IT and electric cars – not quite ready to save the world
There is an assumption that has become commonplace that doing things online rather than paper based is better for the environment. Similarly, electric cars and hydrogen cars are seen as potential parts of the solution to global warming.
Well in some cases and in some respects, they are.
But both the IT industry and electric cars are completely reliant on – you guessed it – electricity. Hydrogen powered cars could also be a potential solution – but to produce the hydrogen requires a massive amount of power.
And where does this electricity come from? Well currently around the world about 40 per cent of electricity comes from coal. Only a tiny amount currently comes from renewable sources. You get the picture.
At some point soon, environmental NGOs, governments and the media are going to realise that computing power and electric / hydrogen cars are not cost free, not carbon free and not yet at least the answer to all our problems. If the message ‘powered currently by mainly coal and fossil fuels’ appeared on prototype cars and on all computers’, it might lead to a more realistic perception of the current position.
In the future when the majority of power generation is from renewables and nuclear and when coal plants are all covered by carbon capture and storage schemes, all well and good. At that point, IT, electric and hydrogen cars will be delivering a low carbon economy. But sadly that’s not going to be for a few years yet.