Why is the US concentrating so much on auto renewables?

boomshackala

Whereas we are concentrating on heating and power. I know its not wholly factual, but theres a grain of truth there.

Is it that European governments get so much revenue from auto oil and the US government gets hardly any?

What are EU governments attitude towards losing this revenue stream if we all turn to home charged electric cars?

How has 'project better place' sold this concept to them?

Macha

Well, investment in renewable energy is a huge stimulus to any industry involved. At the moment, the US car industry is in crisis and so there are hopes that investing in newer models, including EVs, that the industry will be saved.

Also, the US is far more car dependent than Europe so there is an acceptance that significant improvements will have to be made in emissions from road-based transport to make any impact in the short- to medium-term. Shifting away from car-based transport into things like rail, public transport, cycling etc take far more time/effort/investment than simply switching over to electrically powered vehicles.

Of course the electricity that they produce will have to be generated from renewables for it to have any significant impact on emissions.

Cookie_Monster

It's a high visability easy to understand improvement that even the majority of American public will be able to grasp.

Heating and power much less visable and thoughboth should be done it is easier to address the more obvious parts first to satisfy voters.

[/cynic]

blue5000

maybe this is why...In the US cars are still really inefficient, here we can get an av mpg of around 45-50 over there they probably only get half that, they have a long way to catch up in the auto industry.

Macha

blue5000 wrote: »

maybe this is why...In the US cars are still really inefficient, here we can get an av mpg of around 45-50 over there they probably only get half that, they have a long way to catch up in the auto industry.

Well..it's also really sexy to talk about electric cars, rather than modal shift.

Plus it's a hell of a lot more expensive (and requires a lot more control, which could be politically unpopular) to invest in the alteration of urban planning of land use and transportation.

fastrac

Drive the Prius while the Hummers being polished

boomshackala

I think another reason is that the electrical type renewables are more 'silicon valley-ish' such as smart grid, solar pv, fuel cells.

Wheras their wood boilers are in the dark ages, ala american cars, compared to their european counterparts and community heating reaks of socialism

jackofalltrades

blue5000 wrote:

maybe this is why...In the US cars are still really inefficient, here we can get an av mpg of around 45-50 over there they probably only get half that, they have a long way to catch up in the auto industry.

I doubt that the average mpg in this country is 45-50 mpg, id say its probably in the region of 35 mpg. I recently drove the an American mid sized saloon a Pontiac G6. I managed around 25 mpg over three weeks, in a mix of driving which isn't bad considering thats US gallons, their petrol has a lower octane rating, it was an automatic and the air conditioning was on a fairly high setting for the majority of the time.

Considering that diesel cars/hybrids seem to be taking off over their and SUV sales seem to be nose diving, I can see their average mpg catching up with ours quite quickly.

probe

boomshackala wrote: »

Why is the US concentrating so much on auto renewables?

The use of renewables (ie biofuels) in the US is mainly a Bush initiative. Promoted by farming lobby groups. Farmers get big $ubsidies for producing biofuels. Obama is trying to limit the subsidy to $250,000 per farmer. Pork barrel politics, as they call it.

"End our dependence on foreign oil" mantra. Continue driving around in 8 liter SUVs. Yee. Ha! And of course totally brain dead, because most of these crops consume huge amounts of oil and gas to fertilize, plant, harvest, transport and refine. These first gen biofuels yield little if any net energy in the scheme of things.

Is it that European governments get so much revenue from auto oil and the US government gets hardly any?

What are EU governments attitude towards losing this revenue stream if we all turn to home charged electric cars?

The big EU countries (aside from Britain) have large car manufacturing industries, employing large numbers of voters directly and indirectly. I suspect that these jobs are more in politicians minds compared with tax from fuel. A change in automobile technologies is a job creator as it makes the old fashioned internal combustion engine obsolete. One needs to be ahead of the curve.

How has 'project better place' sold this concept to them?

France has embraced it in terms of being the supplier of the electric vehicles. Israel, Denmark and Portugal (project better place infrastructure locations) are not car manufacturing countries.