[SustainableTompkins] Prius/electric Cars Could Be Polluters

[Adele Gay Nicholson]

In my opinion, if a person makes an investment in their own solar or  
wind system so that they can produce enough clean electricity to power  
their vehicle, we should not consider that energy to have otherwise  
been available to replace dirty energy on the grid.  After all, the RE  
incentive system is designed not to pay for more than your household  
consumption.  So, if you don't own an electric car, it is unlikely  
that you would invest in a larger private solar or wind system than  
you can use, just so that others on the grid can have access to it.   
However, I think it is more responsible to either buy RE from the grid  
or install your own RE if you do own an electric car, since it is true  
that coal is the inefficient and dirty source of much of our  
electricity.

Gay


On Jul 17, 2008, at 1:33 PM, Tony Del Plato wrote:

> I was taken aback by the this thought and wondered if anyone on the TC
> Sustainability list has a take on whether a Prius, if plugged in to
> re-charge its battery, could indirectly pollute more than and is less
> efficient than a gasoline fueled car. The article below sounds  
> compelling in
> light of the coal industry trying to get into the transportation  
> market.
> Tony Del Plato
>
> http://www.betterworldclub.com/articles/DC_Case_Against_Electric_Car.htm
>
> -- 
>
> "Justice is what love looks like in public."
> ~ Dr. Cornel West
>
>
> -- 
>
> "Justice is what love looks like in public."
> ~ Dr. Cornel West
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----------------------------------------------------
Gay Nicholson, Ph.D.

607-533-7312 (home office)
607-279-6618 (cell)

1 Maple Avenue
Lansing, NY 14882
gaynicholson at aol.com

Sustainable Tompkins
Program Coordinator
www.sustainabletompkins.org

Southern Tier Energy$mart Communities
Regional Coordinator
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County
615 Willow Ave., Ithaca, NY 14850
agn1 at cornell.edu