Electrifying deficit reduction: A robust three-fer
Posted April 8, 2010 at 6:26 am 
Filed in: This morning’s ClimateWire (http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2010/04/08/8/;subscription required) reports on a study released today by the Electrification Coalition (a partner organization of Securing America’s Future Energy) confirming what common sense tells us: moving the transportation system from a dependence on mostly imported petroleum to reliance on domestic sources of electricity is good for both energy and economic security — as well as the environment.
As Saqib Rahim reports: “Massively scaling up electric-drive cars would actually reduce the federal deficit once Americans’ incomes rise and they start paying less at the pump, a new report out today finds.”
“The Electrification Coalition — a group of utilities, electric-car makers, software and battery companies — floated a $120 billion plan last year to aggressively promote electric cars and infrastructure. Today, it will release an economic analysis claiming the plan would also cut the federal deficit by $336 billion by 2030.”
Reducing the deficit by more than $300 billion on an investment of $120 billion sounds like a pretty good return! And that return doesn’t include the real benefits of reducing America’s need to project force (blood and treasure) around the globe to keep the oil flowing freely. Staying on more defensible and easily quantifiable ground, the report highlights the fact that “driving on electricity is cheaper than gasoline, so it would save Americans money and allow them to spend on other things.” Electrification will also create jobs and boost the economy from ”growing demand for electric cars, parts and infrastructure.” No less importantly, the U.S. economy will “be less vulnerable to the whimsies of world oil prices.”
And that’s not all. In addition to growing the economy, reducing the deficit, and lessening our dependence on oil from unstable and/or politically hostile regimes, electrification will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as Rahim reports:
“According to a 2007 analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Electric Power Research Institute, no matter how a plug-in hybrid gets its power — fully from coal power plants, from the national average fuel mix, or from renewable energy — it always has a smaller carbon footprint than a gasoline car.”
Note that this analysis was conducted jointly by a leading enviromental organization and the research arm of the utility industry, and found that even hybrids electrified by coal power plants have fewer emissions than conventional gas-powered cars. Two points here: first, the national mix today is only about 50% coal-based electricity and second, long-term market and policy trends virtually guarantee a lower emissions electricity profile in the U.S.
To recap: A 200% return on investment in deficit reduction, massively better energy security, and significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions. There are few no-brainers in the energy policy world, but this is one of them.
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