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Solar panels are sometimes built at factories powered by coal. But they are a greatly net producer of energy, returning many thousands of times that input. Und
by jauntywundrkind 3y ago
Solar panels are sometimes built at factories powered by coal. But they are a greatly net producer of energy, returning many thousands of times that input.
Under your arguments, we should just assume $100 of fuel will pollute approximately the same as $100 of solar. This is grossly misguided. That fossile fuels are involved somewhere doesn't create an equivalency. It matters where the dollars go. Jfc I can't believe that needs to be said.
- xnx 3y agoI probably need to explain more as that is not what I meant. Dollar cost is a good measure of environmental impact when comparing two options. An EV has more environmental impact on day one than an ICE because it costs more. After 200K miles (pick a number) the EV has less environmental impact (to a good first approximation) because the total cost of ownership (vehicle, fuel, maintenance, tires, insurance, etc.) is less. $100 of gas and a $100 solar panel do have about the same environmental impact at first, but 10 MWh of electricity produced by a $100 solar panel has much less environmental impact than however much fossil fuel it would take to generate the same.