{"id":56031,"date":"2020-12-16T08:46:26","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T13:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=56031"},"modified":"2020-12-16T08:51:32","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T13:51:32","slug":"musk-electric-cars-will-require-a-lot-more-electric-power-than-we-currently-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=56031","title":{"rendered":"Musk: Electric Cars Will Require a Lot More Electric Power Than We Currently Have"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Musk: Electric Cars Will Require a Lot More Electric Power Than We Currently Have<\/a><\/h3>\n
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AP Feed<\/em><\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says we\u2019ll need more electricity to power cars like his.\u00a0A lot more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday that electricity consumption will double if the world\u2019s car fleets are electrified, increasing the need to expand nuclear, solar, geothermal and wind energy generating sources.<\/p>\n

Increasing the availability of sustainable energy is a major challenge as cars move from combustion engines to battery-driven electric motors, a shift which will take two decades, Musk said in a talk hosted by Berlin-based publisher Axel Springer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s no unicorn energy source or free lunch. Currently, electric cars are primarily powered by coal, natural gas, and nuclear. Those are the sources we use to generate electricity, after all,\u00a0according to the Energy Information Agency<\/a>. Renewables are growing but still account for less than 20% of U.S. electricity.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no free lunch when it comes to renewable energy sources, which may not even be all that renewable. Wind and sun are free, but the means of generating power from them are not.<\/p>\n

They require batteries, which requires extensive mining and the use of toxic chemicals.<\/p>\n

Mining is a\u00a0dirty business.<\/a><\/p>\n

Weighing those trade-offs \u2014 between supporting mining in environmentally sensitive areas and sourcing metals needed to power renewables \u2014 is likely to become more common if countries continue generating more renewable energy. That\u2019s\u00a0according to a report<\/a>\u00a0out Wednesday from researchers at the\u00a0Institute for Sustainable Futures<\/a>\u00a0at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia. The report, commissioned by the environmental organization Earthworks, finds that demand for metals such as copper, lithium and cobalt would skyrocket if countries around the world try to get their electric grids and transportation systems fully powered by renewable energy by 2050. Consequently, a rush to meet that demand could lead to more mining in countries with lax environmental and safety regulations and weak protections for workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf not managed responsibly, this has the potential for new adverse environmental and social impacts,\u201d the report says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Musk: Electric Cars Will Require a Lot More Electric Power Than We Currently Have AP Feed Tesla CEO Elon Musk says we\u2019ll need more electricity to power cars like his.\u00a0A lot more. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday that electricity consumption will double if the world\u2019s car fleets are electrified, increasing the need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[30724,13275,1103,5096,30723,643],"class_list":["post-56031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","category-environment","tag-bryan-preston","tag-electric-vehicles","tag-electricity","tag-elon-musk","tag-pj-media","tag-power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}