MM: Decatur Park Space, Decatur Resolution Expected, and Electric Car Pollution
Decatur Metro | July 3, 2015 | 10:23 am
- Decatur park space lags behind Atlanta, nation [AJC]
- Longtime Decatur residents making their voices heard [AJC]
- Decatur senior engineer John Madajewski to retire [AJC]
- Catch Chef David Sweeney at Cakes & Ale This Sunday [Eater]
- Where Electric Vehicles Actually Cause More Pollution Than Gas Cars [CityLab]
Maps courtesy of CityLab
The piece on air pollution from EVs is pretty stunning. Does this mean that GA’s change on tax subsidies is now progressive?
While I think EVs are cool, I’ve always thought it was inefficient to use a $5000 tax credit towards the purchase of such vehicles to fight air pollution. I thought there were more direct actions that could be taken with this money. Bu the problem in taking away the tax credit is that the funds not used for EVs probably won’t be used for other environmental protection programs either. Instead, the money is most likely to go into the hands of road contractors and other such well-lobbied interests.
That piece answered the questions I had about using electric vehicles when the electricity was coal powered.
It really shows that there isn’t a universally best-for-the-environment vehicle.
I wish more Georgians knew how incredibly dirty our coal power is- especially the state legislators who were giving out such huge subsidies for all the electric cars and have barely pushed GA Power to invest more and more quickly in solar.
Yes! I’ve been posting for years in the comments here that the city should turn those roundabout parking lots on the square into green spaces. I am very hopeful that this will happen. I’ll add another, the surface parking lot between Victory and the old bookbindery. I believe that it’s privately owned. But maybe, maybe, the city can purchase it and turn it into a green space.
+1
Boy. Our park space lags behind the national average 2% to 8% of city land. More than the downtown area, I think the Decatur Heights/Sycamore Ridge area needs a city park. My kids have to walk over a mile to get to swing set. I’d bet it’s the longest walk for any kids in the city to get to a decent park.
On electric cars, there is a big flaw in the study.
Most electric cars are charged at night. Nightly power is so cheap – coal and nuclear plants don’t power down at night. So an electric car = minimal marginal power generation, mostly off peak generation of electricity that is otherwise not used.
If you catch my logic, even if EVs are taking coal power, they shouldn’t be assigned blame for the emissions, since these emissions would have occurred anyhow.
This is the inverse of the logic of solar power. Solar generates right at the most critical power demand time – so it will never be as cheap as coal but because of when it generates, it doesn’t have to be as cheap.
The home battery market for solar power storage is growing- soon it will be (long term) affordable to use solar power day and night.
Many electric car users are charging during the day at work-based charging stations.
Do you have any stats on the charging times for EVs? Or is it just what you would imagine to be true. Because I could definitely see it being true. I could also easily see EVs charging both at night and in the day when it’s available to them.
I don’t recall the specifics, but it seems like when I looked it up, the full charge time for a Leaf on a 240 volt charger was about 6 hours. I would defer to Leaf owners who have actual experience.
Wow, 6hrs, that’s awful. I actually meant most common times of the day to charge, but now that you’re saying it takes 6hrs I can easily see most charging taking place at night. Anyway, if the OP has any stats that made him/her say that, I’d love to see em.
That figure is for a full charge on a pretty depleted battery such as one might have from commuting and running errands. I would think most commuters, knowing the range limitations, wouldn’t need a re-charge in the middle of the day.
Very eye-opening article on EVs vs. Gas cars. The big takeaway for me was the importance of clean power plants. Also, didn’t seem like the article was saying EVs were bad, just not clean and green to the level we assumed.
My takeaway from that EV article is what I’ve said before here: the subsidies should be for not driving at all. 🙂
A fond farewell to John Madajewski! We had the pleasure of working with him over the last couple months to get the apron of our driveway and sidewalk replaced, and he was a pleasure to work with — straightforward and personable with little patience for red tape. Every time I back down my driveway and don’t feel my car bottom out or roll our trash cans to the tidy curb, I’ll think of him!