Climate Central on the hybrid vs electric car brouhaha:

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6. There's some fudging going on with this report.

1) They ignore weight: the Leaf seats five and weighs 314 lbs more than a Prius, and 500 lbs more than a Honda Civic Hybrid. It's a bigger car.
2) They completely ignore particulates in their assessment of "greenhouse gas pollution"
3) They assume power generated in West Virginia is used in WV - not only a lousy assumption, but false. A more accurate picture would be to spread out generation over the 11-state synchronous grid which provides power for WV, creating a multi-state average with far lower utility emissions than WV alone.
4) They ignore the fact that a gasoline-powered car's emissions very reliably increase over time.
5) They ignore the fact that utility emissions very reliably diminish over time (with cleaner fuels and installation of electrostatic scrubbers).

Anyway there is a lively online discussion - with the authors - at:

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/climate-friendly-cars/P2

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