Can EVs solve Air Pollution?

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advance2020
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Post by advance2020 »

George Monbiot claims EVs won't solve our pollution problems.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... -companies

George is keen to help save the planet and normally writes good stuff. His thoughts on better Urban Design and where we work & live make sense in theory, but Britain is old, and it's difficult re-model whole urban areas. It has been Government policy for years to encourage 'development' with within Cities and Towns - think Swindon - oh, dear. We only have ONE Milton Keynes. Ambitious, but never replicated.

But then of course he makes the point that our cars are not just about transport. Watch some of the recent SUVs ads, and it seems people buy them just to drive around in circles, kicking up the dust, or racing around urban streets, totally free of any traffic, having fun, rather than going anywhere.

And don't get me started on the smug guy, in his oversized VW 4x4 Tiguan dropping his kid off at school (why) and then driving (on his own) to work.

But at least we are trying to 'do our bit' - not like this guy in his BWM parked up at ASDA today, with his engine running.

CDE78439-E536-40B9-906A-1A5C5CEFF339.jpeg

Nice wheels though. He's young, should know better.
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milligoon
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Post by milligoon »

EVs can help by not generating more per household, but the pollution and excess greenhouse gasses that are already there, well they need massive scale industrial processes to actively scrub the air, EVs are only a small part of the solution. Yes you could leave the planet to it but that's a very slow process. Things need to be tackled from all angles
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Post by rickwookie »

I'm not sure. Have you seen this?
MattHero
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Post by MattHero »

My general attitude toward this and sustainability in general, is that just because you can't do *everything*, doesn't mean you shouldn't do *something*.

EVs are not everything, but each contributes in a tiny way. Which when multiplied.....
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Left4Cookies
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Post by Left4Cookies »

There's also the part about general air quality, especially in major cities. Here in Denmark the Ministry of Environment came out and said a couple of weeks after locking the country down due to the pandemic, that the amount of NOx pollution in the biggest cities dropped by 40% https://mst.dk/service/nyheder/nyhedsar ... riktioner/ (sorry it's in Danish but I'm sure it's relatively easy to find more on this).

Sure EVs aren't pollution free as tires throw off particles and they still make noise (if we noise pollution as pollution), but in my view, urban air quality is one of the biggest improvements EVs can make for us right now.
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ChesterUK
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Post by ChesterUK »

Yeah, it's a bit disheartening to see that BEVs have a larger carbon hit for production currently (see recent Polestar report), but the energy efficiency of BEVs and charging from renewables only means that this will be recuperated where obviously ICEs keep burning stuff.

Equally similar things happen with renewable energy components themselves. To be carbon neutral from manufacturing and installing solar panels (not inclusive of logistics) happens on average in 2 years according to LG. There's a carbon hit in everything manufactured and shipped, but the interesting thing is how long does it take to become carbon neutral, even better negative! Is it possible to reduce carbon footprint if on a 100% green energy tariff?!! Hmm.

Has anyone got any information about manufacturers moving to renewable energy? That would be very interesting although I've seen very little.
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