[There is a new post that uses some updated values and makes some corrections to this post.]
Recently my curiosity drove me to look into the amount of carbon that is put in the air from burning fossil fuels and I’ve learned some really interesting things in the process and I bet they aren’t what you would have expected, they most certainly weren’t what I expected.
First, I learned that the amount of CO2 that the United States is putting in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels is only around 0.12% of the total carbon contributed to atmospheric carbon by burning fossil fuels world wide. Yes, that’s roughly twelve one hundredths of one percent, that’s a very small percentage.
Next I learned that if we converted all of the gasoline powered vehicles in the USA to electric vehicles (EV’s) overnight there would be a roughly 0.00843% reduction in carbon output from fossil fuels. Yes, that is just over eight thousandths of one percent, that’s a very small percentage.
Those are some really, really small percentages, in fact they’re statistically indistinguishable from zero. [Correction]
Knowing all that surprising information got me even more curious.
Since I also learned that an average power plant in the USA produces 0.82 pounds of CO2 per kWh we can extrapolate that to the amount of carbon that the USA dumps into the atmosphere from power plants.
The United States produces and average of roughly 4,243,000,000,000 kWh of electricity in a year. So, the average of 0.82 pounds of CO2 per kWh times the total amount of kWh production calculates to 3,470,774,000,000 pounds (trillions) of CO2 and at 453.592 grams per pound that calculates to 1,574,315,320,208,000 grams (quadrillion) per year. That’s some very large numbers!
Also, there are roughly 275,913,237 (millions) vehicles in the USA, and on average they drive a total of around 3,200,000,000 (billions) miles [Correction] and contribute an average of 388.49 grams of CO2 to the atmosphere per mile; therefore, vehicles contribute an average of 1,243,164,342,857 grams (Trillions) of CO2 to the atmosphere per year.
Now we know that the power plants are contributing 1,574,315,320,208,000 grams (quadrillion) of CO2 to the atmosphere per year and the vehicles are contributing 1,243,164,342,857 grams (Trillions) of CO2 to the atmosphere per year; therefore, we now know that the power plants are contributing 1266 times more carbon into the atmosphere than all the vehicles in the USA combined. What’s surprising is that the EPA sets standards for new gas and coal fired power plants at 1 pound of CO2 per kWh; therefore, we continue to allow power plants to dump an average of 1,574,315,320,208,000 grams (quadrillion) of CO2 into the atmosphere every year and focus on pushing EV’s on the population that statistically won’t do squat to reduce the amount of CO2 that the USA dumps into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. If the actual goal of climate change activists and the EPA is to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the USA to slow or reverse global warming, don’t you think the EPA would be laser focused on the industry that is producing the most fossil fuel based CO2 emissions in the USA instead of literally allowing them to continue (1 pound of CO2 per kWh) and then ram electric vehicles on We the People that won’t do squat to stop or reverse global warming.
This is not logical!
Something is seriously wrong with what’s happening.
The EPA is currently trying to force a new standard on vehicle manufacturers that limits the manufacturers vehicle fleet of vehicles to 82 grams CO2/mile average. This will force manufacturers to produce many EV’s and dramatically increase the MPG of every gas powered vehicle in their fleet to reduce their overall carbon footprint to 82 grams CO2/mile average. This will cause vehicle manufacturers to strip power away from vehicles to try to increase MPG. You can forget about having an eight cylinder in your work truck, or six cylinder in your SUV, or possibly even a decent four cylinder in any vehicle on new car lots, they’re going to have to put Moped engines in your vehicle to meet the goal. Heck, even new motorcycles fleets won’t be able to meet the 82 grams CO2/mile average. Remember; one gallon of gas produces 8,887 grams of CO2, which if you’re forced to meet the 82 grams CO2/mile then your target for gas burning vehicles needs to be in the 100 mpg range and even average motorcycles can’t meet that goal. When you get right down to actual facts and figure out the amount of CO2 that an average Tesla shifts to the power plant CO2 output, an average Tesla emits around 117 grams of CO2 per mile. Notice something about the EPA’s proposed new standards, even a Tesla “zero emission” EV can’t meet the standard. These people are literally lying to you about zero emission EV’s.
Personally I think the new EPA’s standards are going to drive some car manufacturers away from selling cars in the USA. Manufacturers that currently have small vehicle fleets like Acura and Infiniti have a niche market and they only have a few base vehicle models with other model specific things that don’t change the grams CO2/mile output. Let’s use Acura as an example: Acura has four base models, Integra, TLX, RDX and MDX that get an average combined mpg of 33, 25, 24 and 21 respectively. If they were to maintain their customer base that purchase these vehicles at the mpg they currently get they would have to add thirteen new EV’s to their fleet of vehicles to be able to meet the 82 grams CO2/Mile fleet average. I think it’s fair to predict that companies like Acura will pull out of the USA completely unless they can add a line up of riding lawnmowers to their fleet of gas powered vehicles. The new proposed EPA standard is absurd on multiple levels.
This inquiring mind wants to know why the EPA is pushing so hard to force EV’s that are falsely labeled “zero emission vehicles” (which is a bald-faced lie, they only shift CO2 emissions to power plants) upon the people of the USA instead of focusing on the power plant industry moving faster from fossil fuels to non-fossil fuel mass power generation like nuclear energy and then support that with alternative green energies like hydro electric, wind, solar, geo-thermal, etc. The EPA is lying to the public that their new standards are going to be effective at turning around global warming while they sit by and watch the people with deep pockets spew many thousands times more CO2 in the air than vehicles.
Really think about this logically; it would actually take 1,266 years of continuous vehicle emissions at the current rate to equate to one year of power plant emissions, but yet your car emissions are the problem these propagandist hacks are addressing!
Yes I’m well aware that We the People need electrical power for everyday life, but seriously people, there is such a thing as nuclear power that actually produces zero CO2 emissions to produce 1kWh of power. By the way; shifting all of the power plants in the USA to non fossil fuel burning nuclear would make EV’s truly zero emission.
The fact is that EV’s and the new standards for vehicles are going to do little to nothing to help reduce the carbon emission foot print of the USA while at the same time the new standards will undermine our entire fossil fuel transportation system which will directly impact our entire economy but power plants will still be permitted to spew and average of 1266+ times more carbon into the atmosphere than all the vehicles in the USA combined! Then on top of all that, the Lithium needed for the EV batteries requires mining and eventual disposal that actually destroys the environment in different ways and that will have to be dramatically increased across the globe to meet the demand of batteries for electric vehicles. It’s as if these environmentalists have their heads buried so far up that place that the sun never shines that they are completely blinded from reality.
This is not logical!
Something is seriously wrong with what’s happening.
What’s happening in our country related to this is quite absurd and that’s just one of the many absurdities that’s happening in our country.
I’ve written this dozens of times; cleaning up the environment would be a great thing for the planet and the entire human race. The best I can tell, everyone and everything would benefit from having a clean planet where resources aren’t squandered and pollution of all kinds are kept to a bare minimum. Reducing carbon emissions is an admirable goal and EV’s seem to be all the rage right now for virtue signaling global warming environmentalists and those that support the “settled science” apocalyptic climate predictions.
My question is what’s driving this absurd approach to reducing carbon emissions in the USA when it statistically won’t do a damn thing? Is this a Washington DC lobbyist problem? I’m sure the power plant industry has lots of lobbyists in Washington DC to help push their agenda on the people of the nation, but why don’t we the people have equivalent lobbyist representation to counter that agenda so we the people are not penalized and forced into EV’s that won’t do a damn thing to fix the problem. Are we just supposed to sit down and shut up like good little sheeple and swallow whatever bull shit the government tells us?
Government pushing EV’s on “We the People” is absurd!
Like so many things in our society these days, this is another one of those topics that cuts deep into political and social divisions and these kinds of divisions are rapidly changing our society and it’s not in a good way. My blog purpose is “Critically Thinking About Things That Change Society” and I dive into some heated topics and share my analysis and opinions regardless of what people think of my conclusions. This information is meant as food for thought, absorb it, let it stew, and either take the knowledge with you or reject it. If you like, share your feedback in a comment as long as you follow my comment policies.
Related blog posts.
Global Atmospheric Carbon & Fossil Fuels
Electric Cars & Reducing Atmospheric Carbon
Epidemic Levels Of Absurdities Are Infecting Our Society
[EDIT: 5/5/2023 Fixed a couple of typos and some grammar.]
Society's Building Blocks 
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