Quote:
Originally Posted by CamaroSpike23
not to mention, it doesnt really matter if we convert to electric cars. people dont realize the amount of fossil fuels that are used to MAKE the electricity in the first place.
consider it this way, suppose we all convert to electric cars, now everyone will be paying more for electricity instead, and on top of that, the power companies will have to burn more fossil fuels to meet the new, higher quota
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yes and no. I know exactly where you are comming from. But the electric grid is extremely modular. Replace a coal plant with a nuclear one and nobody really notices. Slightly different if you replace gasoline with ethanol or hydrogen. But thats not really your point.
The electricity issue is less important than you make it sound. First off, the bulk of car electricity use will be over night not durring the day time. So demand won't go up dramatically. Also, power plants have alot of excess capacity at night, juice is drasically turned down then compared to daytime. So you wouldn't need to build more plants, just get more fuel. Which brings me to my last point. ~50% of the electricity in the US is made from coal, and I think other fossil fuels account for 10% or less. The rest is nuclear, hydroelectic, and wind. So we can assume that about 60% of the electricity produced at night is derived from fossil fuels. So even then, electric cars will still produce less CO2 than gasoline cars will. Plus, more can be done to reduce pollution at a power plant than in an exhaust pipe. And it is also possible to increase the use of other sources besides fossil fuels to generate electricity, such as wind and nuclear
I still want internal combustion engines though, despite the fact that electric cars are better for the environment.