this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2024
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world. About 1C of total warming. Second chart: about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability. Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases. About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:

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The thermodynamics of electric vs. internal combustion cars (www.theclimatebrink.com)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This varies from region to region. My region is primarily hydro, in fact, about 0.1% is non-renewable. So, depending on where you live, electricity may be more thermally efficient than ICE. Also, you're ignoring the pollution control aspect. Even if your hybrid is more thermally efficient, it will still generate more pollution than any electrical generation method except perhaps coal, and I'm not certain about that. Your car's ICE engine also won't benefit from any of the upgrades to the electrical grid, while your electric car will. This also may not matter in some regions, since some places like America in general, don't expect to see a reduction in coal use for a decade or more. And yes, I'm aware that the electricity generation mix in America varies a great deal from region to region.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

ACEEE actually thinks that Prius Prime emits the least pollution for cars today, including EVs.

https://www.aceee.org/greener-cars

EVs universally weigh more, leading to more PM2.5 / micro plastics pollution from the brakes and tires. (Remember that Prius / Hybrids also have regenerative braking, so EVs cannot take Regen as an advantage).

Weight is key. Not only for pollution but also for efficiency. Prius / Prius Primes lighter weight allows for higher efficiencies.

Prius is on the list if you look it up and would be in the top 10. But I think ACEEE preferred encouraging people to buy the Prius Prime instead of something.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Yes, the Prius has a lot going for it. I personally would rather have a smaller EV instead, but that's not an easy thing to find right now, either.