Regarding Brian Greenspun’s column in Sunday’s Las Vegas Sun:
Israel’s plan to convert all automobiles from gas to electric is remarkable. The program is ambitious, courageous and well worth the investment to help prevent global warming.
What the column fails to discuss, however, is the source of the electrical energy used to recharge the auto batteries. A little Internet surfing reveals that Israel’s electricity-generating plants are fueled by natural gas, coal, fuel oil and diesel oil.
Approximately 25 percent of the power plants are using fuel oil and 60 percent are dual-purpose natural gas and coal. The program is only as good as the cleanliness of the source of the power.
To complete the lofty aspiration of driving cars that will not pollute the atmosphere, a vast undertaking will be required to eventually furnish all power from renewable sources, such as solar, wind, tides, ocean temperature differentials, etc. The capital investment would be astronomical.
I do not mean to be negative, but to save the world we must go a lot further than the type of auto engine. I sincerely hope Israel is successful in this endeavor.
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