--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <rick@...> wrote: > > If you generate the electricity with coal. Generate it with > wind or solar and it's a different story.
Or require electricity companies to generate power more cleanly, as is the case in the U.S. > From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com] > On Behalf Of wgm4u > Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 1:15 PM > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [FairfieldLife] Hey Rick-Electric cars dirtier than gasoline > cars!?! > > Why Electric Cars Are More Polluting than Gas Guzzlers - at Least in China > > Electric cars are all the rage in China, but they may not be helping to > clean up the environment or protect human health from pollution. > > By Alice Park <http://healthland.time.com/author/apark7/> | @aliceparkny > <http://www.twitter.com/aliceparkny> | February 14, 2012 | + > <http://healthland.time.com/2012/02/14/why-electric-cars-are-more-polluting- > than-gas-guzzlers-at-least-in-china/#disqus_thread> > > inShare1 > > VisionsofAmerica/Joe Sohm / Getty Images > <http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/e008006ecarscrop.jpg?w=600&; > h=400&crop=1> > > VisionsofAmerica/Joe Sohm / Getty Images > > It's unspoken, but every driver gliding around town behind the wheel of a > Prius is thinking the same thing: "I'm saving the planet. What are you > doing, you dirty-fossil-fuel burner?" > > What's implied is that hybrid or electric-car drivers are also saving human > lives, since the fuel-burning internal combustion engines that power > conventional vehicles emit carbon dioxide and fine particulate matter > including acids, organic chemicals as well as dust and soil; this pollution > has been linked to respiratory and heart problems and cancer. > > But, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Science > & Technology, it turns out that the use of electric vehicles may not be that > clean after all, particularly in the world's most populated country, China. > > In the study, Christopher Cherry, an assistant professor of civil and > environmental engineering at University of Tennessee, and his colleagues > found that in terms of air pollution, electric vehicles were more harmful to > public health per kilometer traveled than gasoline-powered cars. That's > right - the electrically powered cars turned out to be dirtier than those > with internal combustion engines. > > VIDEO: Turning Old Gas Guzzlers Into Electric Vehicles > <http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,990054967001_2077261,00.html> > > > How could that be? Cherry says there's been an implicit assumption that > because electric cars don't burn fossil fuels, they're cleaner for the > environment and safer for people, but that doesn't take into account how the > electricity they use is generated. In China, that would be from - you > guessed it - fossil fuels. About 85% of the country's electricity is powered > by fossil fuels, of which 95% is coal. > > "It's tricky comparing electric vehicle emissions with emissions from > internal combustion engines, because you can't compare the emissions," says > Cherry. "With gasoline engines, a 1-1 change in emissions results in a 1-1 > change in health outcomes because the emissions are released in the same > place where people inhale them." > > That's not the case with electric cars, whose dirty emissions are released > at the electricity-generating power plant, while the vehicle is used > elsewhere. It's this disconnect that has given electric vehicles an > apparently cleaner bill for health, but Cherry says that once you factor in > how many people within the range of electricity generating power plants are > affected by emissions, the story gets a little dirtier. In China's case, > pollution from electricity plants is spreading exposure to potentially > harmful particulates in the air from urban populations to those in more > remote rural regions. > > Kilometer per kilometer, electric cars in China beat out conventional > vehicles as among the worst environmental polluters. On average, the fine > particulate emissions per passenger-km are 3.6 times greater for electric > cars than for gasoline cars. That's better than for diesel cars but on par > with diesel buses, which can spread their environmental impact across the > number of passengers they carry. "If we compare gasoline car emissions to > electric car emissions, the electric cars look very, very bad," says Cherry. > "So the point is that you have to consider the emissions exposure when the > exposure source is far apart - the electrical power plant as opposed to the > tailpipe of a car." > > MORE: 6 New Developments in the World of Electric Cars > <http://moneyland.time.com/2011/07/20/6-new-developments-in-the-world-of-ele > ctric-cars/> > > The problem is that the Chinese government, in a well-intentioned effort to > promote more eco-friendly power use, has been pushing electric cars > <http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/04/20/how-china-can-take-the-wheel-on > -electric-cars/> , motorcycles and scooters in recent years. The effort has > been so successful that electric bike ownership is surging at 86% annual > growth. There are now 100 million electric bikes on China's roads, and they > outnumber gas-powered cars 2-to-1. > > The good news is that while electric cars didn't fare so well in reducing > emissions, electric bikes and scooters - which typically use one-tenth the > electricity of the cars - did a lot better. The researchers found that > e-bike usage improved air quality and environmental health by displacing the > use of larger, more polluting vehicles. > > There's also some hope in China's changing energy policies; cities in the > southwest have adopted cleaner electricity generating power sources, and > generally release fewer emissions than those in the northeast. Cherry notes > also that electricity generation in the U.S. is cleaner than it is in China, > which means that the impact of electric car use in the two countries can't > be compared. But the results highlight an important lesson not just for > China but for anyone eager to scale up alternative energy production as a > way to benefit both man and the planet. > > "China has a lot more room for improvement in its power sector, and the > lowest hanging fruit would be to clean up its power sector first," says > Cherry, rather than focusing on lowering vehicle emissions. Once that > happens, he says, "electric cars will have room to gain on conventional cars > in the long run." > > Alice Park is a writer at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @aliceparkny > <http://twitter.com/#%21/aliceparkny> . You can also continue the discussion > on TIME's Facebook page <http://www.facebook.com/time> and on Twitter at > @TIME <http://twitter.com/#%21/TIME> . > > > <http://healthland.time.com/2012/02/14/why-electric-cars-are-more-polluting- > than-gas-guzzlers-at-least-in-china/#ixzz1mNvdjMJp> MJp > > > > _____ > > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2112/4809 - Release Date: 02/14/12 >
