So from which end of the wire shall we pollute the Earth with?

Posted on 10 January 200723 September 2014 by Warren Tang

Why are we such suckers when it comes to electric cars? All we are really going to do is plug it into an electric wall socket so that the fossil-fueled power station at the other end of that wire can pump the same amount of – if not more – greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Haven’t we realised that the car makers are laughing all the way to the bank?

Published by Warren Tang

I write about linguistics and philosophy. I also write poetry and take photographs. View all posts by Warren Tang

7 thoughts on “So from which end of the wire shall we pollute the Earth with?”

Electric cars do not equate to being green « tang clang 8 October 20120715

[…] remember I told you this fact five years. Ha! Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. Tags car, electricity, […]

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signature103 28 February 20070630

I am not.

Even with renewables we need to produce a lot of it. Alternatives like biofuels need much space to produce the crops to run the cars. It only leads to deforestation and land degradation.

The only real solution is by reducing consumption – individual consumption and total consumption. That is the bottom line.

Technology will not save us.

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Markuis Mellvile 27 February 20072252

You’re kidding right?

Of course the people who make cars are laughing all the way to the bank, but fossil or nuclear power aren’t the only ways to generate the electricity.

It might take years, but an all-electric system powered by renewables is not some technical impossibility. Politics though, is a different matter.

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signature103 18 January 20072211

The hand of politics is always in there. Sad but true.

Thanks for the link… again.

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John Feeney 18 January 20071323

Heh, I’ve wondered the same thing. Now, I’ll mention that I seem to recall some comment in “Who Killed the Electric Car,” to the effect that, in the end, there are fewer emissions or less fossil fuel burned (or something :-/ ) in an electric versus a conventional car. But I don’t recall their source. And a scientist friend of mine who follows this stuff very carefully and blogs on climate change…

http://logicalscience.blogspot.com/

…said he didn’t think much of the film. So…

But whatever the comparison, obviously electric isn’t any kind of profound step forward unless the power plant is solar or wind powered.

Which reminds me – there was recently a significant breakthrough in efficiency of solar cells. (There’s a post somewhere several weeks ago on the blog I linked to above.) It’s sounding more and more like the main obstacle in the way of *much* greater use of renewable energy sources is going to be political rather than technological.

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signature103 15 January 20071703

Good for you. Happy bike-trails!

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Daijinryuu 15 January 20070513

Which is why I am dumping vehicles altogether in favor of bicycling and walkihng whenever I can, and then I carpool or use public transportation otherwise for much farthur distances.

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