Environment & Energy

Last edited Sat Aug 24, 2024, 12:36 PM - Edit history (2)

So, no, conventional hybrids, fueled entirely by gasoline, are not a solution to the global climate disaster. Essentially they are just a somewhat higher than average mpg gasoline car compared to an ICE counterpart. Anyone who advocates conventional hybrids as a solution to climate change, in my mind, is at best ignorant.

Plug-in hybrids are different, getting *some* of their energy from the grid. A grid that is about 60% fossil fuel, which, while appalling, is still better than 100% as in the case of conventional hybrids. And a grid that is decarbonizing, albeit slowly, and the goal is to decarbonize completely.

So for people who drive a plug-in hybrid mostly 30 miles or less between charges, their consumed energy is more like 60% fossil fuel rather than 100%. As that all-electric range improves, and grid decarbonization continues, the proportion coming from fossil fuels decreases.

Unfortunately I keep reading that plug-in hybrids are often not plugged in or not plugged in enough, so that a large proportion of the miles driven by plug-in hybrids, on average, are from gasoline.

edited to add CO2 emissions from the U.S. electric power sector has decreased 11.8% from 2019 thru 2023. Separately, from measurements of an EIA.gov graph, greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. electric power sector declined 36.5% from the peak of that metric in 2007 thru 2022, i.e. by more than a third.
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