By Peter Forman
Published: September 25, 2008
New York-- Chrysler announced this week the addition of three 100% electric vehicles to its product line-up for 2010--a Jeep, a sports car, and a minivan.[i] These are in addition to GM's Volt due at the same time.
Now that the dawn of the electric car era is upon us, some might argue that since 59% of the electricity in America is generated by burning coal, cars will be effectively be running on coal and that we are merely shifting from one dirty fossil fuel (oil) to another (coal).
While it may seem so on the surface, the reality is quite different.
In certain situations, coal may be dirtier than oil because it produces slightly more carbon emissions than petroleum and double the amount of natural gas.
But the reality is that in some situations, particularly in transportation, coal-powered electricity is cleaner than petroleum. According to a 2007 study by the Electric Power Research Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council (a centrist environmental organization) if Americans adopted widespread use of plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEV's) green-house gas emissions would decline by more than 450 million metric tons by 2050, which would be like getting rid of 83 million passenger vehicles.
So how is this possible?
It is much easier to fine tune emissions from a small group of highly engineered coal-fired power plants, as opposed to hundreds of millions of internal combustion automobiles.
· Since we use coal for only 59% of our electrical generation, the other 41% is much cleaner than petroleum.
· Furthermore, we are trending towards the use of more and more cleaner fuels in electrical generation and can expect that as the technology for renewables, like solar and wind, continues to improve, electrical generation will continue to shift in that direction as well.
Coal has helped us enjoy some of the lowest electricity rates of any free-market economy in the world.
We possess it in abundance and it is readily accessible.[ii]
When used to power electric cars, in the aggregate, it is cleaner than petroleum.
It is the real bridge to a cleaner, more nationally secure, and economically strong future.
It is time to move to electric cars. It is time to diminish our immediate concerns over coal-fired power plants.
It is time to move to the electric car.
It is time to move beyond oil.
References:
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[i] Chrysler Electric Car for Sale in 2010.
[ii] Electric Power.
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