Newsweek published an interesting article by Bjorn Lomberg where he actually analyzed the CO2 savings from switching to electric versus just buying carbon offsets.
He demonstrates that subsidies for electric vehicles are disproportionate to the carbon dioxide emissions to be prevented.
Climate activists and politicians keep telling us that electric cars are cleaner, cheaper and better. California and many countries, including the UK, Germany and Japan, will even ban the sale of new gas and diesel cars within a decade or two. But if electric cars are really so good, why should we ban the alternatives? And why do we need to subsidize electric cars when $30 billion each year?
Would you believe that reality is much more confusing than the boosters of electric cars. The carbon footprint of an electric car depends on whether it is recharged with clean energy or coal power. Furthermore, battery production requires a lot of energy, which today is mostly produced with coal in China. That’s why the International Energy Agency estimates that an electric car using the globally average mix of energy sources over its lifetime will still emit about by half CO2 like a car. You can buy the same reduction in carbon emissions on the oldest US carbon trading system for about $300. However, many countries have to pay 20 times that amount to convince people to switch.
There is no air pollution from an electric car’s engine, but it needs electricity, which can cause more pollution. One New research found that electric cars cause the most dangerous particulate air pollution compared to gasoline cars in two-thirds of US states. In Chinaadding an electric car pollutes slightly less if driven in areas with new, cleaner power plants, but it pollutes slightly more in areas with older power plants .
https://www.newsweek.com/electrical-car-subsidies-are-bad-investment-opinion-1752032?
He concluded:
Ultimately, the reason electric cars are champions is because of their promised emissions reductions. However, the IEA estimate that even if the whole world meets all the ambitious stated electric vehicle targets by 2030, additional CO2 emissions savings this decade will be 235 million tons. Standard climate modeling used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggests that this would reduce global temperatures by just 0.0002°F by 2100.
Electric cars will only take over when innovation makes them better and cheaper than gas-powered cars. But politicians want change now and are planning to waste hundreds of billions of dollars subsidizing electric cars, preventing consumers from choosing the cars they want, with little to no avail. what for the climate.
https://www.newsweek.com/electrical-car-subsidies-are-bad-investment-opinion-1752032?
The entire Newsweek article is well worth reading.,
Related
