• lloydsmart
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Yes, this is vitally important. Switching from petrol to EVs will be a net negative for the environment if all that energy comes from burning coal.

    They have to clean up their grid, which unfortunately isn’t happening at the moment. They’re building new coal plants.

    • novibe@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      What…… China is literally by far the biggest installer of renewable energy in the world. Like orders of magnitude ahead of Europe and the US. It’s not even close.

      • lloydsmart
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        They may be the biggest installer of renewable energy, but what percentage of their electricity comes from renewables? If they’re installing more coal than renewables then it’s still not better.

        • novibe@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          That’s such a weird position. They also grow much more than all other countries. But they are also bursting ahead of their (much more bold) goals for renewables.

          It’s just a fact that China is transforming their energy grid much faster than any other country. From their infrastructure to cars to energy generation.

          Like literally just google any of this. Like any metric.

          China is shitty in many ways, but I never got this fixation on their “pollution”. Bro Europe and the US exported all their pollution there and imported the finished goods.

          A good chunk of China’s pollution is really second-hand western pollution.

          And even then, China is “greening” their energy and manufacturing grid faster than anywhere else. It’s just fucking massive, so it takes more effort in general right? That’s pretty logical.

    • specialdealer@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s still a significant net gain because of the energy conversion efficiency of both EVs and large scale power generation. It also reduces pollution in densely populated areas which improves citizen health.

      Still, they should clean their grid ASAP, but they are deploying solar faster than anyone else and it’s not close.

      • lloydsmart
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        They’re also deploying coal faster than anyone else.

        I’ve heard this argument before about the efficiency of burning centrally, usually in a European context to defend running EVs on a grid powered mostly by natural gas, but not for coal.

        Now I’m genuinely curious whether efficiently burning coal to power EVs is less bad for the environment than burning petrol in ICE cars. Is there any research on that?

        I agree that ultimately EVs are the future, and I do drive one myself and strive to charge it on renewables whenever possible. However, in places with dirtier grids I’m not sure they’re a great idea.