We hear so much from the media these days about buying electric vehicles to replace our internal combustion vehicles. Media reports say that the average cost of electric vehicles is about $50,000. Not cheap. Of course the goal is to reduce vehicle emissions to improve the environment. California says they would like to be all electric by 2035. How much new electrical generating capacity would be needed to transform America to all electric? The data to answer this question is supplied by the Energy Information Administration. The EIA teaches us that America uses about 4 trillion kilowatt hours per day of electricity. About 2.5 trillion Kwh (~60%) come from fossil fuels, about 0.8 trillion (~19%) from nuclear power, and about 0.8 trillion (~19) from renewables. Wind accounts for ~8.4% of renewables, solar 2.3%, hydro 7.3% and biomass 1.4%. Oil accounts for ~90% of fossil fuels, bio fuels ~5%, and natural gas 3%. (The natural gas seems low because of all the conversion to much cleaner natural gas power plants.)
So how much energy is consumed per day by transportation using fossil fuels? America uses about 10 million barrels of oil per day (varies). The energy equivalent of 10 million barrels of oil is about 1.7 trillion Kwh. Therefore the energy consumed by transportation, using petroleum products, is about 30% of our electrical energy use when we account for non-transportation uses of petroleum. All of this is approximate but it reveals that America would have to increase electrical energy output by about 30% if all our vehicles were to be electrically powered. This would be a huge undertaking. Many new energy facilities would have to be built across America and they cannot be powered by petroleum products if you are trying to reduce emissions. Wind and solar, with batteries, can play a role in parts of the country but it will be necessary to build many nuclear power plants to provide reliable base-load power for our electrical vehicles. When you consider that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process requires about 10 years to complete for modest projects, California’s 2035 all electric goal is probably out of reach. Thousands of miles of new electrical transmission lines will also be needed. These projects can be delayed for decades by environmental concerns. People can help by installing household solar systems but the materials for these systems are not always available. Of course, solar does not work with 4 feet of snow on your roof. At this point in time, clean burning natural gas should play a major role in electric vehicle charging as the expansion of nuclear power takes place. Hopefully we will have viable fusion power systems in the future. The transition to electrical vehicles will be enormously expensive. (Somebody should check my numbers.)
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Making Sense of It All
This blog will help you make sense out of all the information on the website, how it affects IP, our history, and how efforts continue to put IP into various forms of conservation status. Archives
May 2023
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