Are Electric Cars really Green? Most reports, discussing how green (environmentally friendly) electric vehicles (EVs) are, seem to have a singular focus. Their focus is on the CO2 emissions from the vehicle’s usage. Of course, they have lower CO2 emissions. However, other things need to be considered to determine if it is actually good for the environment. The CO2 emissions from the power plant used to create the batteries and to recharge them are rarely considered. In some cases, the amount of emissions from the CREATION OF THE BATTERY OF AN EV is more than the emissions for the LIFE of a gas-powered vehicle! That should blow your mind! It did mine.
The battery creation:
If you want to know if a particular car is better for the environment you would need to know what power source is used to create the battery. I saw a statement in an article on Forbes.com (Are Electric Vehicles Really Better For The Environment?) saying:
“Chinese EV battery manufacturers produce up to 60% more CO2 during fabrication than ICEV (internal combustion engine vehicle) engine production, but could cut their emissions by up to 66% if they adopted American or European manufacturing techniques.”
Really… China adopting American or European manufacturing techniques? That is laughable. So they are saying that an EV is better because “IF China…” That doesn’t sound very scientific to me.
Recharging the battery:
The emissions during recharging of the batteries are also something to consider. In the United States over half of the electricity Generated is from fossil fuels. You would need to look at each country to decide if this is an issue in a particular location.
So to say that an EV is definitely better for the environment is a false statement. The next question for me then is: Who benefits from pushing EVs on the public? To get the answer... look at who it is writing (and pushing) the articles.
Moving on:
Up till now, I have only addressed so-called "green" cars. Let’s look at just one more area. Think about the wind turbines in Texas. They were supposed to be the backup energy when needed. Recently the wind turbines were frozen and didn’t work causing the majority of the state to be without power for days. Even if these are environmentally friendly, having them not work, when they are needed the most, makes using them irrational... irresponsible... idiotic. And this doesn’t account for the birds that are killed by these machines or the money it takes to maintain them. (For those who care about the environment and wildlife have you considered these things?)
The below article claims that maintenance for these is $42,000 – $48,000 per year. That cost is based on Euro dollars but then displayed it as USD. That means, based on the rate of exchange, it would actually cost about $50,000 - $58,000 USD each. That may not seem like much, but multiply that out by the number of turbines used and that as they get older the cost goes up.
According to wikipedia.org Texas is currently using over 10,700 wind turbines. 10,700 x 50,000 = 585,000,000. That is over 585 million dollars A YEAR when they're new. Sounds pretty expensive for something that can't be used during a crisis!
Wind Turbine Cost: How Much? Are They Worth It In 2020?
These are just a couple of examples where the solution might be worse than the problem they are trying to solve. This also does not address whether global warming "science" is sound or manipulated. Again I will say, who profits from us using “green energy”. It is not the average person. It is not those who have lost jobs and businesses due to government regulatory over-reach. I encourage you to look with an open mind to see what is really going on.
I’ve added just a couple of articles if you want to get more information. I encourage anyone who wants to know the truth to do their own research.
Electric Cars Aren’t Nearly as Green as People Think
Comparative Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Conventional and Electric Vehicles
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(The images are public domain from pixabay.com.)
