“Electric Cars themselves might not pollute but the electricity powering them does!” How much weight does this argument hold & how green are Electric Cars compared to Gas Cars?
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Some people ask, “where will the electricity come from for electric cars?” making the (wrong) assumption that they’re really no greener because the electricity generation probably comes from burning coal. Whilst it’s true that sometimes, an electric car might still run on fossil fuels… that doesn’t have to be the case (like with gas cars) as electric cars have the ability, of course, to run on energy which was 100% renewably generated, with zero carbon.
There is, of course, nothing wrong with sensibly considering the pros and cons of electric cars on the environment. Because *some* electricity is still generated in the world from dirty sources such as coal, many people love to talk about the disadvantages of electric cars on the environment and why electric cars are bad for the environment. So, how much fossil fuel is used to charge an electric car? Well… it depends on where it’s charged. As you’ll see in the video, both the USA and Europe have large percentages of their electricity generation coming from renewables (and it’s getting even better all the time) – and if you charge at home and have PV solar panels fitted, you can charge your electric car FOR FREE as well as with 100% renewable, zero carbon electricity.
So, are electric cars better for the environment than gas cars? Are electric cars cleaner than gas cars? It’s a resounding YES!
The original video “EV or Gas, What Pollutes More?” was created by the @GasTroll channel with the help of the @Fully Charged Show team, with narration by Robert Llewellyn. It looks at the carbon footprint of electric cars vs gasoline as well as the environmental impact of electric cars (which isn’t zero, but what is?). Comparing all this to gas cars (petrol/diesel), you’ll see why electric cars are better for the environment.
The following text is Copyright © Gas Troll, used with permission.
So the argument goes, Electric Vehicles don’t pollute but the electricity powering the Electric Vehicles does pollute.
Some even say that it pollutes even more than a gasoline or petrol burning car.
If we are going to look beyond the EV itself to the energy that powers it, shouldn’t we do the same for the fossil fuelled combustion car car?
So what goes into producing the fuel that you burn in your car every day?
Gasoline or petrol starts as oil, on average 5,900 feet below the surface of the earth.
A great deal of oil is extracted using what is called a pumpjack. pumpjacks don’t run by themselves, in most cases they use electricity.
It takes on average 9,960 kilowatt hours of electricity every month to drive one pumpjack.
To put that into context, that is enough electricity to power a Tesla Model 3 for 34,860 miles.
In the United States there are an estimated 435,000 oil wells using pumpjacks. Estimated electricity usage for these wells is over 4,300 GWh a month!
That is a lot of electricity and that is just to get the oil out of the ground!
If we used that electricity to power electric vehicles directly, it would be enough to power over 15 Million EVs for a month.
That’s just US oil wells on land, what about deep sea drilling?
The most common way of powering an offshore oil rig is with a diesel generator.
An average oil rig generator uses 20 to 30 metric tonnes of diesel per day…. the electrical equivalent to this is 300,000 Kilowatt hours.
There are an estimated 1,470 offshore oil rigs in the world using over 1.3 Billion Kilowatt hours of energy a month.
All this oil pumping combined would be enough to power 19.5 Million EVs. This is just from the energy used to pump oil out of the ground in the US and offshore.
So not only does fuel pollute when we burn it in our cars, we are also using a huge amount of electricity just to pump the oil that makes the fuel.
Combining the pollution from the tailpipe emissions with the emissions generated to pump oil out of the ground… is not a pretty picture.
And pumping oil is not clean, millions of gallons are spilled into the ocean every year creating havoc for fish and other wildlife!
Then that oil needs to be transported, most of the oil is pumped through pipelines.
There are over 337 thousand miles of pipeline in the world carrying most of the 100 million barrels a day we consume.
These pipelines use pump stations that use even more energy.
Oil is also shipped, the oceans are unregulated as regards emissions so ships use the cheapest dirtiest fuel possible to keep costs down, making them one of the largest pollution sources on the planet.
Shipping is responsible for an estimated 1 billion tonnes of CO2 per year, and 10% of that is shipping oil.
Because these tanker ships pollute so much, many countries do not allow them to operate near their coast line, so they have to be towed into port where the oil is transferred to a refinery.
Refining oil takes a huge amount of energy and generates even more pollution.
Refining is done by heating oil up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit or 420ºC. Heating 100 million barrels of oil a day to these temperatures requires an enormous amount of energy.
Heating this oil generates so much pollution, refineries create a serious health hazard anywhere they operate.
Refineries are the number one pollution source in many major cities around the world, It is so bad that people living near these refineries have a marked increase of lung disease.
Once the oil has been refined, it is transported to fuel stations in diesel trucks creating even more pollution.
Then this fuel is burned in cars and trucks right in our cities where we live and breathe.
These cars and trucks have internal combustion engines that are extremely inefficient.
70% of the energy from burning fossil fuel is wasted as heat, while only 30% goes to turn your wheels.
So after we use all that electricity pumping oil out of the ground, refining it, transporting it, we then waste 70% when we burn it.
Fossil fuel production is an incredibly dirty inefficient process from start to finish.
When we contrast all this to powering an Electric Vehicle, the difference is very stark.
Electricity does not need to be pumped from thousands of feet underground, transported with trucks, or trains, or pumped along pipelines, it does not need to be shipped overseas, it does not need to be refined, and it is not polluting where we live and breathe.
Even if electricity is produced from burning coal, the power plant is far away from population centers, transferred over power lines keeping any direct pollution away from the population.
And if the EV is powered with clean energy, it is clean from start to finish.
In the US 47% of energy comes from sources that emit no CO2.
In Europe it is even better at 56%.
And the percentage of clean energy is growing every year as coal and gas plants are being replaced by renewable energy sources.
So what about the lithium used in EV batteries?
Lithium is a metal that is mined in the deserts of Australia, China, Argentina, and Chile.
Besides being a key ingredient in batteries, Lithium is also ingested as a medicine for bipolar disorder.
Much has been made about the environmental impact of Lithium mining but this is all a little bit over blown.
Australia is the largest producer of Lithium in the world.
If there were any major environmental problems with this mining, some Australians would be talking about it. But what is Australia really talking about when it comes to pollution? Oil refining! Yes oil refining is creating a much bigger environmental risk than all the lithium mining going anywhere in the country.
Australia is not a very densely populated country, they consume 1% of the worlds oil supply and only refine 1/4th of the oil they consume.
But they mine 50% of the worlds Lithium!
So a country that only refines 1/4 of 1% of the worlds oil and mines 50% of the worlds lithium, the biggest contributor to pollution and risk to human health in Australia is oil refineries!
That does not even take into consideration the drilling, pumping, transporting and burning of this oil, this is just refining it.
The more you look into it, the argument that battery production is somehow as bad as the cycle of fossil fuels is ridiculous.
All the lithium mining in the world to date has not done anything like as much damage to the environment as just one major oil spill.
So what about the batteries?
What happens to EV batteries when they get old and are discarded?
When no longer practical in an Electric Vehicle batteries can be used as energy storage to power a home or business, giving them a second life.
And when they can no longer for this, they are recycled, broken down to recover the valuable metals in these batteries to be reused in the next generation of Electric Vehicles.
It looks a bit silly to use so much electricity to pump oil out of the ground, create tons of pollution transporting and refining it, to finally waste 70% of it burning it in our cars when we could simply use that electricity directly to power Electric Vehicles, eliminating the pollution from refining and burning gas in inefficient internal combustion engines.
It is obvious when you look at the big picture, oil production is a dirty wasteful process, especially when compared to the alternative, powering EVs with renewable electricity.
What can you do?
One of the last obstacles preventing many people from going electric besides misinformation, is people who live in apartments and condominiams with shared parking. Many of these residents have no way to install a car charger.
If you are a lawmaker, sit on a City Council or local council, if you serve on the board of any housing association, if you own rental property, you can do something to help. Vote to install car chargers or indeed install them yourself in car parks or on the street, so people who live in apartments can have a place to charge their Electric Vehicle.
There are companies that even offer ways that you can make a profit from these chargers.
Support taxing of fossil fuels and using the subsidies to support the shift to Electric Vehicles, with the right incentives and political will change can happen very quickly.
In Norway they have made a huge shift to electric vehicles in a very short time. Electric Vehicles sales in Norway have reached over 50% of all vehicles sold.
Support the installation of solar panels wherever possible, Going solar now is cheaper than buying electricity from the grid and starts paying for itself from day one.
And if you are fortunate enough to own a home, get an EV and install solar panels. You will save thousands on fuel and electricity
and the peace of mind knowing that you are not contributing to the horribly dirty oil and gas industry.
Share this video, post it to forums like Reddit, NextDoor, Facebook and others to help spread the word.
Lastly this is an open source video, you are free translate this video into another language for reposting.
Contact the GasTroll channel for a version you can add a translated voice over and text to.
The day when our cities are clean of sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and other toxic chemicals and particulates emitted from tailpipes and oil refineries can happen.
We have the technology to do this now. Supporting this transition to Electric transportation will bring this day closer to fruition.
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00:00 – Intro from @Switched On Network
03:42 – Main Feature
#ElectricCars #EVvsGas #CleanEnergy #ElectricVehicles #pollution #cleanair #emissions #zeroemissions #stopburningstuff #greenenergy #renewableenergy
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