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Ok, I get Michaels' question. Well, yes, electric vehicles lower gasoline consumption directly. Obviously a good thing. But does the electricity from the wall socket used to charge the electric vehicle in turn produce MORE GHG and particulate that would otherwise be made from the gasoline? This is the gist of the NNadir blog I linked to on the DailyKos. In China 80% of the electricity is generated by coal. In the US it's 49%. The other 51% is, in order of size, natural gas, nuclear, hydro. So does this differential between the Chinese 80+% and the US' 30% make electric vehicles somwhat more benign? I don't know. Don't have an answer. Certainly NOT as bad as in China. But that is US totals. You, like myself, live in California where the load is only about 8% coal from out of state. The majority is natural, gas, then nuclear, then hydro. So that's a plus clearly, especially with regards to particulate. And in your area specifically, the northern part of the state, the hydro is much bigger still so it seems to make sense...if you can justify spending so much money for 20 miles round trip a few times a month, hell, I'd get a motorcycle and have fun doing it! Then again, knowing where you live, your summer electric bills for air conditioning must be quite high, yes? David ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
