a net reduction in emissions?
I published a paper in the Journal “Atmospheric Environment” in which I calculate that converting passenger vehicles in the US to electric power over a ten-year period would reduce the 10-year greenhouse gas emissions from those vehicles by 23%.(Atmospheric Environment 44 (2010) 733–734).
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On October 26th, 2010 at 10:07 pm Dale Bowen Said:
I think the reduced emissions would be a lot higher than 23%….and the following statements are my reasons for thinking this:
1. The average internal combustion engine is only 30% efficienent and the average electric motor is 90% efficient.
2. Hydroelectric and Nuclear power plants dont have any carbon footprint.
3. A lot of energy is required to manufacture and deliver fuel to the gas stations. Electricity is delivered with just some resistance and transformer losses.
On October 27th, 2010 at 12:59 pm Joseph Arar Said:
Thank you for the comment. You are correct. The net reduction I calculated given the current electricity fuel mix in the US would be 58%. I tried to simulate a realistic scenario whereby the transition to electric vehicle would not occur instantaneously but would take ten years,(10% conversion to electric vehicles every year for ten years). So the first year would have only 10% of the vehicles running on electricity, the second year 20%, etc. So that, during that 10-year period, there would still be fossil fuel powered vehicles emitting greenhouse gases. This is why the 10-yr cumulative emissions are not as low as we would expect them to be. I would be happy to send a copy of the paper if you would like and you can see the calculations and assumptions I made.
On January 3rd, 2011 at 3:46 pm Robert Bear Said:
Gasoline prices are trending upward. We can not afford the luxury of procrastination. In order to mitigate the impact of another oil shock and prevent as much unnecessary suffering as possible, the time for serious action is NOW!