Ethanol

[Bob Wallace]

7. Wrong.

In 2010 the US got 44.8% of its electricity from coal, down from well over 50% a few years back. That percentage will continue to drop as coal plants age and are not replaced. We've scheduled a large number of coal plants for early closure and we are building almost no new coal plants.

Wind, this year, reached 3% of our total electricity supply and will continue its rapid growth. Solar is starting to take off and will soon be a significant supplier. We're converting existing dams to electricity providers. The technology for tidal production is starting to work and we should see movement toward tapping the Gulf Stream before long.

We've got the technology in hand to produce all the electricity we want without fossil fuels. It's just a matter of doing it.

Natural gas is playing a larger role in electricity generation but that role will peak and decline as we use up the current oversupply of NG and prices rise. Look for NG to be more of a fill-in source of electricity as renewables take a dominate role.

In the meantime, even if we do use ~40% coal-generated electricity we don't have to fight wars to keep the grid flowing. And charging EVs/PHEVs with our current grid releases less CO2 than burning oil.

Oh, and refining oil into a gallon of gas uses enough electricity and natural gas to drive an EV a long way down the road. We don't need to generate 100% of the electricity we need to charge an EV, we can just divert energy we are already using to make gasoline.