N o v e m b e r  2 0 1 0 — Volume 18, Issue 11
The GENI-us Letter

The Electric Vehicle (EV) Revolution Is Here

Dear GENI Friend,

Next month, the Nissan Leaf (Leading Environmental-friendly Affordable Family) car will be delivered to the US market.  Next year, GM will deliver its 100% electric Volt to their dealers.  These new cars demonstrate the change that’s needed to wean our society from fossil fuels.  Imagine never needing to fill up at a gas station again!

USA CO2 emmissions by Fuel Type - 2006

This reduces the need for imported oil, reduces geopolitical tensions, and reduces carbon dioxide emissions.  This leap in technology is an example of Buckminster Fuller’s design thinking:

“You never change things by fighting existing reality.  To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

In this graphic of US CO2 emissions, you can clearly see that electricity generation and transportation are the two main culprits.  Furthermore, coal dominates power production while petroleum powers our vehicles.  Electric cars will reduce the need for petroleum in transport – but cars must be powered during the evening (for most cars) from a grid that uses fossil fuels.

So, are we just moving the pollution from the tailpipe to the smokestacks of the utility?  It depends.  You’ll see in the attached Life Cycle Assessment that an EV powered from a coal plant pollutes the same as a gasoline car, while an EV powered from hydro/solar/wind reduces the impact by 3-4 times.

Here is a look into our future.  Almost everyone will get a new or used car in the next decade, and we now have a choice to make.  As automakers deliver these Electric Vehicles, Hybrids and Plug-in Hybrids – test drive one for yourself or for your company.  This is a design revolution that we can each participate in and change the world for the better as a result.

In partnership for the planet,

Peter Meisen
Peter Meisen

President

p.s. It’s holiday time, and GENI has many great educational gifts for your family and friends: http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/shop/index.shtml

p.p.s. You can send your green gift to GENI right now to enable this important work.

 

Home Page



Updated: 2010/01/08

If you speak another language fluently and you liked this page, make a contribution by translating it! For additional translations check out FreeTranslation.com (Voor vertaling van Engels tot Nederlands) (For oversettelse fra Engelsk til Norsk)
(Для дополнительных переводов проверяют FreeTranslation.com )