CBS: A Turning Point for Clean Energy

April 12, 2023

A “Clean Energy Super Power”?
Not unless we can stop BANANAS (“Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody”).

Posted by greenman3610
Filed in Crock of the Week

6 Comments »

6 Responses to “CBS: A Turning Point for Clean Energy”

rhymeswithgoalie Says:

April 13, 2023 at 2:25 am
Considering a significant chunk of plug-in vehicle owners who charge at home (and fleets charged at home base), I don’t think there’ll be a need for as many corner electric stations as there are gas stations. Places like apartment buildings which would never have installed their own in-ground tanks and pumps could provide charging pedestals on-site.

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rhymeswithgoalie Says:

April 13, 2023 at 2:44 am
Depending on who is covering it, the term “electric vehicle” may or may not include hybrids, so it’s hard to see how ambitious some goals are. I myself (low-hanging fruit) jumped directly from traditional ICE vehicle to tailpipe-free, but a lot of people will only make the safer step to hybrids. (Young people would have no trouble starting straight off with BEVs, but they ain’t got no money.)

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- ecoquant Says:
  
  April 13, 2023 at 9:37 am
  We rented a hybrid for a while and decided the partial step wasn’t worth it. We now have two BEVs. But we are unusual. We converted our house to be completely electric. We have a propane grill. Before installing 47 solar panels on our roof we got an emergency generator for full power drops in deep winter. We also have an electric lawn mower and a heat pump hot water heater. Don’t have batteries for house yet. Not sure Tesla batteries are worth it for house. Very expensive and we use net metering a lot.
  
  Also have oil furnace. We primarily use oil for oil furnace self-tests.
  
  Reply
  - ecoquant Says:
    
    April 13, 2023 at 12:06 pm
    The propane grill was owned before the move to solar.
    
    The other way to look at all this is greater independence from a centrally controlled and partly government managed public utility.
    
    Reply
jimbills Says:

April 13, 2023 at 10:12 am
47% won’t buy an EV “because of the cost”:
https://www.cbs19news.com/story/34248451/6-in-10-americans-dont-have-500-in-savings

The three other major speed bumps to EV adoption are charging station access, resource availability (it’ll take a while to ramp up the necessary mining), and grid stability (which will face unprecedented changes). Those factors along with EV price points will determine how quickly EVs remove ICE vehicles from the road. These are not tiny details – each one is a very challenging problem. Talking about “turning points” at this stage seems premature – although the Biden order will help push things along.

And even then, people won’t buy an EV if they just bought an ICE car. Each year ICE vehicles outsell EVs, we’re talking years before those same vehicles are off the road.

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- ecoquant Says:
  
  April 13, 2023 at 12:00 pm
  Grid stability is only a problem if the owners — or their workplace — don’t generate sufficient electrons from sun and wind to recharge the BEVs themselves.
  
  We do.
  
  Reply