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Once we shift to electric cars, people of the future will be wondering in amazement how did we ever tolerate combustion engines! Same way we now wonder in amaze
by bouncycastle 7y ago
Once we shift to electric cars, people of the future will be wondering in amazement how did we ever tolerate combustion engines! Same way we now wonder in amazement how people in the past tolerated horse manure on the street or steam trains in subways...
- f055 7y agoElectric cars still need power - hopefully wind and solar, but most likely also nuclear, and fossil. If one would be to calculate the pollution cost of creating materials to build all the new power sources (wind, solar, nuclear) to support nearly 100% electric mobility, I wonder how it stands against current fossil-powered transportation.
- bouncycastle 7y agoI do agree with you, although my point is mostly from a public health angle, at least in the beginning stages of transitioning to fossil-free power generation.
- JulianMorrison 7y agoElectric cars make the problem fungible.
- bouncycastle 7y agoSorry, what does it mean? I'm only familiar with the term when it comes to currencies... I think electric cars centralise the problem of air pollution, which in turn makes solving the problem from a centralized place more efficient and can be improved as technology improves. It's like when centuries ago, urban places didn't have sewers and just let the excrement flow down the open gutters on the street (we are here with combustion engines). In time, sewers were built, but the untreated sewage would flow in to rivers & oceans (similar to as if electric cars became the norm now). In time, sewage treatment plants were also built (power generation shifts to fossil fuel-free). Same way as we now look at open sewers in disgust, I'd say down the future we'll probably look at combustion engines in disgust and say "how the heck did people live like that?"
- JulianMorrison 7y agoYes, that. One source of electricity is as good as another to the car, so once cars are converted to EVs, the problem of pollution can be solved without involving them.
- bouncycastle 7y agoI see. Thanks.
- AnimalMuppet 7y ago"Fungible" means that one unit is replaceable by any other unit. You have a dollar? Do you really care if I swap that for a different dollar? No, you really don't. It's the same with kilowatt-hours. I don't care where it came from as long as it's 1) available and 2) within spec.
- radicalbyte 7y agoEspecially diesels, they're disgusting.
- low_poly_shiba 7y agoI think people will be wondering in amazement that we were so wasteful in ferrying around 200-lb bags of water and flesh in 1-ton carriages of steel, when buses and trains and bikes and scooters where already well-known about and available.
- Dumblydorr 7y agoIt's not so wonderous when you consider the trillions in subsidy, lobbying against alternatives, free pollution rights, and infrastructure designed for the 2 ton wheel chairs we call cars
- nickflood 7y agoI'm also amazed that so many aspects of our lives are created from stuff that we extract from Earth instead of building a sustainable and renewable source of it. Oil is used in everything from asphalt that we lay on roads to polymers in medical drugs. Just looking around, so much stuff in our daily lives is made from oil that it's difficult to imagine how the world would look after all of it is moved to a sustainable manufacturing when oil starts to run out or for people living on Mars.