Matthew Spizziri reports that in a recent article on TheHill.com, Stephen Antony, of Energy Fuels Inc., discussed the sustainability-driven market dynamics influencing the transportation sector. The enthusiasm for electric vehicles (EVs) demonstrates that, even with crude oil and gasoline prices near six-year lows, clean power sources to charge these vehicles around the clock is needed. In many parts of the U.S., these superficially clean and green EVs will be powered by fossil fuels, including coal. That leads Antony to suggest that nuclear energy should have a larger role to play as utilities of the future power smart cities, including the development of EV-charging infrastructure that is clean, reliable, and capable of meeting this new source of growing consumer demand.
The source of electricity for EV-charging in most areas is not very green. And, that is problematic. Even though carbon-free, emission-free nuclear energy accounted for approx. 20% of all electricity generated in the U.S. in 2015 ... with hydropower providing 6% and wind, solar, and geothermal providing another 6%, 67% of all electricity is generated from fossil fuels. The question of whether EVs are actually green or not has been examined in several sources including: a 2012 New York Times feature .. How Green Are Electric Cars? Depends on Where You Plug In, a 2014 study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory which showed that the environmental health impacts of powering EVs with coal is worse than simply staying with conventional gasoline, and a November 2015 Washington Post article entitled Electric Cars and the coal that runs them.
Clearly, if reducing air pollution, lowering CO2 emissions, and improving human health are catalysts for getting behind the wheel of an EV, we should not be powering these vehicles with fossil fuels. If EVs are to be truly green, Antony argues that they charged with electricity generated primarily from nuclear power.
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