Waste to energy – its what we do at Energy360
At the end of last year, we published an article on the uptake of electric vehicles in Australia, and we thought we would revisit this in light of the global pandemic of COVID-19.
Most people will have noticed how much clearer the air around them is at the moment, both visually and respiratorily. There have also been a number of media publications showing ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures of some of the world’s most polluted cities, such as Bangkok, Beijing, São Paulo, Bogotá, and Delhi (one of the most memorable quotes for me was a Delhi resident exclaiming that “It’s positively alpine!”[1]), which have all seen a remarkable decline in pollution. Of course, the irony is that with most residents of these cities in lockdown in their homes, few have any way to enjoy the fresh air, except through an open window or on a quick trip outside to stock up on necessities.
So of course the reduced pollution is largely due to the lack of industrial activity happening, but the clarity in the air, according to a number of experts across these major cities, shows just what a polluting role vehicles have had in their cities.
So where do we go from here? Hopefully not backwards. A global pandemic that is claiming people’s lives certainly shouldn’t be seen as a way of bringing about environmental change BUT the fear is that, rather than attempting to maintain the low levels of pollution in the world’s biggest capitals, when industry and cars kick back into action post-lockdown, the situation will go back to square one, and perhaps even worsen, as people and industries try to make up for the lost months. Please don’t let this happen – it’s going to be tough but we have a chance to do something different, so let’s do it. If not now, then when?
So how do we do it? With most of the public at home at the moment, pollution because of transport from greenhouse gases and emissions like NO₂ and particulates have dropped hugely. Improvement in air quality has got people thinking more about buying electric vehicles. A recent survey done in the UK for example, has shown that 45% have said that they are thinking of buying an EV over an internal combustion engine (ICE) car and 17% of them will definitely buy an EV within the next five years.[2]
In these times of increased stress, one study has highlighted that, at least one activity, fuelling your car, is made so much easier if you have an electric vehicle.[3] With the ability to ‘fill up’ from home just by plugging in, you don’t need to get a grip on petrol bowser pumps, or even leave the house; you reduce your potential exposure to the virus, and if you’ve also got solar panels and battery storage, you also benefit not just from reduced fuel costs, you can still power your car (and house) during any failure of the electrical grid, and because of the simpler mechanical design of electric cars, there’s far less chance of a break-down or need for mechanical repairs.
Of course, we’re not all going to be in the position to go out tomorrow and replace our ICE car with an electric one, but these times are a wake-up call on a number of fronts, and if there is one absolute benefit to EVs over ICEs, it’s their environmental benefit, which has become obvious with plummeting fossil fuel use and the world-wide plunges in pollution levels.
The switch to EVs is, of course, only one of a myriad of changes we can (and should) make as a part of any positive environmental impact in the wake of this terrible pandemic, towards changing our production and consumption habits towards cleaner and greener. We at Energy30 are passionate about doing exactly this with our renewable energy solutions.
[1] The Guardian, 11 April 2020
[2] TheDriven, 15 April 2020
[3] TheDriven 6 April 2020
