• Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        8 months ago

        Yeah, people sometimes don’t understand diversity of tactics. The problems that cars cause are a pain and really bad for our mental health, but without climate change being a factor they’re not going to drive us extinct.

      • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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        8 months ago

        Too bad that’s a lie since they still have all the polluting aspects of car production and wear items (tires, brake pads, pumps) plus way more electronic waste. The only thing they dont’ have is specific tail-pipe emissions, which on the balance is the least important part of car pollution.

        • CurtAdams@urbanists.social
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          8 months ago

          @PowerCrazy @TheRealCharlesEames No. Tailpipe emissions are far and away the worst thing coming out of a car, because they are destroying the climate of the entire earth. If unchecked, it will destroy every ecosystem extant on the planet and kill most humans. 1.7 million deaths a year is truly, epically awful, but still not even a small fraction as bad.

          • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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            8 months ago

            Wait until you hear about how much emissions a single cargo ship emits. Or a commercial Jet, or Cruise ship, or a coal plant.

                  • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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                    8 months ago

                    If old cars could be converted to electric easily, then you’d have a point. But every single electric car sold is ~1 additional car on the road, and extra cars are worse for the environment then fewer cars.

            • Mr Fish@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Wow, there are multiple sources of pollution. Who woulda thunk it?

              a single cargo ship

              For the amount they carry, it’s fuck all. They’re so huge that economy of scale works overtime.

        • 0110010001100010@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Not to mention (at least here in the US) roughly 60% of our power generation is fossil fuels. So you just shift the tailpipe emissions somewhere else. Assuming you don’t charge at home with a solar setup or something.

          • thefartographer@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            As power generation scales up, so does efficiency across individual applications. On the scale of cars, DC motors are far more efficient than ICEs. It’s not by design, but EVs do work out to be more efficient than ICEs in this example.

            But the same point about power generation still holds true with transportation, which is why mass transit is a better investment overall, but good luck to us convincing anyone of that.

          • CurtAdams@urbanists.social
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            8 months ago

            @0110010001100010 @PowerCrazy Even if it runs off fossil fuel produced electricity, an EV produces about 1/3 as much emissions because it’s so much more efficient. With 40% renewable, it’s only producing 1/5 as much, and dropping as the % of electricity from renewables continues to soar in the US.

            • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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              8 months ago

              And some of us live in Jurisdictions with 90%+ renewable electricity. My EV emissions are practically non-existent.

              • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Your EV still had manufacturing emissions for raw materials and building the car, transport emissions getting the car to the dealer, shares a portion of road maintaince emissions, and will have “end of life” emissions when the car is scrapped.

                Your EV emissions are not “non-existent”.

                • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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                  8 months ago

                  See, the problem with that math, is that it ignores the fact that I would own a car regardless. A gas vehicle would have similar (yes EVs have slightly higher manufacturing emissions) base emissions, in addition to the tailpipe. They cancel out when you compare car to car. My emissions, compared to driving a gas model, are non-existent, which I guess is a clarification that you need.

                  Unfortunately for my total emissions, I live in a rural area, there isn’t even a bus that would get my kids to hockey practice, let alone games in a 2 hour driving radius.

                • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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                  8 months ago

                  They’re really the only option in rural areas like where I live at this point. I’d like to see more busses (we have hourly service along a nearby main road to only a single destination) but until we make them self driving and electric to reduce operating costs, there’s simply no way the district could afford to run them frequently enough to be a viable alternative to cars.

                  I did use busses extensively while I lived in the city though. I wish they were cheaper (or free) though.