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Plugging In A Solution

By Kleinheider Posted on May 5, 2008 at 8:25 am

GoldnI doesn’t see how Senator Lamar Alexander’s vision of plugin cars is really going to work:

And pardon me if I’m not understanding something here, but isn’t the biggest obstacle with plug-in cars is that they have to be, well, plugged into something? Where is that energy going to come from? Unless you’re connected to some sort of renewable energy source (and most Americans aren’t), wouldn’t you still be using energy from fossil fuels? Woudn’t that just shift the costs of oil from your gas bill to your electric bill? Granted, it may not use as much oil, but it still doesn’t address the central problem. I was always under the impression that plug-in hybrid vehicles wouldn’t work as a long-term method of reducing energy dependence unless they were used in conjunction with some other form of renewable energy.

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Comments

7 Responses to “Plugging In A Solution”

  1. Mickey writes
    May 5th, 2008 8:41 am

    For Once, GoldnI is Right!

  2. Bill Hobbs writes
    May 5th, 2008 8:43 am

    If you want to vastly reduce the amount of C02 being pumped into the atmosphere due to vehicles, the best solution appears to be plug-in electrics and an electricity grid that gets most of its power from nuclear plants.

  3. Mickey writes
    May 5th, 2008 8:53 am

    But Bill, all those dangerous chemicals in the batteries.filling up the landfills.getting into the ground water… the electric car is not the answer. but you are correct with the Nuclear Power example.

  4. Sean Braisted writes
    May 5th, 2008 9:58 am

    Mickey,

    I’m sure they can create a program to recycle or properly dispose of electric car batteries.

  5. Mickey writes
    May 5th, 2008 10:18 am

    Another need for energy. pick up batteries, take them, do something with them, More energy to factor in the use of them…

  6. Pollution Shell Game : Post Politics: Political News and Views in Tennessee writes
    May 8th, 2008 7:15 am

    […] Berger takes issue with Lamar Alexander’s contention that “plug-in” electric cars are demonstrably more environmentally friendly than our current gas-guzzlers: Though true that the […]

  7. Mike Padgett’s Unveils “Energy 2.0″ : Post Politics: Political News and Views in Tennessee writes
    May 9th, 2008 2:33 pm

    […] Like Alexander, Padgett discusses expanding the use of nuclear power and finding ways to burn coal cleaner. Absent in Padgett’s 10 point plan, however, there is in depth discussion of and heavy reliance on plug-in cars. […]

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