Oil or electricity – which is more sustainable?
“Even though electric vehicles do not emit harmful substances into the environment, there are those who believe that the entire life cycle of an EV is more harmful than that of a fuel-powered car,” says Paulius Gūžys, co-founder of Įkrautas.
We will try to answer this question, which many people are asking more and more often – are electric cars and electricity generation really a more sustainable choice?
The fossil fuel industry is perhaps the world’s leading source of pollution. Extracting oil requires huge amounts of energy resources.
How is car fuel produced?
Both diesel and petrol are extracted from oil at depths of 1.8 km or more.
Stages of oil production:
Suction
One onshore oil pump consumes on average around 10,000 barrels per month. kilowatt-hours of electricity. That’s enough energy to power aTesla Model 3for around 56,000 km. kilometres.
On an offshore oil platform, a diesel generator consumes between 20 and 30 tonnes of diesel per day to produce oil. With this much fuel, up to 165,000 kW can be generated. kilowatt hours of electricity.
In addition, oil often spills into the ocean, polluting waters. In 2020, tankers leaked around 1,000 tonnes of oil into the environment, according to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF).
The combined monthly energy consumption of US onshore and offshore oil pumps (4.3 billion kWh) would be enough to power around 15 million electric vehicles for a month.
Transport
13.3 million people a day. tonnes of oil flow through pipelines with a total length of approximately 540 000 km worldwide. kilometres.
There are no strict laws regulating ship pollution in the oceans. IMO (International Maritime Organisation) rules allow ships to use and burn fuels with up to 4.5 percent sulphur. That’s 4,500 times more than is allowed in car fuel in the EU. Sulphur is emitted from the ship’s smokestacks as tiny particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs.
According to IMO rules, the largest ships can emit up to 5,000 tonnes of sulphur a year – the same as 50 million ordinary cars, with an average of around 100 grams of sulphur per year for each. That’s why ships carrying oil use the cheapest, dirtiest fuels to cut costs. Some countries do not even allow such tankers to approach the coast, so they are towed to port.
Recycling
13.3 million. tonnes of oil are heated to 420º C. The energy costs of this process are enormous, but the substances it releases into the environment pose risks to human health. When the products of oil heating react with sunlight, ozone, the main component of smog, is formed. Increased air pollution causes asthma in children and pulmonary emphysema in adults, according to the 2019 A study published in the Journal ofthe American Medical Association.
Incineration
Fuel made from refined petroleum is transported to service stations in trucks that burn the same fuel during the journey. The internal combustion engine is inefficient: as much as 70% of the fuel is burnt during combustion. of the energy is wasted as heat, while only 30% is used for locomotion.
The difference between this process and the production of electricity, the driving force of an electric car, is clear. Electricity is not sucked out of the ground, transported by trucks, trains, pipelines, washed into the oceans, recycled or polluted. Even if electricity is generated by burning coal, power stations are often located far from population centres. Electricity is transmitted through power lines, which protect against direct pollution.
If an electric car is powered by energy from renewable sources, it is sustainable from start to finish. By 2020, nearly 40% of the US population will be living in the US. The share of energy from zero-carbon sources (20% renewable electricity, 20% nuclear) is higher in Europe at 63% (38% and 25% respectively). Clean energy generation rates are rising year on year, with more and more coal and gas power plants being replaced by renewable energy sources.
Lithium mining does not equal the pollution caused by oil refining
The metal lithium, a component of EV batteries, is mined in the deserts of Australia, China, Argentina and Chile.
Australia is the largest producer of lithium. It accounts for around 45% of the world’s mining output. of lithium used worldwide, while Australians consume just 1% of the world’s oil supply. of which only ¼ (one quarter) is recycled. And oil refining causes more pollution in Australia than lithium extraction.
All the lithium mining in the world has never caused as much environmental damage as one major oil spill.
Old EV batteries get a new lease of life
What happens to obsolete EV batteries that are no longer usable?
When they are no longer useful for an electric car, batteries can be used as an energy “store” for homes or businesses. In this way, they are given new life.
When batteries can no longer perform this function, they are recycled and dismantled. This recovers the useful metals that were inside the battery. They will be reused for the next generation of electric cars. Today’s recycling technologies make it possible to recover more than 90% of the energy from batteries. metals that are reused in battery production.
Oil extraction is an inefficient process
It seems illogical to use so much electricity to pump oil out of the ground, increase pollution during transport and refining, and end up wasting 70% of our energy. the fuel they burn in their cars.
We could simply use the electricity needed to extract the oil to charge electric cars directly – eliminating the pollution caused by refining and burning oil in internal combustion engines.
In summary, extracting oil requires enormous energy resources, refining it poses a risk to human health, and using oil as fuel is inefficient and polluting.
Meanwhile, electricity can be completely “green” if renewable energy sources are used. It can therefore be argued that the electric car and electricity generation is a more sustainable choice compared to oil extraction and the fuel-powered car.
