Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

According to the news on May 10, the environmental protection of electric vehicles depends on the cleanliness of the power supply used, which varies greatly from country to country.

Global car sales data show that more and more people are buying electric cars that do not emit the carbon dioxide that causes climate change when they drive. However, the impact of electric vehicle substitution on overall emissions depends on the way local electricity is generated.

Power sector emissions data analyzed by Ember, an independent environmental think-tank, show that in some areas, electricity mainly comes from coal, which emits high carbon dioxide, which weakens the role of electric vehicles in dealing with climate change.

By contrast, the United States produced 368 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour of electricity in 2022, which means driving electric cars in the United States produces much less greenhouse gases than in Germany or Japan. After a decade of decline, carbon emissions from Germany's power sector rose more than 5 per cent year-on-year last year to 386 grams per kilowatt-hour. This makes driving electric cars in Germany less conducive to climate protection than in the United States and neighboring France.

Last year, about 60% of the electricity in the United States came from fossil fuels, about 18% from nuclear power and 22% from renewable energy, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

While the United States is generally considered to be a big fan of high-engine cars and trucks, the United States has made significant progress in reducing emissions from the power sector, according to the Federation of concerned scientists, an environmental think-tank and advocacy group. Since 2012, the group has been tracking the cleanliness of electric vehicles and conventional fuel-fueled vehicles.

David Reicemouth (David Reichmuth) of the federation recently co-authored a study on electric cars. Emissions from the overall power sector are falling as more and more renewable energy flows into the US grid, he said. This means that electric vehicles are cleaner because they generate less carbon from the power generation process.

"people tend to underestimate this shift, that is, as the power grid becomes cleaner, so will the emissions of electric vehicles on the road." Reichmus said.

No matter where you drive, electric cars are always a greener choice than fuel cars, as evidenced by the European Environment Agency, the International Energy Agency and academic research. In 2020, for example, researchers from the universities of Cambridge, Exeter and the Netherlands found that driving electric cars was more beneficial to the climate in 95 per cent of the world.

Although some people have taken into account the carbon emissions of processes such as battery manufacturing and metal collection, which account for a large part of the entire life cycle of electric vehicles, figures released by the International Energy Agency last October show that even with the worst battery materials, electric vehicles still produce less than half of the carbon dioxide emissions of fuel vehicles throughout their life cycle.

In addition, the environmental protection of electric vehicles is still improving. Ember's 2023 review of the global power industry shows that global carbon dioxide emissions from power generation have fallen by 11% since they peaked at 489g per kilowatt-hour in 2007.

However, due to the different ways of generating electricity in different countries, there are still great differences in the emission efficiency of driving electric vehicles around the world.

According to Ember, the EU's carbon emissions have fallen by nearly 1/5 over the past decade because EU emission standards have become more stringent. But even within the European Union, the cleanliness of electric vehicles varies greatly depending on the way they generate electricity in different countries.

The country with the lowest emissions in the European Union is Norway, which generates more than 90% of its electricity from hydropower and emitted 27 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour last year. About 40% of France's electricity comes from nuclear power, with 85 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour.

Poland, by contrast, is one of the EU's worst climate polluters and has long relied mainly on coal to generate electricity. At present, more than 70% of the country's electricity comes from coal-fired power stations, and carbon dioxide emissions reached 635 grams per kilowatt-hour last year.

The BRIC countries Brazil, Russia, India and China were once seen as the main drivers of global growth, but there are huge differences between these countries in terms of carbon emissions.

According to the International Energy Agency, Brazil is one of the most active countries in switching to wind, solar and other renewable energy sources, which account for about 92% of Brazil's electricity. As a result, carbon dioxide emissions from the Brazilian power sector last year were 102 grams per kilowatt-hour.

India's power plants, which mainly use fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, emitted 632 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour last year, one of the highest emissions in the world.

In 2022, China's coal-and oil-based power generation emitted 530 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour into the atmosphere. Although it is still high relative to other large economies, it has declined from a few years ago, and as China speeds up its nuclear construction, more than 20 nuclear power plants are already under construction and emissions will be further reduced in the future.

Meanwhile, China, one of the world's largest electric vehicle markets, accounted for 22 per cent of new car sales last year, compared with about 12 per cent in Europe and 6 per cent in the US.

Globally, wind and solar now account for about 12% of electricity generated. More than 10% of the electricity in the 60 countries covered by the Ember study comes from wind and solar energy. Analysts at Ember say the global power sector is approaching a tipping point in which the use of renewable energy is expanding rapidly to almost fully meet the growing demand for electricity.

"driving electric cars is getting cleaner and cleaner all over the world." Said Phil MacDonald, general manager of Ember.

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