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The coal used by most countries for producing electricity is not that clean though. If anyone is really serious about global warming, shutting down coal plants
by trashtester 8y ago
The coal used by most countries for producing electricity is not that clean though.
If anyone is really serious about global warming, shutting down coal plants should be priority 1, natural gas plants priority 2 and transportation emissions priority 3.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoFortunately we can work in parallel. Switching anything from burning whatever it's burning to electricity is a huge win, because electricity sources can be changed independently of electricity consumers. Today's electric cars powered by coal are tomorrow's electric cars powered by solar, wind and nuclear, with no involvement of the car owners required.
- Robotbeat 8y agoTransportation is really #2 after coal. Transportation is responsible for the majority of emissions in the US, and although an EV running on coal is basically just breaking even for GHG emissions, an EV running on natural gas is a signficant net-win for GHG emissions. In the US using the average electricity mix, an EV like the Model 3 emits a factor of 2.5x less GHG than an equivalent diesel vehicle. Because 40% of electricity is from clean sources (nuclear, wind, hydro, solar, geothermal), and coal is just 27% now.
- trashtester 8y agoI put natural gas as #2 mostly as a hedge against just replacing coal with NG. As for moving transportation to electrical propulsion, the real effect has to be judged by the marginal effect it has on emissions. If the marginal change is covered by coal, the benefit is much smaller than if the marginal change is covered by clean sources.