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In Response Column: Let's transition now to electric cars, clean transportation

Eric Enberg.jpg
Eric Enberg

Once again, Isaac Orr of the Center of the American Experiment has graced a News Tribune Opinion page with a commentary seemingly written to create fear in the populace, this time regarding the rise of the electric vehicle (Statewide View Column: “Trump can stop Walz from turning Minn. into a cold California,” Nov. 27).

Orr works pretty hard to make electric vehicles appear to be impractical for northern Minnesota. He claims electrics lose 40% of their range at only 20 degrees, for instance. However, real drivers of electric vehicles I know here in Duluth tell me they experience only a 20% decrease in range at 20 degrees and that their commute is not at all threatened. Of course, all chemical reactions slow down with a decrease in temperature, and Orr neglected to note that internal combustion engines lose 12% of their efficiency at 20 degrees as well, according to fueleconomy.gov.

In fact, the electric vehicle is here to stay. In the recent study, “Wells, Wires, and Wheels,” by the investment arm of the bank BNP Paribas, a persuasive case is made that the electric vehicle powered by renewable energy delivered over the electric grid is vastly more cost-effective for consumers than spending billions exploring, drilling, pumping, transporting, refining, and delivering gasoline and diesel.

Put another way, electrics are so cheap to fuel that oil will have to fall from $55 per barrel today to a mere $9 to $20 per barrel to compete with electric-vehicle transportation. Worse for the oil majors, only 5% of their reserves can be extracted at that price. And yet, the oil majors continue to spend billions of dollars exploring exotic oil reserves that are expensive to extract. Perhaps this is why the oil and gas sector performs so poorly for investors. Exxon is even resorting to borrowing just to pay dividends, behavior unheard of just a few years ago.

Put yet another way, using very conservative figures and no subsidies, a family driving two electric vehicles in Duluth, powered by their own solar, would pay off the solar system in just five years and then enjoy $2,400 in savings every year. That is a lot of extra cash to roll around the Duluth economy and underlines how economically important it is to encourage energy democracy and electric vehicles.

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There are also large health impacts at stake. Asthma rates, for instance, would likely plummet with less pollution from internal combustion engines in the air, saving lives and millions of dollars in health costs.

Truly concerning, however, is the moral complacency the Center of the American Experiment seeks to generate by trying to convince us that our greenhouse emissions are too small to matter. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Look, no rain drop ever takes responsibility for the flood. The center has a moral responsibility to society to encourage conservative values such as personal responsibility in its work rather than enable people to continue behavior that is literally costing the lives and homes of other human beings.

Let’s move our society forward. In 2019, studies were published showing that coal and natural-gas power plants are uneconomic; oil is in grave danger; and carbon pricing is working well in Canada, Britain, and the European Union. We have all the technology we need for the transition. It’s high time we pass the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act and begin cost-effective decarbonization.

In the meantime, however, hooray for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his push for clean transportation.

Dr. Eric Enberg practices family medicine in West Duluth and is group leader for the Duluth Citizens' Climate Lobby (https://citizensclimatelobby.org). He also is a member of the Duluth Climate and Environment Network.

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