Jones Beene wrote:
> 1. Electric cars consume much less energy per mile so there is not as
much pollution in the first place.
This is not the correct comparison to make!
Both future car designs, in the correct comparison, will be electric
-- and will have identical drive trains . . .
Ah, yes. I see your point. I was comparing apples to oranges, and the
correct comparison is Stayman Winesap apples to McIntosh apples.
> 3. A large fraction of electricity comes from pollution-free sources
such as nuclear power and hydroelectricity.
On a National average this is what? 35% in the USA ? This is not a
large fraction.
That's a little complicated. For all electricity, hydro plus nukes
plus other renewables is 27.9%. See:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelelectric.html
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/electricity.cfm
However for electricity at night in some geographic locations the
numbers are quite different. At night they only leave on baseline
generators which are mainly nuclear. In Texas a substantial fraction
of electricity comes from wind and you cannot turn it off at night.
- Jed
