Ernie, Could you provide some data source for this claim? I understand that electricity is produced with fossil fuels but I also believe that electric cars are so much more efficient than internal combustion heat engines at providing transportation. So how do the efficiencies compare between CO2 emissions at the source (tailpipe vs smokestack)?
David On Apr 13, 2007, at 2:03 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Electric cars and plug-in hybrids are only marginally better than > ordinary > hybrids in terms of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. They > only appear to > be better because most of the energy waste and CO2 happens "outside > the box," > back at the power plant. > > The best car today in terms of CO2 emissions is a diesel car using > biodiesel > fuel. You can find this documented in many places. The best current > information will probably be found at _www.auto.xprize.org_ > (http://www.auto.xprize.org) > Or, search on Wang, Argonne National Laboratory. I can supply > additional > information to those that are interested. > > We should not be overly optimistic yet about saving the planet with > better > cars. Consumption of fossil energy is one of the top three > environmental > problems on earth, and cars are at its center. Most of the > planet's organisms > may be lost before we get this one under control. > > Ernie Rogers > Driving for efficiency-- 65 mpg > > ------------------------------------- > Wirt Atmar said, > > Given the level of concern that people have expressed about > reducing their > ecological footprint, particularly in regard to greenhouse gases > and fossil > fuel > usage, I thought that I would mention some of the work that's > being done in > automobiles that you may not be aware of. > > This next statement is the kind of thing that's going to get me > kicked out of > the ecology club, but as Dick Cheney has said, "conservation is a > personal > virtue." It's something that you can't force on someone else. It's > been > suggested that everyone ought to proactively -- and with some > significant > self-sacrifice -- either drive 1970 Tercels or ride bicycles with > milk > baskets > bungee-corded to the back of them. As a practical matter, none of > this will > ever > happen, and it is somewhat foolish to ever imagine that it will. > If you want > to > change the world, you have to do it in a manner that will be > economically > profitable to manufacturers and simultaneously attractive to > consumers. > > But in that regard, people are farther along at building comfortable, > attractive > energy-efficient, virtually zero-polluting automobiles than you > might think. > These vehicles will have not only very close to zero greenhouse > gas/pollutant > emissions but will also have truly extraordinary mileage, and I > thought that > you > might like to see them. <SNIP> > > > > > > > > ************************************** See what's free at http:// > www.aol.com. David Bryant [EMAIL PROTECTED] 978-697-6123
