Living Like Ed - (Page 69) that will be a different story. Then we’ll need to get some new solar, wind, geothermal, or other kind of green energy going into the grid to keep all these electric cars charged. But for now, there’s a lot of perfectly good energy going to waste out there. In fact, enough to power up to a million new electric cars—if they were spread out evenly across the country—without creating any new pollution. 2. IT’S MUCH EASIER TO CONTROL POLLUTION AT ONE POWER PLANT THAN IT IS IN A MILLION TAILPIPES. People monkey around with the emission controls on their cars. They give the guy at the smog-check station some bills and say, “I need to pass this test.” You can’t do that at a power plant. I mean, there are power plants that have tried to do that—to cheat—but they’re in violation and are going to court. It’s much harder to control a million tailpipes than it is one smokestack. 2: 3. AND ALSO — I SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST — 25 PERCENT OF THE GASOLINE CONSUMED BY EVERY CAR OUT THERE IS USED WHEN IT’S NOT EVEN IN MOTION! It’s called idling, and it 69 uses up 25 percent of the gasoline you pump into the tank. Here’s why. You’re usually not driving across the plains of Nebraska. If you live in a city like L.A., there’s constant stop-and-go traffic. You sit at the stoplight or the stop sign, waiting for people to cross the street. All the while, your car needs gas to keep it humming—even though you’re not going anywhere. With a hybrid or electric car, the minute you take your foot off the accelerator, you’re using zero amps. Zippo. You may have your air conditioner on or your CD player or your lights, but these use very little power. The big demand on the car—the motor—is using no power when you’re stopped, and that’s a big efficiency. Convinced? transportation An Electric Car’s Range Now, I can’t go everywhere with my electric car, for the simple reason that it can only go so far on a single charge. The range of my last electric car, a but once it’s in, you essentially get all that energy for free! According to the Bureau of
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