Electric Vehicles Key to Connecticut Reducing Greenhouse Gas

As Connecticut sets its sights on having 125,000 electric vehicles on the road in the next five years, questions arise as to whether they will yield the environmental gains state officials are projecting. The state’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to a level that is 45 percent lower than 2001 levels. That is no easy task: Emissions from motor vehicles in the state account for the largest source of greenhouse gases, 38 percent as of 2016, the most recent year for which data is available. Electric vehicles are said to be better for the environment because they produce zero emissions. But as a May 2016 article in Scientific American points out, whether electric vehicles are beneficial for the environment depends on how the power used to charge their batteries is produced. The two dirtiest-burning fuels used to run power plants — coal and oil — have virtually disappeared from New England over the last two decades. The regional power grid operator, ISO New England, reports that oil generated 19 percent of the region’s electricity 20 years ago and coal accounted for 15 percent. Today, both combined account for one percent of the region’s fuel mix for power generation.

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