By Craig Welling
Once upon a time some of the EXPERTS thought the world was flat. And currently many EXPERTS say that continued Burning of Fossil Fuels could lead to our extinction. Here is the scientific explanation:
BFF (burning of fossil fuels) creates CE (carbon emissions), which become GG (greenhouse gases). Greenhouses gasses trap solar energy, which causes GW (global warming). And global warming will lead to extinction of species that do not adapt to the CC (climate change) that occurs.
Those of us alive today will not live long enough to know whether future Climate Change will lead to extinction of the human race. But the rush is on to eliminate motor vehicles that burn fossil fuels and replace them with Electric Vehicles. Automobiles, vans & buses are being converted to EV. Will this conversion help? Not exactly. If all road transportation vehicles (automobiles, vans & buses) in the U.S. are converted from burning fossil fuels to EV, carbon emissions would be reduced by about 6 percent.
NOT SO GOOD NEWS
Note: Electric Vehicles need to have the batteries re-charged. Most electrical power is generated by plants that burn fossil fuels and create carbon emissions. It is estimated that production of electricity to recharge an EV will produce 1 unit of carbon emissions compared to 10 units produced by the fossil fuel vehicle it replaces.
BAD NEWS
Greenhouse Gases come from multiple Economic Sectors: Manufacturing 24 percent; Electricity & Heat Production 25 percent; Industry/Manufacturing 21 percent. Deforestation (which decreases the carbon dioxide absorption by trees) increases greenhouse gases by another 24 percent. Yet, total production of greenhouse gases continues to increase from each of these sectors.
Since 1970, annual worldwide carbon emissions have doubled. Much of the increase has come from construction of new coal-fired power plants, which are the least efficient and produce the most emissions. Currently it is estimated that China operates about 52 percent of worldwide coal-fired power plants, followed by India and the US at about 11 percent each.
From 2020 to 2022 the US has retired more coal-fired power generation than China and India combined. However, China and India continue to build new coal-fired power generation capacity. And all three countries continue to operate power plants that generate carbon emissions.
Conclusions:
Total worldwide carbon emissions will increase for the foreseeable future. Converting cars, vans & buses to EV will not stop the increases or substantially reduce the rate of increase. Replacing electrical plants that burn fossil fuels with nuclear plants would help. But are we ready to build more nuclear power plants?
