Cars that run on electricity instead of gasoline have some important environmental advantages, not the least of which is that they don’t have exhaust pipes emitting greenhouse gases and other forms of pollution. But the electricity they run on has to come from somewhere and greenhouse gas emissions are often involved in generating electricity.
The question is: if the emissions resulting from generating electricity are taken into account, are electric cars still cleaner and greener?
The answer is complicated and is local in scope. For starters, it depends on how much electricity is needed to power the car. This metric – measured in miles per kilowatt-hour – is getting better all the time as electric cars continue to improve.
The amount of emissions associated with generating a kilowatt-hour of electricity depends on the mix of generating sources where the car is charged. Contributions from renewable energy sources are growing everywhere but vary dramatically from state to state and even from utility to utility. If you make your own electricity with solar panels on your roof, you can run an electric car with no associated emissions at all.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, most Americans today can run an electric car with much lower associated emissions than even the most efficient hybrids and the numbers are getting better every year. In places like California and New York, where renewable energy growth is substantial, electric cars are especially green. As renewable sources gradually replace fossil fuels in producing electricity, the environmental benefits of electric cars will only increase.
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Photo, posted October 5, 2011, courtesy of Steve Jurvetson via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.