best electric cars australia image
jellabean
My husband just started a new job. We're both in our mid 20's. We have 2 infants and a boat load of debt to pay off plus the regular bills. We're in so much money trouble, it's scary. We need help with our PECO (electric) bill so bad. They're going to shut off our electricity if we don't pay it in full, in 20 days time. With 2 babies to take care of, we can't afford to have no electric or gas. Any suggestions? (and please don't say something cute like get a job or something. i'm asking for help, not sarcasm.)
Answer
This is a vicious cycle problem. I'm in Australia and have suffered the same problem in earlier life. Steps:
. talk to PECO - often if you have to (how extreme is the bill? If it's miles out of whack with normal, explain this to them. It has surprised you and you haven't allowed for it in your budget) - answer above was good
Regardless of what happens there (because you have to sort things):
. try looking for sell-offs (answer above was good). Can you get a cheaper car to run? Televisions, old childrens clothes and toys at a garage sale etc
. try raising the money through non-borrowing means (e.g. an extra job or whatever)
. try charities - are you in a church for example?
. can you get help with more efficient heating and cooling - lots of green groups out there that might like to use you as a 'project'!
You might need to swallow your pride a bit, get this problem fixed and then fix the underlying problems like doing more efficient things with heating and cooling.
This is a vicious cycle problem. I'm in Australia and have suffered the same problem in earlier life. Steps:
. talk to PECO - often if you have to (how extreme is the bill? If it's miles out of whack with normal, explain this to them. It has surprised you and you haven't allowed for it in your budget) - answer above was good
Regardless of what happens there (because you have to sort things):
. try looking for sell-offs (answer above was good). Can you get a cheaper car to run? Televisions, old childrens clothes and toys at a garage sale etc
. try raising the money through non-borrowing means (e.g. an extra job or whatever)
. try charities - are you in a church for example?
. can you get help with more efficient heating and cooling - lots of green groups out there that might like to use you as a 'project'!
You might need to swallow your pride a bit, get this problem fixed and then fix the underlying problems like doing more efficient things with heating and cooling.
How much would we cut GHGs if we all switched to electric cars?
Chem Flunk
Assume, hypothetically, that everyone replaced their gas-powered cars with either electric cars, or plug-in hybrids, such that 90% of ordinary passenger driving was electric-powered. Assume further, pessimistically, that all the electricity for these cars came from a 50/50 mix of coal and natural gas power plants. Would we reduce our net GHG emissions, and if so roughly by how much? (bonus points for sources)
either as a total figure, or as a percentage of driving-related GHGs...
d/dx: can I have a ballpark guess of the GHG reductions? Trying to at least get an order of magnitude here...
Answer
Even within the information you give there is potentially a great variation: Where are we replacing the vehicles. If you are thinking of almost anywhere than the US then the gasoline mileage for the cars would be higher. It is with gasoline mileage that we start. For every gallon used in an internal combustion engine about 19.5 pounds of carbon dioxide are produced (about 154 lbs per 1 million btu .) As a vehicle travels further on a gallon the greenhouse gas emissions per mile will be reduced.
Not only does the typical mileage vary per country but so also does the energy mix used to produce electricity. If you are considering France than 80% of the electrical power is generated with nuclear energy. The Northwest and Canada uses a lot of hydro. Australia like the midwest US is over 80% coal. There is probably no place that is 50% coal and 50% natural gas. The US mix is about 40% coal 24% natural gas 20% nuclear with the balance mostly renew ables. Coal is on the decline and is being replaced by natural gas and renew-ables.
But for the sake of calculation we assume 50% coal 50% natural gas for electricity for 90% of vehicles. What are we assuming as the starting point? Market penetration for the EV in the US is now less than 1/2 of 1%. Do we assume 0% If we are going to present any numbers we need a working population. The US has about 200 million vehicles. More? Less? What will we assume as the annual mileage for each vehicle. The US average is about 12500 but some use 15000 miles per year. European average mileage is less. In some places like Manhattan 80% of the people don't even own cars.
Because you are considering the replacement of 90% of present vehicles there are factors that are not normally considered. It takes a great deal of electricity to refine gasoline. There are estimates as high as 6.5kWh/gallon. http://greentransportation.info/how-much-electricity-is-used-refine-a-gallon-of-gasoline At this rate the EV can travel further on the energy used to refine a gallon of gasoline than an average petrol car (24mpg) can go using the refined product. The EV would be costing no "new" pollution and we would be avoiding all the pollution of the petrol vehicle and the refinery. Refineries also operate 24/7 so eliminating 90% of them would tend to shift electrical demand away from peak daytime to a more balanced usage.
Another factor that is rarely considered is the inefficiency and pollution caused by coal plants that can not be turned off and can only be turned down slightly to for off peak lower energy usage. Coal must be used to keep the boilers warm at night to avoid boiler damage. Therefore at night when electrical demand is less the more polluting coal plants will be used rather than the less polluting gas fired power plants. Overall electric vehicles charging at night makes the system more efficient than without them but at some increase in pollution.
The refinery + petrol vehicle (85% x 15% = 13% efficiency ) is about 3 x less efficient than a coal plant plus an electric car ( 40% x 90% = 36%) and the difference is even greater with a gas fired plant plus an electric car (60% x 90% = 54%) (average = 45%) This advantage is somewhat taken up by the more polluting aspects of coal ( about 204 lbs of CO2/1million BTU http://www.eia.gov/coal/production/quarterly/co2_article/co2.html ) and by the concerns that burning natural gas produces water vapor and mining natural gas introduces methane into the atmosphere (both more potent GHG sources than CO2. Fracking seems to introduce even more methane (primary component of natural gas) into the atmosphere so some attention must be paid to how the energy is mined, drilled, and transported.
Because the calculations tend to become very complex with many assumptions for variables I am suspect of numbers that attempt to prove or disprove the case for electric cars on the basis of some "exact numbers" for pollution issues alone. What we can say with some confidence is that the EV is by itself a zero emission vehicle and will likely involve from 1/3 to 1/2 the overall pollution (including GHG, spilled liquids and solid waste) of petrol vehicles. When we combine the likely-hood of reduced pollution with the increased security and economic benefits the argument for the EV becomes more compelling.
Even within the information you give there is potentially a great variation: Where are we replacing the vehicles. If you are thinking of almost anywhere than the US then the gasoline mileage for the cars would be higher. It is with gasoline mileage that we start. For every gallon used in an internal combustion engine about 19.5 pounds of carbon dioxide are produced (about 154 lbs per 1 million btu .) As a vehicle travels further on a gallon the greenhouse gas emissions per mile will be reduced.
Not only does the typical mileage vary per country but so also does the energy mix used to produce electricity. If you are considering France than 80% of the electrical power is generated with nuclear energy. The Northwest and Canada uses a lot of hydro. Australia like the midwest US is over 80% coal. There is probably no place that is 50% coal and 50% natural gas. The US mix is about 40% coal 24% natural gas 20% nuclear with the balance mostly renew ables. Coal is on the decline and is being replaced by natural gas and renew-ables.
But for the sake of calculation we assume 50% coal 50% natural gas for electricity for 90% of vehicles. What are we assuming as the starting point? Market penetration for the EV in the US is now less than 1/2 of 1%. Do we assume 0% If we are going to present any numbers we need a working population. The US has about 200 million vehicles. More? Less? What will we assume as the annual mileage for each vehicle. The US average is about 12500 but some use 15000 miles per year. European average mileage is less. In some places like Manhattan 80% of the people don't even own cars.
Because you are considering the replacement of 90% of present vehicles there are factors that are not normally considered. It takes a great deal of electricity to refine gasoline. There are estimates as high as 6.5kWh/gallon. http://greentransportation.info/how-much-electricity-is-used-refine-a-gallon-of-gasoline At this rate the EV can travel further on the energy used to refine a gallon of gasoline than an average petrol car (24mpg) can go using the refined product. The EV would be costing no "new" pollution and we would be avoiding all the pollution of the petrol vehicle and the refinery. Refineries also operate 24/7 so eliminating 90% of them would tend to shift electrical demand away from peak daytime to a more balanced usage.
Another factor that is rarely considered is the inefficiency and pollution caused by coal plants that can not be turned off and can only be turned down slightly to for off peak lower energy usage. Coal must be used to keep the boilers warm at night to avoid boiler damage. Therefore at night when electrical demand is less the more polluting coal plants will be used rather than the less polluting gas fired power plants. Overall electric vehicles charging at night makes the system more efficient than without them but at some increase in pollution.
The refinery + petrol vehicle (85% x 15% = 13% efficiency ) is about 3 x less efficient than a coal plant plus an electric car ( 40% x 90% = 36%) and the difference is even greater with a gas fired plant plus an electric car (60% x 90% = 54%) (average = 45%) This advantage is somewhat taken up by the more polluting aspects of coal ( about 204 lbs of CO2/1million BTU http://www.eia.gov/coal/production/quarterly/co2_article/co2.html ) and by the concerns that burning natural gas produces water vapor and mining natural gas introduces methane into the atmosphere (both more potent GHG sources than CO2. Fracking seems to introduce even more methane (primary component of natural gas) into the atmosphere so some attention must be paid to how the energy is mined, drilled, and transported.
Because the calculations tend to become very complex with many assumptions for variables I am suspect of numbers that attempt to prove or disprove the case for electric cars on the basis of some "exact numbers" for pollution issues alone. What we can say with some confidence is that the EV is by itself a zero emission vehicle and will likely involve from 1/3 to 1/2 the overall pollution (including GHG, spilled liquids and solid waste) of petrol vehicles. When we combine the likely-hood of reduced pollution with the increased security and economic benefits the argument for the EV becomes more compelling.
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Title Post: How can I get help paying my EXTREMELY large electric bill in Pa?
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Rating: 92% based on 925 ratings. 4 user reviews.
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Thanks For Coming To My Blog
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