Electric cars, electric lawnmowers, electric chainsaws,…ALL electric.

People think because they are using something that uses electricity instead of something that has an exhaust pipe spewing out plumes of smoke, they think they are saving the environment.

The Truth is Far From What They Think

The truth IS—MOST of electricity is a result of fossil fuels:

63% Fossil Fuel
20% Nuclear
17% Renewables
-2% Hydropower
0.3% Other

Maybe you don’t see smoke close to where you live, but someplace is blowing smoke. In many cases, the efficiency of electrical products are less than a combustion engine. The amount of water and other resources needed to make an electrical product are often greater than fossil fuel burning engines. Then, you have to consider the wasteful excess of disposal. Where do all those batteries go from electric powered devices? And we won’t even talk about all the Vampire charging systems that keep charging regardless if it needs it or not. Sometimes a charger plugged into a socket that isn’t charging anything is still drawing energy. Think about all that waste!

People always think they have a solution for something. But anytime you think about what you do, you have to apply a complete systems approach. What is the total input involved in creating something? And what is the excess as an outcome of the waste?

Lipstick on a pig. That’s what most electrical devices are. They make people feel less guilty about themselves when they are likely creating MORE of a problem by using even MORE resources.