Back in 2007 the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a comprehensive assessment that found that widespread use of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in the United States could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and potentially improve ambient air quality. The research measured the impact of increasing numbers of PHEVs between 2010 and 2050, including the nationwide environmental impact of potentially large fleets that would use electricity from the grid as their primary fuel source.
The study assumed that by 2050, PHEV would have a 60% share of the US vehicle market. At that market share, nationwide GHG emissions would be reduced by 450 million metric tons—equivalent to taking 82.5 million cars of the road—and reduce petroleum consumption be 3-4 million barrels of oil per day.
Those numbers are significant especially since they do not take into account powering the electric vehicles with renewable energy. That’s the game changer. As BioWheels RTS is demonstrating, generating enough renewable energy to fuel America’s light duty vehicles is possible, practical and really inspiring.
We look forward to partnering with researchers to calculate the full environmental cost and benefit of driving on sunshine. We’ll be looking at the full cost of our Brightfield™ Solar Charging Stations including the embedded energy in all the station’s materials. We’ll also look at the benefits of generating solar power instead of relying on oil, coal, natural gas or nuclear power to fuel our cars and trucks.
We believe that transparency and integrity are the guide posts we all need to follow.
http://mydocs.epri.com/docs/CorporateDocuments/SectorPages/Portfolio/PDM/PHEV-ExecSum-vol1.pdf
