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Environmental Efficiency Of Automobile Energy Choices, Peter V. Schwartz, Chiweng Kam, John Ross Dr
Environmental Efficiency Of Automobile Energy Choices, Peter V. Schwartz, Chiweng Kam, John Ross Dr
Peter V. Schwartz
We introduce three efficiency metrics to compare two alternative transportation energy technologies: internal combustion engines (ICE) using bioethanol versus battery electric vehicles (BEV) charged from solar thermal electric (STE) generation. Both technologies require the use of the land surface area, consume water, and emit CO2. Travel efficiencies are measured in km per square meter of land used annually, km/L of water used, and km/kg of emitted CO2. Solar-electrical transportation utilizes land more than 200 times as efficiently, water more than 100 times as efficiently (when dry cooling of turbines is used), and emits less than 1/60 …