Even as we move towards more efficient electrical energy sources – emphasizing those sources of power generation that do not rely on greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels – we have four massive additional problems: 1. transmitting electrical power, 2. storing it, 3. accessing it where needed and 4. Congress. Congress is gridlocked by a contingent of climate change deniers/ marginalizers who are demanding rollbacks in already approved infrastructure and energy conservation legislation… and are completely opposed to any additional spending that could raise taxes for the top 5% of wealthy Americans.
They come from states that are actively considering banning or severely limiting EV charging stations or taxing those homes with solar panels… even as flooding, tornadoes, wildfires, coastal erosion, aridification, the Polar Vortex, atmospheric rivers and increasingly severe hurricanes – the children of climate change – seem to infect red states even more than blue. They point to Biblical references and a belief that all weather patterns are simply cyclical and not worth attempting to reverse. I wonder what they think of Earth’s ice age? Maybe that never happened?
But there are real additional problems, even if we are able to shift the bulk of power generation to alternative, non-fossil-fuel-burning methods. Just getting electricity from where it is generated to where it is used is a mega-billion-dollar (trillion-dollar?) challenge, because most of our exiting power grid is outdated and lacks the needed capacity. Simply put, the cables that carry electricity almost everywhere generate so much internal resistance that most of the power is dissipated by the time it arrives where it is needed. We’ve long since learned that high voltage lines are needed to increase even our existing grid. Research is growing in the arena of environmental temperature superconductors, but those achievements are hardly around the corner. It’s all very expensive.
As Sammy Roth, writing for the April 10th Los Angeles Times puts it: “Solar panels and wind turbines take up a lot of the oxygen in conversations about clean energy solutions. But for solar and wind to supply ever-larger amounts of electricity — and replace the coal, oil and natural gas cooking the planet — the United States will need a lot more transmission lines to carry renewable electricity from the nation’s sunniest, windiest places to the big cities that suck up huge amounts of power.
“How significant is the need for new transmission? The REPEAT Project, which is led by Princeton University researchers, reported last year that 80% of the potential cuts in carbon pollution made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act — the climate bill signed by President Biden — could be lost if the U.S. fails to accelerate the build-out of its electric grid.” 80%!!!! Getting money, and local and national approvals, can take years… years we just do not have! And since Federal Energy Regulatory Commission allows private utilities to charge customers not only for the costs of building a line, but also a cut for their shareholders, the costs are likely to be in the stratosphere. It just may be time for power utilities to return to public ownership.
The federal government remains hell-bent on curbing greenhouse gasses, nonetheless. Although red state attorneys general are expected to do their standard litany of challenging litigation, probably doing the usual forum shopping for rightwing federal judges, expect some immediate changes at the Environmental Protection Agency. “The EPA is preparing to release strict vehicle emissions standards for light-duty vehicles that, if implemented, would move the US car market decisively toward electric vehicles over the next decade. By 2032, the new emissions standards would ensure that 64% to 67% of all new-car sales in the US would be electric vehicles [EVs], according to a source familiar with the proposal.” CNN RSS news feed, April 10th.
However, even with Biden’s infrastructure charging station buildout, Tesla’s and Mercedes’ opening their stations to some additional carmakers, we are amazingly short of EV charging capacity outside of consumers’ homes. “A study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that 3.4 DCFC, and 40 Level 2 charging ports are needed per 1,000 EVs. Assuming 35 million EVs by 2030, the U.S. will need to build about 50,000 DCFCs and 1.2 million Level 2 ports. This means that 380 EV charging ports will need to be installed each day over the next nine years! In comparison, the U.S. has installed on average about 30 ports a day between 2010 and 2020.” Forbes, May 5, 2021.
The problem of insufficient charging stations is compounded by the lack of range in all but the most expensive EVs. And even for those Americans who do not expect to drive beyond the 200+ range of most current EVs, the notion of not being able to take road trips is a deterrent to EV sales.
Which brings me to the issue of battery capacity – storage – which is way too limited involving way too expensive and way too bulky automotive batteries. I’ve blogged on the environmental costs of mining for and then disposing of (recycling?) the rare earth components of EV batteries, and the need to dump an entire car’s battery array in relatively minor accidents. But there are some reasons for optimism with promising research that will literally double the storage capacity.
In current EV batteries, the catalytic power of lithium is what makes it work. According to the Inside Climate News (Dan Gearino, April 6th), discussing the probable next generation battery, this is the process today: “When the batteries are charging, ions flow from one side (the cathode) to the other side (the anode) [of the battery], and then reverse when discharging. The ions make this trip by passing through an electrolyte, which is a liquid or gel… To understand what makes [the next gen] battery different, it helps to know that in previous lithium-air batteries each oxygen molecule would react with one or two electrons…
“In this new battery, each oxygen molecule reacts with up to four electrons… Think of this like when you’re unloading a trunkful of grocery bags from the car. It’s a lot more efficient if you can carry four bags on each trip as opposed to one or two.” It’s technically complicated and still uses lithium (which can be recycled with a very costly extraction process). But: Doubling battery capacity = doubling range! It’s a few years off, but it can be done! What is clear: we can do this if we combine American commitment and knowhow to solve these issues!
I’m Peter Dekom, and for a technically advanced nation, able to create massive new high-paying jobs in the effort, not to rise to the challenge and take climate change head-on, is, simply un-American!
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