The Impact of Electric Vehicles on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Essay

The world produces around 85 million barrels of oil each day. About a quarter of that percentage goes to the United States of America, which is used up mostly by means of transportations. Most people get around from place to place using a car, a car that is powered by fuel. Everywhere one goes driving, they will eventually run into a gas station but not a charging station for electric cars. Regular cars, burn off fuel that produce emissions (carbon, nitrogen, sulfur) that pollute and harm the environment. Although, there are some positives about switching there are also some problems that could appear but could be fixed. Electric cars have the potential to reduce the amount of pollution in the environment, boost the national economy and help

The U.S obtains more than 84% of its energy from fossil fuels including oil, coal and natural gas. This is because people rely on it to heat their homes, power industries, run vehicles, manufacturing, and provision of electricity. It is apparent that the country’s transportation industry highly depends on conventional petroleum oil, which is responsible for global warming, thus threatening economic opulence and national security. Apart from that, increasing consumption of fossil fuels have elevated health problems in the state, destroyed wild places, and polluted the environment. After conducting Environmental Impact Assessment, projections showed that the world energy consumption would increase by more than 56% between 2010 and 2040. However, fossil fuels will cater for more than 80% of the total energy used in 2040. Sadly, it will be a trajectory to alter the world’s climate, as well as, weaken the global security environment. Importantly, the rate at which the US relies on fossil fuels needs to reduce since it has adverse effects on the planet’s supplies. The society needs to realize that fossil fuels are nonrenewable, thus taking millions of years to form (Huebner, 2003). Notably, the country can reduce dependency on fossil fuels by practicing energy conservation and efficiency,

“We can break our dependence on oil…and become the first country to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015,” President Obama said in his January 2011 State of the Union address (Institute for Energy Research 1). While this may sound promising, the practicality and merit in achieving this goal remains unclear. Auto manufacturers have been working on plans for electric cars for years, especially the three largest companies in the US: Chevrolet, Chrysler, and Ford. These companies have been hoping that the development of electric cars would create a sort of lifestyle change for consumers, both weaning the U.S. off of its dependence on foreign oil and breathing life into the market for auto sales at the same time. Electric cars are often sold as zero emissions, but technically that is only true once they are charged and in terms of their tailpipe emissions. After all, they have to get their energy from somewhere and, more often than not, the electricity used for charging is supplied by traditional coal fired power plants. The real question then is whether the source and amount of energy required to build and supply an electric car with power is actually cleaner and more economical than a traditional combustion automobile. As it turns out, the answer is both unexpected and fairly complicated. In order to assess whether the use of

The number one reason why electric cars became popular is the ability to reduce the air pollution. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) almost 30% of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by transportation and most of them could be reduced by driving electric cars. The UK Department for Transport divides vehicle emissions in two categories: direct and life cycle. Direct emission are created by burning fuels while driving on the road. Petrol, diesel, and other alternative-fuel engines produce very high amounts of gases, that not only have impact on our health, but also on climate change. Gases like NO or CO2, that are known for causing many different respiratory illness. There is an estimate of 29,000 deaths a

The U.S government has been actively involved in overseeing emission standards for years. This corresponds with the statement made by the U.S Department of transportation that, “Transportation is the largest end-use sector emitting CO2”, and also the statement released by the NRCAN in which, “Fuel usage & carbon dioxide emissions have grown steadily over the past two decades.” These factors are only to be associated with your average four door sedan and/or light truck. These do not include your 18 wheelers, heavy trucks, or the gas guzzling vans that emit more carbon dioxide into the air and are also on the road more today than ever have been before. Cars are readily and easily obtainable more so now than ever have been. This creates more fuel to be burned up in which produces more toxins to be constantly released into the atmosphere. In fact, according to Scientific American “cars relate as much as 30 gallons of GHG, while only driving 3 miles.” These miles can be correlated with something just as simple as your average work commute. According to the United States Census Bureau, “Nearly 600,000 full-time workers had "megacommutes" of at least 90 minutes and 50 miles.” Those workers alone would each be releasing up to 500 gallons of GHG. These can be considered some of the bigger factors that the greenhouse gasses have taken a toll on.

The second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States is related to transportation, the burning of oil to produce energy in a combustion motor. The combustion process inside of engines is what produces the carbon matter that is emitted into the air through the exhaust system on gas-powered vehicles. Gas-powered transportation is accountable for 24 percent of the global carbon emissions; this should not come as much of a surprise given the amount of urban sprawl that is being seen in the United States and across the globe. In the past decade, the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States government, and major car manufacturers have been working in conjunction to find ways to provide a “greener” form of transportation (EPA, 2011). This has included testing the use of hydropower, ethanol, natural gas, biodiesel, and electricity as a means of powering vehicles, which has led to the introduction of hybrid vehicles. Hybrid vehicles run on electricity and gasoline, the byproduct of oil that is generally used in the engine combustion process of vehicles (U.S. Department of

courteously present their electric car and entice you to commit to them with their “Gasoline cars are bad for the environment, so go electric...”. It’s not as if one time is enough, either! They show it the first time: okay it catches my attention. Oh wait. There it is again. And again. And again. I’m sick of it! You see, what these self-proclaimed environmentalists don’t observe is that the gasoline-powered automobiles have no proper solution yet. The electric vehicle is simply a gimmick that has been actively conning consumers for years. Yet none of us consumers have batted an eye and reconsidered this evolving movement? Most of us are idiots.

Abstract—In this modern era, many advancements in technology have been witnessed. Research and data collected around the world have allowed for these advancements to take place. This has allowed for a better understanding of the footprint humans leave on the environment. As a result, this has allowed for the planet to become eco-friendlier. An eco-friendly advancement in the 21st century is the electric vehicle. There are a plethora of benefits using electric vehicles. Some advantages include no emissions, cost-effective, and low maintenance.

Carbon Dioxide emissions in the United States have decreased by 12% since 2005 according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (Lindstrom, 2016). Almost 70% of

Climate change and transportation play a big role and it is important to be concerned for our future generations. The use of gasoline cars is a major producer in carbon dioxide emissions, although they are not entirely responsible for it—they play a role in it. Other form of transportations like buses and taxis also contribute to carbon dioxide emissions. The total amount of carbon dioxide emissions from an average car is seventy six percent which comes from usage of a vehicle containing gasoline. Efficiency has increased by twenty percent in regards to electric motors, especially when it comes to their wheels using no power when the car is at rest. Car ownership will increase and with this, improvements in technology could be a vital

Imagine never being locked out of your disgusting gas-guzzling vehicle in sub-zero temperatures pumping your car full of toxic chemicals and then later emptying your bank account to pay for the environment killer ever again. This reality is near and approaching faster than ever before. Although, it is not completely beneficial. It is evident that at an international level, electric cars are needed. But, this is only one side of the story, despite common belief, electric vehicles are not always good for the environment. It is true that they will benefit bank accounts, however, the only way for electric cars to improve the environment is if they are powered by clean renewable energy.

Electric cars are becoming very popular in today’s world and are becoming more main stream. One reason for this is the need for automobiles that have a lower or a zero carbon footprint. For the majority of the history of the automobile, the propulsion system was a gas or a diesel engine that would run off of fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels is very hazardous to our world and also creates much toxic pollution. However, electric cars run off of electricity, which is a very clean and pollution free resource, depending on how the electricity was produced of course. In this paper we are going to examine the history of electric cars, look into modern electric car technology, and peer into the future of electric car technology to see if EVs might be the answer to dramatically reducing our global pollution.

In fact, depending on where the electricity that is being put into the vehicle originates and the type of vehicle, electric cars are not all great. Due to the nature of batteries used, electric cars have a limited range, around eighty to a hundred miles, long charging times, and disastrously high costs (Berman). The Tesla Model S for example, costs roughly 70,000 dollars; even the Chevy Volt is 38,000 dollars (Perlow). Average families simply do not have the money to pay for such expensive vehicles even if they are cheaper to run. In accordance with high costs, EVs are not practical long-distance travelers because they have a limited range before the batteries run out of electricity and you are left stranded in the middle of nowhere. Furthermore, when it does come time to charge, the average is one hour for twenty to twenty-five miles of range if you can actually find a charging port. Do the math and that adds up to four hours for only one hundred miles of driving. Some Volkswagen Passat TDIs that run on biodiesel average 600 miles on one tank that can be filled in less than ten minutes (Perlow). But perhaps most importantly, the electricity that is primarily being used to charge these new cars comes from a power plant that may or may not be polluting the earth. Sixty-four percent of United States residents obtain their electricity from either a coal or natural gas power plant which put thousands of

Climate change occurs mainly because of human activities, such as harvesting resources, industrialization, and technological invention, among other factors. One of the main reasons climate change has occurred in the last a few decades is because conventional cars which made their first appearance in 1886, have become increasingly popular. Although, conventional cars are more efficient and less expensive than hybrid cars, hybrid cars help reduce the negative impact on the environment more than conventional cars. A Hybrid car has disadvantages due to the battery and power of the engine, which has to improve over time, which makes people less likely to buy hybrid cars over conventional cars in the present such as gas and diesel. Even though both conventional and electric cars have negative impact on the environment, they have different scale of impact on the environment. By looking at how each system of both types of cars work, what the effect on fuel consumption rate and greenhouse gas emissions are, and what the disadvantages of electric cars are compared to conventional cars, hybrid electric cars are less likely to negatively impact on the environment more than conventional cars.

 There is a serious problem facing the world right now.  It is air pollution.  The number one contributor to this epidemic is automobile emissions.  We have all heard of the issues that are involved with air pollution including the depletion of the o-zone layer, the green house effect, and acid rain.  The problem has been scoped from every imaginable angle, and now it is time to solve the problem.  I propose that each of the ‘Big Three’ (Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler) car manufacturers be required to have 10% of their product line as EV’s By the year 2010.  I propose this because it will be the start of cleaner air, EV advancement, and awareness of EV’s and how they work.