Every day, there is a very, very long train, comprised of open hopper cars filled with coal, destined for a power plant in Fort Worth, Texas. I’ve sat at the crossing, waiting for the train to pass and the railroad crossing arms to raise so I can continue on my way. Every now and then, someone will remind me of this train when they say that my owning an electric vehicle is a fool’s errand because the energy used to power it comes from dirty, old coal.
The pollution may not be spewing out of my tailpipe, (well, out of my car’s tailpipe…) but it is spewing out of my power plant’s smokestack. Quite a conundrum…NOT. Most people opting for electric cars today are environmentally conscious. The media has most people convinced that EVs are not economically feasible. As you know, from earlier postings here, I beg to disagree with the economic naysayers. As for the coal argument, years ago, I started getting electricity from Green Mountain Energy. When I first became a customer, they provided 100% wind-generated electricity. Now, they provide hydroelectric energy as well. The also offer carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates. We’ve stayed with their wind energy product.
But what about those still using coal-generated electricity? As it turns out, EVs are so much more efficient at converting energy into movement, that the pollution created by the power plant to provide the electricity required to move the EV is still much less than that create by an internal combustion engine (ICE). Pollution free driving is definitely the goal, and I would encourage all of you that own EVs to find a local provider of pollution-free electricity, but even those not doing so have lessened their carbon footprint, when compared to ICE drivers.
Want to better understand this? Here are some articles to check out:
CarbonLighthouse article
Reasons to get environmentally friendly electricity for your EV:
New York Times article begs to differ, unless you’re using an ecologically friendly power source.
Union of Concerned Scientists report mentioned in NY Times article.
Scientific American article
