tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781672.post8931325448303278916..comments2024-03-03T21:52:36.774-06:00Comments on A trainwreck in Maxwell: The Nissan LeafKurtPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12205267944616413162noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8781672.post-13046813362295674202011-04-22T09:08:34.399-05:002011-04-22T09:08:34.399-05:00Pollution is anything Man does. Volcanoes spewing ...Pollution is anything Man does. Volcanoes spewing megatons of sulfur compounds and CO2 are "natural", so can't be pollution. Definition.<br /><br />Last time I checked, the US gets about 75% of our electricity from burning coal. So every time you charge up your Leaf, you are using energy from coal mostly, at a total efficiency of maybe 30% after the losses in the generating plant, the power lines and the charger.<br /><br />A gasoline vehicle running on real gasoline is close to 30% efficient, doesn't add to our electrical distribution load, and can be "recharged" in minutes at a gas station.<br /><br />If we had fusion power, electric vehicles would make a lot of sense. But that's 20 years in the future, and has been for the last fifty years.<br /><br />Related note - drove through Chicago with a friend yesterday - there's a huge coal-fired power plant on the South Side there, merrily converting barges of coal into power - and not a hint of odor or smoke. All the money wasted on "green" energy could have built us dozens of similar coal plants by now, and helped our employment and economy.Chuck Kueckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16105077930739459751noreply@blogger.com