The media recently raised headlines asserting that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles or PHEVs could increase air pollution. The question arises from PHEVs charging into an electric grid that is powered by coal or predominantly by coal. However, PHEVs and coal are not the problem but narrow governmental policy is the problem. More homes should be using renewable energy extracted from sources such as solar. Electric utility companies should be extracting at least 25% of their energy from renewable energy sources and implement plans to increase the percentage. Government vehicles should be fuel efficient and all new government buildings should meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or LEED standards. America’s fuel efficiency standard should be 50 miles-per-gallon. The federal government should be setting a standard for the rest to follow. However, it seems that local governments are more common sensical.

San Francisco may pass a green building ordinance in the next month. Some argue that hybrids are not economical for commercial or governmental fleets but the Highland Park, Illinois city council purchased a hybrid that saved them $980 in fuel costs. As a result, the city council switched “its non-emergency fleet vehicles to Toyota Prius hybrids.” Greensburg, Kansas after a devastating tornado is rebuilding green using LEED standards. All city buildings will be constructed to LEED Platinum level standards.

Most importantly, more research is being conducted to understand the holistic picture of anthropogenic activities and how we can manipulate the entire process to promote efficiency and mitigate the release of carbon. For example, when considering the carbon footprint of manufacturing solar cells not all photovoltaic cells are alike but solar cells are increasingly becoming more energy efficient and a new study compares and highlights the potential of solar energy. From Cleantech, CA:

Based on production data taken from over a dozen solar companies between 2004 and 2006, researchers from Brookhaven National Laboratory and Columbia University compared the manufacturing processes of single-crystal, multicrystal, ribbon silicon solar cells and thin-film cadmium-telluride solar cells.

The assessment also took into account the support materials needed such as cables, and the energy sources used in each manufacturing process. Different values were assigned to electricity generated from sources such as coal and natural gas. The researchers also looked at the use of each system over a 30-year period.

The researchers found that thin-film cadmium-telluride solar cells had the best life-cycle profile. Even though the process emitted the heavy metal cadmium, it still had a lower overall level of “harmful air emissions” than the other PV technologies in the study, they said….

“Overall, all PV technologies generate far less life-cycle air emissions per GWh than conventional fossil-fuel-based electricity generation technologies,” they wrote in the report. “At least 89% of air emissions associated with electricity generation could be prevented if electrity from photovoltaics displaces electricity from the grid.

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