Doesn powering cars with electricity just move the carbon emissions from the tail pipe to the power plant?
It depends on where you live. If you live in Seattle Washington the answer is basically, “No”. The latest posting on Seattle City Light’s web site shows that just about 99% of the electricity that we use is from non-carbon producing sources. If you live in the Eastern part of the US, the answer is more like, “sort of, but it’s not as bad”. If you add up all the carbon that is produced from the oil well to the tail pipe (carbon produced to pump or extract oil from the ground, ship it to the refinery, refine the oil into gasoline, transport it to your local gas station and then burn it in your engine) it adds up to be more than what it takes to extract coal from the ground, ship it to the power plant and then burn it. As “dirty” states move towards cleaner energy for the grid, it will only get better, but by burning gas in your car you don’t have any options of making it better.
