Discussions about the best ways to address climate change appear frequently in national media. One proposal is that we convert our automotive fleet from fossil fuel energy to electric energy.
We Americans operate 250 million motor vehicles, and we drive three trillion miles each year. The state of battery technology does not allow operation of heavy trucks and long-haul trucks on battery power. However, 147.5 million “light vehicles,” i.e., cars, pickup trucks, and light vans can be powered by batteries. Converting these light vehicles to electrical power would reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 6.6% if the electricity came from power plants that did not emit greenhouse gases.
There is a problem. Electric utilities have had to institute rolling blackouts because of an inadequate availability of electricity during periods of high demand. If our electricity supply is marginal, what will happen if we convert the automotive fleet to electric power? The increased demand for electricity will be immense. The United States does not have a national electrical grid that could allow transmission of electricity from places where it is available to places where it is needed. Automobile manufacturing is a mature industry, and it is much easier to convert automobiles to electric power than it is to build electric power plants. We need to build the power plants before we adopt electric automobiles. That also requires choosing an energy source for those new power plants.
Hydroelectric plants require specific topography accompanied by adequate precipitation. Most of the United States does not qualify. Fossil fuel plants could do the job if the carbon dioxide emissions were captured and buried, but that is a very expensive process. Nuclear power is a likely contender. There are some 60 nuclear research projects ongoing in the United States. New plants may be modular designs that can be partially factory built and assembled on site. Some of the designs may not require the significant amount of cooling water that conventional nuclear plants require.
However, radioactive waste is a problem. Nuclear fission was mastered 76 years ago, and we still do not have a long-term storage site for radioactive waste. The radioactive waste needs to be stored, monitored, and guarded for thousands of years, something future generations may not appreciate. Energy produced by solar panels and wind turbines can make a useful contribution, but they are not stand-alone systems. Solar and wind turbine systems produce intermittently and must be backed by conventional electric plants that can produce electricity 24/7/365.
Addressing the many issues associated with climate change will probably be a very expensive, long-running process. We cannot afford expensive projects that do not solve problems. Adopting electric automobiles before we have sufficient electric generating capacity to operate them would be an unintelligent move.
Jack Stevenson is retired. He served two years in Vietnam as an infantry officer, retired from military service and worked three years as a U.S. Civil Service employee. He also worked in Egypt as an employee of the former Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Currently, he reads history, follows issues important to Americans and writes commentary for community newspapers.
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