Electric Cars Aren’t Really All That Green, say Scientists

Harsh Paul — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:41:46 +0000

Electric cars have been hailed as the modern, non-polluting vehicles, but it’s too early to shower them with all the praise, say scientists. In fact, if things don’t change dramatically, electric vehicles may not be very green even in 2030. The problem of course doesn’t lie entirely in the zero-emission electric cars, it has more to do with the generation of electricity for the vehicles.

A report titled “Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use” released by the US National Research Council says electric cars may not be as green as they are made out to be. The problem is, that nearly half of electricity in the USA is generated by coal fired plants, which emits a number of major pollutants into the air. Burning more coal to power more electric cars isn’t a likely solution, so unless renewable energy sources or nuclear energy are used to generate more power, the situation isn’t likely to change much, even by 2030.

Another issue is that materials required for electric cars are tougher to produce. Environmental costs of producing electric cars can be nearly 20% higher than electric cars. In 2005, electric vehicles cost the environment 0.20 cents to 15 cents per vehicle mile traveled, while conventional vehicles fared better with 0.34 cents to 5.04 cents per vehicle mile traveled. Unless manufacturing efficiencies become much greater, the problem will continue to persist. The report found that gasoline-electric hybrids with systems like regenerative braking were better compared to all-electric vehicles, and conventional vehicles.

Source: Reuters

Coal Efficiency to Get Boost in China

Bill Belew — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:00:53 +0000

China does a pretty lousy job of getting the most from its coal. The country uses about 3.3 tons of raw material to produce one ton of coal while at the same time the U.S. uses about 1.25 tons to get the same result. Other countries that get about an 80% return are Australia, Germany and Canada.

The “Red Panda” is going to raise the recovery rate from its current 30% to at least 50% by 2010. Less we get all excited, China had hoped to be at 40% by last year. Still, if there is no goal they most definitely will hit nothing. Ten points for trying, eh?

China also hopes to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20% and cut the emission of major pollutants by 10% within the next five years. For what is worth, China’s stated owned mines have a mining recovery rate of 44% compared to just 10% for small and private coal mines. China gets about 80% of its electricity from coal. The better they get at it, the better for all of us, no?

Source: Xinhuanet

Image courtesy of robertg6n1

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Electric Cars Aren’t Really All That Green, say Scientists

Coal Efficiency to Get Boost in China