Thursday, September 1, 2016

Electric cars, even if all solar-electric, will still boil the oceans

Oil Change International: "The FT points out that although subsidies for buying an electric vehicle are available in most European countries as well as China, the US, Turkey and Canada, “in almost all of these, the current schemes will expire within five years.”

However, once electric vehicles can bring the cost down to that of a conventional vehicle then analysts believe the number of electric vehicles will soar."
Prepare for a shift from the subsidized petrol car to the subsidized electric car. This just means replacing oil with electricity generated by burning natural gas.

But let's assume that all electricity comes from renewables.

It still means that all the hell unleashed by the automobile - sprawl, growth, and wars - will be extended longer into the future.

But something is different this time. Heat.

The carbon is already in the air. The earth is already hot. Even if carbon emissions are zero or negative, we will still generate more heat.

Human activity generates heat. That heat can only leave the planet at a fixed rate. If we continue growth, we will boil the oceans, regardless of what we burn.

The only solution is rapid degrowth. If we abolish the automobile and urbanize, birth rates will fall.