Why is electricity is considered as the best alternative for fuel?

Question

why? i know that gas uses a lot of energy and resources but what about electricity? does electricity don't use resources and energy that contributes to pollution? why many people considers electricity the best alternative given the fact that electricity still contributes to pollution.

Answer 1

Electricity does create pollution, but the design of electric cars is inherently like 3 or 4 times more power-efficient than gasoline, so even when you produce electricity from only a coal-fired plant [US is half-coal], you're still not producing as much greenhouse gases as the equivalent mileage of gasoline.

Also, gasoline always pollutes. One day, electricity can be produced from all renewable sources, like solar, wind, hydroelectric, and tide turbines, so electricity will pollute less over time while gasoline always pollutes.

Answer 2

Energy is a less pollutant source of energy than fuels, for a car, because rather than having to ship the gas to the gas station, which the process consumes gas, it is easier to send the energy in fiber wires which is faster, saves energy, and is more efficient transportation- wise.

And electrical energy can be created from geothermal, wind, hydro, solar, nuclear, etc energy.

Answer 3

Sure, electricity isn't emissions-free, but you can get it from a variety of sources.  Oil, coal, solar, wind, hydro, wave, geothermal, nuclear, etc. etc.

The benefit of electric cars is that large power plants are efficient at converting fuel to energy, and electric motors are extremely efficient (~90%) at converting energy to motion.

Studies have shown that even with the current US power grid mix (which is 52% coal), electric cars emit less greenhouse gases than gas cars, hybrids, and even plug-in hybrids.

Answer 4

So your saying that my electrical outlet is full of pollutants?!?!

ZOUNDS!!!

Answer 5

It is more practical to make electricity with renewables (solar and wind) than it would be to make stuff like gasoline because we are just wiggling electrons.

Answer 6

no

Answer 7

It's true that just switching from gas to coal to power your car may not cut down on pollution, but what if you used Renewable Energy to power your lifestyle ?  Then electricity makes total sense.  One just has to have the proper stuff, you can't take a boat to an airplane race and hope to win.

Answer 8

Electricity is not considered a "fuel".  It is a convenient means to distribute energy once made from a fuel.

All of of computers and electronics, and most of our machines, require electricity to operate.  But electricity cannot be stored like other fuels, and usually must be used as soon as it is created from a generator.

So the primary fuel/energy sources are coal, oil, gas, nuclear, and hydroelectric.  Hydroelectric dams convert falling water direct to electricity.  Wind, solar, wood, geothermal, etc. are insignificant sources of energy at this time.

You can transport and store energy as coal, oil, gas, and enriched uranium, and then convert to electricity as needed.

Making electricity creates some pollution (except for hydro).  Once made electricity is a pollution free way to distribute this high quality energy.

Answer 9

hydrogen powered cars

Answer 10

It will produce more CO2 per mile than gasoline.

Answer 11

People seem to think that electricity can be generated freely. It can, but only if we invest in solar/wind/geothermal/wave power generation. Electricity is only a medium for power transfer, like hydrogen. And since storing electricity is still problematic, ethanol from switchgrass and algae still have the edge in the real world.