United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said that countries must phase out the burning of coal, oil, and gas. He added that the current policies would lead to...
True, but we should try to elect politicians who will do something to try to ease our strain on the climate crisis if such a candidate exists. I’m glad seeing electric vehicle improvements, but it doesn’t really do anything if the energy companies powering the whole grid still power with fossil fuels.
EVs tend to beat internal combustion cars even when the electricity comes entirely from fossil fuels, since the big power plants tend to be able to convert heat to electricity much more efficiently than a car engine can. But we don’t get all our power from fossil fuels these days – renewables, nuclear, and hydroelectric are all producing a significant portion. Depending on where you are it might be about half fossil fuels on average, but with huge regional variation.
We do need to transition away from fossil fuel power generation, but that’s a thing we can do in parallel to replacing our vehicle fleet.
(We also need to drive a lot less and use smaller vehicles on average, but that’s another topic.)
corporations will always utilize the cheapest method to generate revenue - legislating for or against that isnt going to do anyone any favors. it may be beneficial to instead offer tax deductions for utilizing solar or wind over coal, that seemed to work pretty well for the individual adoption of solar power…
for electrical generating companies, sometimes the cheapest method is coal/oil and sometimes it isnt. the infrastructure for using both already exists, after all. I think there was a headline recently that mentioned that solar power production was nearing competition levels in the USA with coal recently, or had surpassed it (in the summer months). until power storage tech has sufficiently matured you cant actually expect anyone who lives where it freezes to switch from oil/propane heat to electric heating in the winter months - and that’s well over half of the country.
no, i said that it MAY be beneficial. it may not be. I have no idea. no one does - in fact there’s nothing but supposition.
a multiyear study will need to be performed by some impartial 3rd party and then presumably it would be another 15 to 20 years as corporations slowly switch to some alternate method (if it’s cheaper or better, but the jury is out on that one).
True, but we should try to elect politicians who will do something to try to ease our strain on the climate crisis if such a candidate exists. I’m glad seeing electric vehicle improvements, but it doesn’t really do anything if the energy companies powering the whole grid still power with fossil fuels.
EVs tend to beat internal combustion cars even when the electricity comes entirely from fossil fuels, since the big power plants tend to be able to convert heat to electricity much more efficiently than a car engine can. But we don’t get all our power from fossil fuels these days – renewables, nuclear, and hydroelectric are all producing a significant portion. Depending on where you are it might be about half fossil fuels on average, but with huge regional variation.
We do need to transition away from fossil fuel power generation, but that’s a thing we can do in parallel to replacing our vehicle fleet.
(We also need to drive a lot less and use smaller vehicles on average, but that’s another topic.)
corporations will always utilize the cheapest method to generate revenue - legislating for or against that isnt going to do anyone any favors. it may be beneficial to instead offer tax deductions for utilizing solar or wind over coal, that seemed to work pretty well for the individual adoption of solar power…
for electrical generating companies, sometimes the cheapest method is coal/oil and sometimes it isnt. the infrastructure for using both already exists, after all. I think there was a headline recently that mentioned that solar power production was nearing competition levels in the USA with coal recently, or had surpassed it (in the summer months). until power storage tech has sufficiently matured you cant actually expect anyone who lives where it freezes to switch from oil/propane heat to electric heating in the winter months - and that’s well over half of the country.
It took you less than a sentence to contradict yourself. You just demonstrated a way legislation could help.
no, i said that it MAY be beneficial. it may not be. I have no idea. no one does - in fact there’s nothing but supposition.
a multiyear study will need to be performed by some impartial 3rd party and then presumably it would be another 15 to 20 years as corporations slowly switch to some alternate method (if it’s cheaper or better, but the jury is out on that one).