Today@Dal

Published March 30 by CBC:

Most people think if you drive an electric car, then you are helping the environment. But not if your electricity comes from a coal-fired power generation plant, according to a University of Toronto report.

In Nova Scotia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, electric cars generate more carbon over their lifetimes than gas-powered vehicles, Chris Kennedy, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto, told CBC Radio's The Current last week.

That's because those provinces generate much of their electricity by burning coal, so consuming more electricity — by charging your electric car battery, for instance — significantly boosts carbon emissions.

...

However, several experts in Nova Scotia say hang on: the numbers are from 2012 and don't consider renewable energy or what is about to come online in this province.

"I think Nova Scotia was pointed out rather abruptly because Nova Scotia is rather high on the greenhouse gas emitters list, but it failed to recognize the future in this province," says Lucas Swan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Dalhousie University. 

"It will be falling because we have the largest wind field coming online later this year. We have the big hydro project at Muskrat Falls that's going to come on in the next couple of years. All those things drive our emission intensity down." 

"My numbers to date right now, simple back-of-the-envelope calculations, show presently I am saving greenhouse gas emissions in Nova Scotia by driving an electric car over driving a gas car right now," he added. 

"It is a marginal amount, but it gets better every single year because we continue to add renewable energy to our grid."

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