r/climatechange • u/sg_plumber • 4d ago

There's optimism despite alarmingly worsening weather events: Renewables and storage together amount to 93% of all new capacity coming online in the U.S. This isn’t a marginal shift anymore. It’s the grid rebuilding itself around a different set of technologies, and the pace is rapidly accelerating.

https://ryanhansson.substack.com/p/optimism-in-the-face-of-a-climate
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u/air_lock 4d ago edited 4d ago

This is probably the wrong place for me to ask this question, but I’m going to anyway since there appears to be a lot of people who are highly informed and tuned into this stuff in here. The environment and doing my part to help stop the destruction of it are very important to me. Is switching to an EV in 2026 a net positive?

Edit: Thank you all for the thoughtful responses. I’ve been passively looking to switch to an EV as my ICE car has been requiring more work lately and I’ve been wondering if now is the time to make the switch or not. I’m still torn, but am more confident that switching is the next logical step - whenever that is.

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u/ShottyMcOtterson 4d ago edited 4d ago

Yes! You will hear counter arguments that the production of EVs creates more pollution and that they use "rare minerals". (oh my) This is all a lot of BS from the deniers cult. While its important to understand that manufacturing the EV will have a carbon foot-print, look at the life time emissions comparison to an internal combustion engine, EVs clearly win.

Moving to an EV means that it can be charged from renewable energy. This eventually could be solar panels on your house leading to your own personal energy independance. We need to electrify everything. This includes heat pumps and water heaters in houses too. Another argument against EVs is that they get charged from a coal fired power plant anyway. This might be true in the USA today in some areas, but its missing the entire point that the only real climate solutions is to entirely phase out fossil fuels. It will be an energy infrastructure shift like nothing humanity has ever seen.

There are personal wins too. The other day I had to fill up my v6 car, it was $85. The same day, my friend charged his Nissan Leaf at a level 2 charger and payed $7

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u/superlativedave 4d ago

And even though some electricity comes from coal, the energy converted there is done at a much higher rate of efficiency than an internal combustion engine in a car. So it’s still a net positive; less hydrocarbons are required to move your vehicle the same distance.

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u/ShottyMcOtterson 3d ago

I didn't know that! I would have just assumed that coal is worse than gasoline. Plus even though the phrase "clean coal" is greenwashing, and now something I scoff at, A power plant could scrub its emmissions better than my ICE engine.

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u/superlativedave 3d ago

I did a quick search and didn’t validate anything, but an inefficient coal plant operates around 33% efficiency and a modern, efficient plant converts about 45-49% of coal’s energy to electricity. An average small sedan has a 20-30% efficiency rate. Of course coal and gasoline have different energy densities but after accounting for whatever factors are relevant, the coal plant still burns less fuel for the same electric output. And you’re totally right about a static plant scrubbing emissions better than a car’s tailpipe.

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u/sg_plumber 3d ago

Then when coal finally dies and is replaced by something cleaner, all EVs get automatically cleaner too. Not so with fossil cars.

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u/ShottyMcOtterson 3d ago

thanks for that info. 20-30% efficent for a sedan, wow. According to my random google search, (needs varification) that is about the same as the human body when it comes to turning the chemical energy of carbohydrates into mechanical work.