Electric cars hold greater promise for reducing emissions and lowering oil imports in the US than a national mandate for renewable energy, according to research conducted by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
The US government is currently considering plans to impose a national quota for renewable energy in a bid to cut the country’s oil use. But according to the major new study- released today as part of a two-day conference- this would have less effect than encouraging electric car use over gas-fuelled vehicles.
The Baker Institute analysis concludes that "the single most effective way to reduce US oil demand and foreign imports would be an aggressive campaign to launch electric vehicles into the automotive fleet." In fact, mandating that 30 per cent of all vehicles be electric by 2050 would both reduce US oil use by 2.5 million barrels a day and also cut emissions by 7 per cent. Meanwhile, the report found that the proposed national renewable portfolio standard (RPS) would cut them by only 4 per cent over the same time.
Moreover, the researchers found that other measures such as tax on carbon dioxide emissions or a market for credits for lower emissions would be more costly and would fail to impact on overseas oil imports in the short term.
The researchers also foresee natural gas -reinforced by recent discoveries of vast reserves of shale gas – playing "a very important role in the U.S. energy mix for decades to come."
Under a business-as-usual approach, the United States won’t have to import any natural gas for decades, the report finds. And the growth of the natural gas market would help the US cut emissions by lowering the demand for coal.
