How do you charge your batteries?

[actwithclarity]

How do you know the electricity you're using isn't generated by burning coal (a fossil fuel) or uranium (another non-renewable resource)?

Do you have a windmill in your back yard and can only drive after a windy day?

Do you ask your electricity provider to only route to your house electricity generated by ruining rivers (dams) or killing birds (windmills)?

Do you pretend like you're drawing from the 5% of energy from hydro plants on the grid, and everyone else is using the dirty stuff?

[mort]

I look here.

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by actwithclarity

How do you know the electricity you're using isn't generated by burning coal (a fossil fuel) or uranium (another non-renewable resource)?

Do you have a windmill in your back yard and can only drive after a windy day?

Do you ask your electricity provider to only route to your house electricity generated by ruining rivers (dams) or killing birds (windmills)?

Do you pretend like you're drawing from the 5% of energy from hydro plants on the grid, and everyone else is using the dirty stuff?

Nope. "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

And I don't care about what the Environmental Propaganda Agency says, either.

[bennelson]

Mine is actually CERTIFIED Green!

I used to have a link to a real-time display of a wind plant, where our power provider owned a part share (wind tower #3). I could actually see a chart in real-time of how much power tower #3 was making. It was pretty cool.

[Ryland]

I buy wind power and sure it kills birds, but a wind turbine kills on average a bird per year, you know what else kills a bird per year? each window in your house, the other thing that kills birds is trees, they tend to run smack dab in to the trunks of them, so if you really really cared about birds you wouldn't have windows in your house and you would cut down all the trees, pollution from coal also kills birds along with pollution from oil, refining oil also takes electricity and where is that electricity coming from? the amount of electricity it takes it refine a gallon of gasoline can power an electric car for 20 to 30 miles (depends on the electric car) the pollution from coal power plants is also less per mile driven in an electric car then the pollution from a gasoline car and that is before you take in to account the pollution it takes to refine that gasoline.
So worst case my electric car is running of coal and is still doing less damage then my 50mpg non hybrid gasoline car, reality it's running off wind power, if I visit my parents then it's running off their wind and solar power.
I've also checked in to the batteries that I use along with a number of other brands of batteries out there and at least my lead acid batteries are pretty safe and I would feel just fine with Lithium batteries as well.

[actwithclarity]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Mine is actually CERTIFIED Green!

I knew there must be a nut to buy everything, otherwise these products wouldn't survive.

Originally Posted by Ryland

I buy wind power and sure it kills birds, but a wind turbine kills on average a bird per year...

Ok ok you're right. They kill a handful of birds, a handful of bats, but their effects on those are relatively small compared with all our other activities. I wonder what else they kill that we don't notice or isn't sensational enough to get in the news.

Other effects: pollution created to build windmills, land pollution (% of surface area taken), noise pollution. With enough windmills local and perhaps global climate patterns would be altered.

All the effects of windmills aren't immediately noticeable or deemed significant enough by us to us at this point. But calling them "eco-friendly" is a fallacy. Calling them "green" is a marketing strategy that is not surprisingly growing popular.

Originally Posted by Ryland

I've also checked in to the batteries that I use along with a number of other brands of batteries out there and at least my lead acid batteries are pretty safe

That's a new one.

[Frank Lee]

What's your point? Thread #1,248 on EV vs fossil fuel?

BTW, I know exactly where my power comes from; the utility explains it all in their monthly newsletter.

[gone-ot]

...I don't notice any better "efficiency" or lower "cost" between normal electrons and green electrons...both seem to spin the Watt-Hour meter at exactly the same rate.

[jakobnev]

How do you know the electricity you're using isn't generated by burning coal

I pay extra to get all my electricity from burning sulphur.

[Ryland]

The largest negative impact that wind power has is that people don't think it's pretty, sure some do but the people who don't like it the most don't want to look at it, the negative impact that it causes like killing a bird per year on average is a weak point to argue because there are so many other things that we do that have a lager impact, same with the impact of building wind turbines! sure they have steel and copper and concrete, but so does every other form of electrical generation and to a point so does your house, but well built wind turbines should last 100 years and they are the cheapest form of new power plants that we can build, the trouble is finding good land to put them on that people don't have hissy fits about how many birds they are going to kill and how they are going to lower their property vaules, I've lived with wind turbines all my life and the first thing people say when they first see one is "I thought it would be louder" why would you think it would be louder???
So we should not be wasteful with our electricity just because we can get it from the wind but if you don't like wind turbines then stop using electricity!
And yes, the bit I said about batteries is a bit off topic but having talked to the battery companies and to the companies that recycle them I feel pretty good about using them, again I'm not saying we should be wasteful and use more then we need because that is just stupid, but I feel better about having lead acid batteries then using gasoline in my 50mpg car.