You knew it was coming: People trying to ride the unfolding EV revolution as a means to promote dirty, polluting coal.
Recently ran across a column written by a guy by the name of Frank Sherosky who describes himself as an auto industry design engineer at a web site called TorqueNews.Com. Frank uses the column to extol the alleged necessity of coal to power the EV revolution as well as coalās supposed beauties. Actually, thereās only one of these ābeautiesā. You know, the whole ādomestically producedā energy spiel.
Frank, whoās written a number of e-books that would make any neoliberal capitalist proud ā Perfecting corporate character and Awaken your speculator mind ā makes an impassioned pitch for āclean coalā as the future source of energy for Americaās (and the worldās?) growing electric fleet.
{module 302}
EV revolution & renewables revolution
Now, Frankās perfectly entitled to his views ā as we are to our own. And, as you might guess, our own views are diametrically opposed to his: We see the EV revolution as a way to power a renewable energy revolution, not a dirty coal revolution (sorry, Frank, we donāt buy the propaganda about āclean coalā).
We point out Frankās column ā which we found by combining news.google with RSS (a fantastic way to keep up with niche news on specialty news topics, by the way!) ā because it underscores a point we made when we started SolarChargedDriving.Com two years ago: Despite what more than a few pro-EV advocates seem to naively (or hopefully?) think, growth in EVs does not automatically mean growth in renewable energy.
For an EV revolution to spark a renewable energy revolution, we need you, me, and every other pro-EV advocate who doesnāt want to run his or her EV on coal or other fossil fuels, to actively promote renewable energy. We need the same people to plug their EVs into renewables, either via a home solar system or residential wind and/or by buying green energy from their utility.
Dirty Coal resurgence?
If we who support the EV + renewable energy synergy donāt do this, we could be looking at a Dirty Coal resurgence — driven in part by none other than our very own EV revolution.
{googleAds}<div style=”float:right; margin-left: 10px;”>
<script type=”text/javascript”><!–
google_ad_client = “pub-7703542917199961”;
/* 200×200,
created 12/8/09 */
google_ad_slot = “7950368454”;
google_ad_width
= 200;
google_ad_height = 200;
//–>
</script>
<script
type=”text/javascript”
src=”http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js”>
</script>
</div>
{/googleAds}
Now, there might be some out there, including some EV advocates, who would like to see an EV revolution increase coal use in the U.S.
Weāre definitely not among that group.
In fact, weāre going to continue to do everything we can to fight against pro-coal folks — doesnāt matter to us whether theyāre pro-EV or not — to ensure that renewable energy, not coal, powers Americaās, and the worldās, future EVs.
What do you think: Are you in with us on the EVs + renewable energy vs. EVs + coal battle?
Related articles–>
- Time to reign in coal plant pollution
- What if the electric grid were 100% coal?
- European Greens: Power EVs with renewables
- Should West Virginians skip the electric car?
Like this story? Interested in the solar EV/PHEV synergy? Join our Sun MilesĀ® Club and start meeting & interacting with other people around the world who want to drive, or already are driving, their cars on sun! Register to join us today!