Question 10

Question 10

For my last two posts I was researching the effectiveness of electric cars, and have found some startaling evidence that it is not as it seems. While it seems that hybrid cars have near zero emessions released within city driving, the cars histroy of production makes the car actually just as, if not more, harmful to the surounding environment than gas consuming vehicles. "There is about a 50-percent chance in the United States that the electricity thats used to charge the batteries of a plug-in electric vehicle is generated by burning coal. Since the burned coal used to power an electric vehicle emits carbon dioxide to power the electric car, it goes on the cars emmisions tally. 'The general consensus is that if you power an electric vehicle from coal, the net carbon emissions are about the same as a gasoline vehicle,' says Paul Denholm, senior analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. 'But that's the worst-case scenario; anything that is a cleaner source is an improvement'" (Josh Clark). I decided to include this quote from an article on google not only because the credible source is from Golden, Colorado, but because he raises a very interesting point. This point was actually very lightly touched upon on other articles, so I found it necessary to read. I believe that a person should look into a hybrid based on their driving conditions and habbits, and if they are able to afford the increased price over petroleum engines. Hybrids, on average, cost around $5-$6,000 dollars more than its counterparts produced within the same car comapny, and with its claim of being much better for the environment being called into question, no one should blow all of their money on a hybrid vehicle.

Sources in order of appearance:

Clark, Josh. "Are Electric Cars Better for the Environment?" Discovery News. 30 July 2010. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. <http://news.discovery.com/tech/are-electric-cars-better-for-the-environment.html>.