I’m only saying even with EVs, you still generate greenhouse gases in the USA in ways you don’t in other countries. Doesn’t help global warming as much as people imagine when your power generation for those EVs is still adding CO2 and methane to the atmosphere, albeit in lower numbers.
As for your point about reducing the need for petroleum and reducing our reliance on exports via EVs, sure, I got it.
Doesn’t invalidate my greenhouse gases point.
So you’re turning into the hyper focused poster? Subjects like this usually isn’t just black or white.
Nope.
Just making one point.
Others make other points.
Never said there was only one issue.
You’re correct that driving an electric car in a country with more renewables-generated electricity is more environmentally friendly than driving that same car in a country whose electricity generation is more reliant on fossil fuels. But what’s the point of that argument? It’s more environmentally friendly than driving an ICE in either case.
No dispute there.
I just don’t want anybody incorrectly believing that driving an EV has as much of a positive environmental impact as they might imagine.
In this country, it still contributes to global warming.
Well sure, but so does existing. I think downplaying the positive effects of something tends to fuel the naysayers. Just because EVs aren’t perfect doesn’t mean we should abandon them altogether. And at the end of the day, we’ve likely reached peak efficiency on ICEs. In no way have we reached peak efficiency on EVs and/or cleaning up our electricity sources.
That’s silly. If there’s a net gain there’s a net gain. Why down play it?
But it does help as you admit by default here.
What is the net gain in that scenario?
You’re 100% correct.
Electric Vehicles are not the nexus to combatting climate change. It’s a piece of a broader puzzle, and the positive impacts of EVs do not really appear until the entire grid is powered by renewable energy sources.
The charging stations used to charge EV batteries, the roads EVs drive on as well as their funding, the overall infrastructure of real estate, manufacturing of steel and plastics to make EVs, etc. etc. etc… all heavily rely on the continuous use of fossil fuels both in application and affordability.
We already have the tools to solve these problems. The issue, however, is that the US Energy Industry is privatized and not state-owned.
We will need fossil fuels to build out the renewable energy grid and associated infrastructure, but it’s theoretically impossible to convince fossil fuel companies to essentially help assist with their own demise.
Fossil fuels used to generate the electricity to power EV’s are also used to generate the electricity to power the plants that produce fossil fuels.
Yes, you are correct.
So you have to ask yourself.
Is it truly possible to power the western lifestyle as we know it, with renewable energy?
Likely not.
We will have to reduce our lifestyle expectations and consumption patterns.
or… we keep going business as usual, leading to our own economic destruction.
It’s a dilemma that many people have a hard time even conceptualizing. It doesn’t compute in their brain, so they either ignore it or deny it. You can’t blame them, can you?
Please explain
Why not? The ceiling is very high with renewables, the commodity itself (wind, sunlight, tidal waves, etc.) is free, no pollution, no mining and it’s still relatively new and therefore lots of breakthroughs are more than likely.
Plus, petroleum is too valuable to burn since there is no substitute for it in many chemicals, drugs, building materials, clothing, packaging, coating, paints, etc.
If the global temperate continues to rise, even by just 1.5 to 2 degrees, it will destabilize the conditions needed for many of our industries to function.
I could go on and on, but the reality is… the last 100 years of industrialization will have far worse impacts than any period of time in the history of earth, but many people cannot seem to understand this. We are used to growth and progress that we don’t know any other way.
Renewable energy is nowhere near as dense as fossil fuels
One unit of fossil fuels requires 5 units of renewable energy
This is very over simplified example, but I’m merely trying to illustrate a point
Big if
You may should clue Musk in on that. He says ALL other forms of energy
are like cavemen burning twigs.
Watch how fast he goes from DOGE deity, and smartest man on the planet to, “Well, he doesn’t know everything.”
IMO need some MO details
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