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One fact everyone seems to forget is that it takes approximately 6.5 Kwh of energy to refine one gal of gas. That is JUST refinement and not the energy to pump,
by cowmix 12y ago
One fact everyone seems to forget is that it takes approximately 6.5 Kwh of energy to refine one gal of gas. That is JUST refinement and not the energy to pump, store, etc.
My Volt drives around 22 -> 28 miles on that power.
- NickM 12y agoI was going to raise the same point. And, considering that the average new car sold in the US gets 25MPG, we should be just about breaking even.
- trose 12y agoBreaking even eventually. I doubt they're going to suddenly just stop refining all of that oil. There will have to be a trend before the oil companies start lowering their output.
- seanflyon 12y agoA given car will either use refined gas or electricity. The point is those both use a similar amount of electricity, either way the impact on the grid is similar. Oil companies are not going to refine more gas than is used. They might refine more than is used on a particular day or even month, but they are not going to outpace demand on any long time scale.
- cgearhart 12y agoUnder those conditions, converting all vehicles to electric would increase net electricity usage by ~20%. (Better than 100%!) Eliminating gasoline refining would reduce the needed electricity by ~850 billion kWh / year, and the improved efficiency (ignoring charge/discharge cycle efficiency) would reduce the net energy to ~594 billion kWh / year - or 54 million average home PV installations. Quick googling shows that it will be about 10% higher for charging losses.
- BrandonMarc 12y agoKeep in mind we'll still be refining oil / petroleum for other uses (lubricants, ink, plastic, fertilizer, diesel, etc). If this is independent of the refining into gas, then all's well with your math.
- fancyketchup 12y agoDo cars typically run on plastic and fertilizer where you're from? If it's true that a Volt can drive 25ish miles on the electricity used to refine a gallon of gas, then substituting electric miles for gas ones is a wash in terms of net electricity usage. Or are you trying to say something more subtle that I'm just missing?
- BrandonMarc 12y agoIf this is independent of the refining into gas, then all's well with your math. I think we agree ... that if there's less gas being refined, then there's less energy being used to do that ... if and only if gas refining is independent of refining into all the other products. If, on the other hand, refining into the other products efficiently ends up making gas anyway, then that's different.