What? Article says Hybrids/Electrics could strain water supplies

[oms2burn]

An article entitled "Electric Vehicles Could Strain Water Supplies" at livescience.com (Electric Vehicles Could Strain Water Supplies | LiveScience) and also featured on the front page (but not for long) at yahoo.com (where I saw it). In the article, it says that "...hybrid and fully electric cars rely in part on water. Specifically, the power plants that produce the electricity typically use water primarily to cool down the systems."

At first, I thought they meant the power plant was the engine in the Prius or other hybrids, but I guess they are talking about plugable hybrids and the electric company power plant. Even so, the additional percentage of power used would not be significant for a while, right? Likewise, these cars could be charged by wind or solar.

Get ready for questions from your friends/relatives!

[F8L]

Aye, lets scrap the whole plug-in hybrid or electric car ideas so that people can continue growing lush lawns in climates that never historically allowed them to grow.

People are stupid.

[patsparks]

I thought we had rising sea levels so wouldn't power plants that use sea water for cooling lower the sea levels if they used more water?

[hill]

Well as long as they don't worry about all the water wasted making gas ... or the gunk that fossel fuels put into the air, that gets rained back into our drinking water supply ... don't touch the sacred cow

[chogan2]

Originally Posted by oms2burn

An article entitled "Electric Vehicles Could Strain Water Supplies" at livescience.com (Electric Vehicles Could Strain Water Supplies | LiveScience) and also featured on the front page (but not for long) at yahoo.com (where I saw it). In the article, it says that "...hybrid and fully electric cars rely in part on water. Specifically, the power plants that produce the electricity typically use water primarily to cool down the systems."

At first, I thought they meant the power plant was the engine in the Prius or other hybrids, but I guess they are talking about plugable hybrids and the electric company power plant. Even so, the additional percentage of power used would not be significant for a while, right? Likewise, these cars could be charged by wind or solar.

Get ready for questions from your friends/relatives!

That was just another example of journalists manufacturing a ludicrous negative spin based on an isolated fact, from what was otherwise a serious piece of research. CalCars (Felix Kramer) sent out an email quoting from Carey King, the author of the original research. The estimated impact of 1 million PHEV 40s would be to increase water losses (consumption) in the electrical generation industry by 0.13% (that's point-thirteen percent). I guess "Water losses from PHEVs Would be Lost in Rounding Error" doesn't make quite as snappy a headline. The source material can be read at:

Rational Energy Policy by Dr. King: Another article about my PHEV/EV and water usage - unneccesarily alarmist

The author's own conclusion is that there is no issue in the near term, but that if PHEVs become the norm, you would need to plan in some areas to accommodate the additional demand for water lost in cooling during electrical generation. Seems reasonable to me.

[Delta Flyer]

But then if all our cars were EVs, was there an article stating that our current power plants would supply 78% of that energy just by plugging-in on off-peak hours?

[chogan2]

Originally Posted by Delta Flyer

But then if all our cars were EVs, was there an article stating that our current power plants would supply 78% of that energy just by plugging-in on off-peak hours?

Yeah, I calculated a number a bit higher than that directly from DOE data, but several credible sources have come to the same conclusion. Here's a brief report from the US Pacific Northwest Labs:

http://www.pnl.gov/energy/eed/etd/pd...s_combined.pdf


I think they came out with 84%, but it varies by region.

[burritos]

Originally Posted by oms2burn

An article entitled "Electric Vehicles Could Strain Water Supplies" at livescience.com (Electric Vehicles Could Strain Water Supplies | LiveScience) and also featured on the front page (but not for long) at yahoo.com (where I saw it). In the article, it says that "...hybrid and fully electric cars rely in part on water. Specifically, the power plants that produce the electricity typically use water primarily to cool down the systems."

At first, I thought they meant the power plant was the engine in the Prius or other hybrids, but I guess they are talking about plugable hybrids and the electric company power plant. Even so, the additional percentage of power used would not be significant for a while, right? Likewise, these cars could be charged by wind or solar.

Get ready for questions from your friends/relatives!

Wouldn't be ironic if this hit job story originated from ethanol?

[Devil's Advocate]

Actually the article didn't appear to be as alarmist as most of the man-made GW poop that is spread over the media. It just points out that more plug-ins means the need for more power. Something I commented on in another post regarding the fragility of the power grid being able to handle a large increase in power demand.

Of course charging your car at night would help, but what if you have to charge it in the daytime? Say you charge the car at night, but need to re-cachrge at work to get home? Plus, a large increase for power at night means plants will have to run langer at a higher output, minimizing downtime for repair and maintenance.

What we need, and will need iof battery tech improves to the point they are vialble alternatives to gas, are a butt load more power plants. So that begs the questions, where are the plants going to go? and what type of plant? Coal! our most abundant power source, Nucular ;-) would be good if we had effective reformation of the spent fuel (as does France for god's sake).

In honesty, my purpose for purchasing the Prius was to diminish my dependance on oil. I don't need to be funding a war from both sides. I don't believe the hype around "man made" climate change (as its now called, shocking as this winter may have erased a half degree centegrade temperature change on the globe) that does not mean I belive in polluting for the sake of polluting or to be convienient, but that also means that a power plant shouldn't be built because it will cause some pollution. Use state of the art tech in building new plants and they are almost as clean as the air before it went into the plant.

[Marlin]

Yeah, this report is kind of like the AP article that showed up today stating that Global Warming was going to affect all kinds of transportation by warping railroad tracks, collapsing bridges, and washing away roads.
The Associated Press: Global Warming to Affect Transport