Electric Transportation, Solar PV, and the Environment

Here’s an article that takes us back to what I believe is an important discussion: how environmentally clean are electric vehicles? The basics:

In the U.S. right now, EVs are a net negative environmentally, because an incremental load on the grid is met almost always by burning more coal, whose ecological consequences are far worse than oil.

Having said that, there are many reasons to support the move to electrify our transportation, arguably the most important of which is dismantling the fossil fuel empire here in the U.S. and around the world.  Think, for a fleeting moment, of the death and destruction that is perpetuated every minute of every day as a result of the value of oil on this planet.

Then stop that thought, and go onto something far less grandiose: many EV buyers build extra solar PV on their roofs to charge their cars.  Since this PV wouldn’t have been installed if that weren’t the case, these EVs represent a clear and significant net positive to the environment.

I hope you agree that that what the people in Minnesota have done here is extremely clever initiative that moves the environmental needle in the right direction.