“I’m well aware. But the difference is that with electric cars, you have the option of using alternative energy to power them. With a typical gas powered car, you do not. Also, the efficiency that can be created in a large power plant is much higher than in a thousand individual engines. Also, it is much easier to monitor and control air pollution when it is in a centralized location as opposed to a thousand scattered car engines. Also, in an urban setting, electrical generation can be done outside of populous areas, and electric cars produces no emissions at the site of use, lowering the health risks of emissions exposure.
In the short run, electric cars, powered by coal, are still better than ICE engines. In the long run, the Electric cars that currently are powered by coal can eventually be powered by other sources of energy as they rise in availability without any modification to the vehicle itself.
Coal is a massive environmental problem. But not using electric cars isn’t the answer to a transition away from coal.”
larryvance said,
July 29, 2008 @ 5:03 am
Alternative energy is one part of the “green” equation. You know, there are a lot of ways that responsible citizens can help to reduce damage to the earth – and ourselves in the long run. One easy thing is to pick “green” accommodations when available, not just those who say they’re doing something, but those who actually are. You can do this through a website I’ve run across recently, iStayGreen.org, where you not only locate green hotels, but rate them, which puts pressure on hoteliers to do as much as they can to be well rated.
Uniquely, the site features a social networking system, so groups with like interests can get together, advise each other and exchange information. It’s about time something like http://www.iStayGreen.org came along.