The Best Cars For the Climate | Hot Mess 🌎

Like this video? SUBSCRIBE to Hot Mess! ►► bit.ly/hotmess_sub
Peril & Promise is a public media initiative from WNET telling human stories of climate change and its solutions. Learn more at: www.pbs.org/wne...
Say you’re looking to buy a car. How do you pick the best car for the planet? There’s already a lot to consider when choosing a new ride, and factoring in climate change makes it even trickier. Well we’re here to guide you through it… even if we can’t come to the dealership with you. #climatechange #electricvehicle #cars
Tools you can use to compare cars' fuel efficiency:
www.fueleconom...
www.trackyourg...
Connect with us on:
Twitter: / hotmesspbs
Instagram: / hotmesspbs
Facebook: / hotmesspbs
Hot Mess T-shirts!:
store.dftba.co...
References: bit.ly/2GFmO63
-----------
Host/Editor-In-Chief: Joe Hanson
Writer: Maren Hunsberger
Creative Director: David Schulte
Editors/Animator: Mark Rodriguez
Producers: Stephanie Noone & Amanda Fox
Story Editor: Alex Reich
-----------
Produced by PBS Digital Studios
Theme Music: Eric Friend/Optical Audio
Music: APM

[@besmart]

I love this show and not just because I host it

[@JarrodBaniqued]

I’d like to see a comparison of hydrogen vehicles, especially hydrogen fuel cell vehicles vs. hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicles.

[@ssiddarth]

I love both the shows & you too Joe 🤗

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

@@JarrodBaniqued Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have no real advantage (when it comes to CO2 emissions) over gasoline-electric hybrids, and hybrids are MUCH cheaper to buy.

[@MiguelJuanez]

It's badass man! Great work - everyone involved! Gracias 👍🏽 😎

[@ZomBeeNature]

You are the most humble person you have ever met too. 😉

[@staffsausage4891]

It is irritating to constantly see that the carbon emissions to create electricity for EVs is always considered (as it should be), but the carbon emissions to produce Gasoline/Diesel before it makes it to the ICE car is not. Seems like a double standard.

[@brokkoliomg6103]

True

[@matiascusinato4754]

As well as all the war/conflicts it has created over the years

[@Soken50]

I think it was potholer who made a video comparing ICE and electric vehicles and going into fuel production impacts, his videos are generally well sourced and argumented, I recommend it.

[@raresmircea]

Indeed!

[@cristofu7915]

It gets tricky when you start considering more variables that are difficult to measure. If we're to include the emissions from producing ICE fuels then we would also need to consider the emissions from producing the fuel for the power plants that charge ev's. What he doesn't touch on though is that while ICE cars will always have to burn fuel that produces emissions, ev's on the other hand will produce less and less emissions as our energy networks transition to more clean power. Because let's keep in mind you're buying a car that you'll likely be driving for the next 5-10 years, often even longer. Eventually ev's will be zero emission after production, but ICE can never be zero emission.

[@CityBeautiful]

I love the conclusion! Just say yes to low-car/no-car lifestyles. And let's design our cities to make them easier to give up the car.

[@oceanicbloom1407]

City Beautiful agreed, cars should become a thing of the past, so many die in needless incidents. Cities designed around trains and trams would be far safer.

[@nickb4559]

City Beautiful I love your channel!!!

[@Ryukachoo]

It's really easy to say things like this when you're in a privileged position, and also don't really understand the costs involved in what you're asking for

[@oceanicbloom1407]

Ryukachoo this is beyond our life times, a goal to strive towards.

[@Quintinohthree]

@@Ryukachoo Car ownership is a priviledged position that is expensive to the community.

[@IstasPumaNevada]

It's like the original saying: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. People remember the last one because it's the easiest, but those three steps are in decreasing order of effectiveness. Number one way to reduce CO2 emissions from cars is to use cars less. That's just highly inconvenient so people don't like considering it.

[@Noukz37]

Amen brother/sister! If we really really have to buy a car, then get a used electric one. But with car sharing taking off (and public transport of course), there's no real need for owning a car, it's just a waste.

[@aaronsmith5864]

@@Noukz37 said no one ever who lives in the country.

[@owencutler229]

Aaron Smith Uber? Lyft?

[@owencutler229]

IstasPumaNevada exactly right

[@Noukz37]

@@aaronsmith5864 Of course if you live in a countryside you don't have access to this, thus buy a used electric/phev car. :-)

[@tylerpeterson4726]

California's struggles with CO2 emissions are due to its citizen's refusal to allow denser housing. If people can't move into cities, they'll move into the suburbs, increasing their commutes and therefore their transportation related CO2. While I don't live in CA and can't help them fix their problems, I am advocating in my city for more dense housing and more public transit. I hope more people will see that city design is a huge factor in how its residents use transportation.

[@cristofu7915]

Yes thank you for making this point. Urban sprawl is another huge environmental issue.

[@birchtree5884]

_What’s the best car for the climate?_ A bicycle

[@sogerc1]

That's not a car.

[@adhdartist1994]

You cannot arrive everywhere by bicycle & some countries are too dangerous to even drive a motorcycle

[@CarbonRadio]

I love this comment so much. The question should be - what is the least bad car for the climate?

[@toyotaprius79]

Go back to 1880 - 1910 and you'll be met with a stark reality of where all that rubber came from.

[@m9078jk3]

An electric motorized bicycle as the electric motor is far more energy efficient than the human pedaling it. I get 950 MPGe with mine. A human powered bicycle gets 15 MPGe to 300 MPGe depending upon whether the human rider is a carnivore or a vegetarian. I pedal bionically with the motor to get exercise,extend its range and get to my destination. However daily aerobic exercise is required for good human health and with passenger cars you get none driving or being a passenger in them.

[@theCodyReeder]

"more carbon neutral and better for the environment than any other KZbin channel" challenge accepted! I'm going to go carbon negative!

[@manualdidact]

One point I like to keep in mind is that the emissions of most fuel burning cars can increase as they age and their engines and emissions control systems wear out. Over their expected lifespan, many EVs can be expected to actually run with *decreasing* emissions, as the power grids that charge them become cleaner due to advancements in renewable energy, emissions legislation, consumers adopting renewable energy on their own, etc.

[@Darth_Pro_x]

+

[@cristofu7915]

Yep, eventually all ev's could be zero emission after production but that can never be the case for combustion engine cars no matter how efficient they become.

[@leo9753]

Just looking at the efficiency of EV motors compared to regular ICE ones tells you where the future is. After centuries of perfection, our best ICE motors are at about 30-40% efficiency, while EV is already at peak efficiencies of 90-92%. More EV's are bought, technology gets better and cheaper and infrastructure gets build

[@evaristegalois6282]

“What’s the best car for climate” _Elon Musk is typing..._

[@molnibalage83]

Yes, mostly idotic stuff...

[@brokkoliomg6103]

In Musk we trust. Ah yes I love that guy for what he's doing.

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

@justsomeguy The whole idea of a hyperloop is also idiotic, so is his car tunnel, so is his proposal for Earth to Earth space travel, so were the Falcon Wing doors... most of his ideas are nonsense.

[@molnibalage83]

@@brokkoliomg6103 Are we speaking about his idiotic statements about the cold thruster? Or the garbage car tunnel conception? Or the Hyperloop which is just a fancy name for a conception which is almost 100 year old thing and impractical and impossible? Except the F9 rocket all of his idea is pure idiot and the law of physics and technical feasibility brake them apart.

[@molnibalage83]

@justsomeguy Nope, I'm talking about his 100% idiotic and nonsense 'ideas'...

[@mikeg9b]

Each claim in this video should have its source of information cited.

[@blueridding]

Yeah. I want to share this with my dad, but that "less than half the emissions over its lifetime" is a different number than he (and I) heard before. I can't share this until I can give a source for that number

[@mikeg9b]

@@blueridding This channel has provided references in some previous videos. Hopefully, they will realize the omission and correct it.

[@DiThi]

Watch the video "Are electric cars really green?" by potholer54. It's not only very well explained, it's also PACKED with sources. The entire channel basically debunks many claims by just reading the source studies.

[@mysteriousperson5461]

You can also watch the video of Adam ruins everything about electric cars they always cite every source

[@tylerpeterson4726]

@@blueridding This is my favorite source for discussing the lifetime emissions of vehicles. www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/electric-vehicles/life-cycle-ev-emissions#.XG9swYV7mV4

[@joeybroda9167]

I think the value of public transit was understated in this video. If you live in an urban area with poor public transit and care about climate change - improving public transit should be a huge political goal for you. It has by far the best emissions reduction of using a vehicle to get around. We have to be willing to go to war with the car for more space and investment in public transit to have the best impact on emissions.

[@tylerpeterson4726]

It's all about cascading effects. I'm concerned about climate change, so I want to see more public transit. Since I want to see more public transit, I want to see more neighborhoods that can support high quality transit service. And so today I focus my advocacy efforts on getting my city to approve more, denser housing, to improve access to and use of transit, to increase transit investment, to reduce CO2 emissions, to reduce climate change.

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

1:15 - You say "these vehicles account for nearly one fifth of greenhouse gas emissions", yet the graphic you display shows three-fifths for light duty vehicles.

[@qwerty11111122]

Thats the breakdown of types of cars out of total vehicle emissions. The 1/5th number refers to out of all sources of greenhouse emissions, including agriculture and powerplants.

[@sk8rdman]

@@qwerty11111122 Thanks for explaining. I found that infographic pretty confusing too, since no part of it seemed to represent 1/5th of the pie.

[@MonteiroM]

We need more bicycle infrastructures!

[@JonathanAdami]

Hey, good video, thanks for making it! Few questions though: Did you factor in maintenance? after 10/20 years you're replacing the whole car on an ICE car so the "buying an old car is better", does that still hold? Also aren't batteries mostly reusable/recyclable? Instead of throwing away they're part of the next cars or something? Admittedly I don't know, it's just a few things I thought of while watching the video! :)

[@cristofu7915]

The material in batteries are recycled but not the battery as a whole, lithium ion batteries degrade over time. If a car is made well and maintained well the actual chassis and body of the car should last a really long time (50+ years). One alternative he didn't mention is to take a used car and convert it to electric, there are already places popping up all around the world that do this, although this is very niche and currently not a very cheap alternative (really more for car enthusiasts) so it's understandable that it wouldn't be included in this video.

[@Bertinator-nm9ld]

If you buy a halfway reliable car and maintain it decently well, then you're not going to replace anywhere near the whole car for a gasoline vehicle. Something else to consider is that all the non-drivetrain components on a gasoline car that break are also susceptible to breaking on an electric car. There are actually a fair number of reliability concerns relating to the battery in an electric car and how long that will last, though they are largelyl doing better than expected so far. Over the course of 10-20 years might be a different story though. Recycling batteries can be a good option, but the recycling process is not emissions free, by any means. That's not to say these aren't good topics to look into. However, I wouldn't be so quick to expect that the answers to these particular questions will necessarily point in favor of electric vehicles.

[@JonathanAdami]

@@Bertinator-nm9ld fair enough! I didn't consider this, my expectation was that after 250k km a car sorta breaks piece by piece but my car just reached 170k km so I don't know yet :D Thanks for answering!

[@Bertinator-nm9ld]

@@JonathanAdami Cars have gotten a lot more reliable in recent decades. If you keep up on maintenance (as outlined in your owner's manual), and avoid rust problems (which is problematic for electric vehicles too), there are plenty of cars these days that will run 300,000 to 500,000 km. Sometimes more.

[@Furiends]

Both are true. Which is ALSO why responsibly sourcing materials for the batteries is even more important. Cobalt is still a horrible disaster. I still think we can mostly blame Apple.

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

Maintenance? I've heard EVs have far fewer moving parts than ICs. And ICs are basically a long series of explosions.

[@brokkoliomg6103]

Yeah kinda true

[@joeybroda9167]

Yep. Plus with regenerative braking, you use your brakes less and get less wear as a result.

[@ScramJett]

Regular maintenance for an EV would be basically just tires. You'd have to rotate them and replace them like with most other cars. Maybe keep an eye on coolant levels if you have a liquid cooled battery pack. That's really just about it. I have a Volt, so I still have an ICE engine to haul around, but even then, my first oil change was at 26,000 miles (no, that's not a typo).

[@Bertinator-nm9ld]

The big maintenance concern on EVs is the battery pack. If one of those goes bad, and I'm not saying it necessarily will, the cost to replace it could easily be more expensive than all the drivetrain related maintenance a reasonably well built and maintained gasoline vehicle would need over its entire lifetime. There are open questions with long term battery longevity, since the technology hasn't been around that long yet.

[@CaptainPIanet]

A fair point

[@albevanhanoy]

Also worth mentioning that self-driving cars are much more energy-efficient than when it's a person driving them: They accelerate and brake in smooth ways. Keep in mind the moment when a car starts and the moment it stops are typically moments when energy consumption spikes (And thus, emissions as well) .

[@angelindenile]

I'd like to bring up the fact that even in areas where walking, biking, and public transportation is an option, driving allows people to get to better jobs in general. It's actually one of the reasons I am locked out of better jobs; it takes 2+ hours to get to decent jobs via public transportation, as well as some of the public colleges around where I live. So while those are sometimes available, they are not always the better options monetarily.

[@giatonpeonta8071]

is the energy cost of actually bringing the fuel to the gas station factored in?

[@steevemartial4084]

I really needed this video. There are a lot of critics about electric vehicles and I wanted to know how founded they were. Thanks for sharing the sources and doing it in such a clear way too. And thank you again for sticking to high quality, reliable sources. You're doing a great job ! I'd love a video on hydrogen cars btw.

[@gheim5693]

A video about hydrogen cars would be great

[@marabooq7150]

Agreed!

[@HpBoost]

Indeed!

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, hydrogen vehicles don't offer any reduction in CO2 emissions when compared to gasoline-electric hybrids. Hydrogen is just another fossil fuel, producing it from water and electricity could never be economically viable because of the enormous amounts of clean water required, the enormous amount of energy required and the inherent inefficiency of the entire process.

[@Soken50]

@@PistonAvatarGuy Indeed, unless we were an advanced space fairing civilisation shipping hydrogen starlifted from the Sun (go watch Isaac Arthur) it wouldn't be economical or energy efficient at all.

[@gheim5693]

I've never heard that before, do you have a source? Now I hope even more that there's gonna be a hot mess video about it. :D

[@discosteve]

Pretty disappointed at the lack of a mention of battery size choice. This has a huge impact on the life cost of a vehicle, a Leaf is ridiculously better than an S...

[@raqFarha]

Could you do a video on choices like which car, or gas vs electric stove, or home heating, etc is best factoring in how it impacts the push towards getting our infrastructure switched over to where we need to be? for example, how many people in a town need to get plug in electrics to get adequate charging infrastructure? how long do the cars last and will we get the grid switched to renewables within the car's useable lifetime? does it help get gas cars off the road as it ages and displaces other used cars for people that can't afford to shop at a dealership?

[@jimmartin8456]

Pretty good summary. The only thing I would add which may have been mentioned elsewhere in the comments is EV "fuel" (electrons) will only continue to get cleaner as time goes by. ALL power generating entities are moving away from coal. That ALSO means the the creation of EVs will start getting cleaner too not only because the power needed to create them gets cleaner but also as new battery tech and formulas reduce processing. As it stands now new battery tech uses less cobalt. The company Tesla just bought is for creating cells in a dry fashion rather than the expensive wet creation that requires a lot of power to dry them in furnaces...but now we are getting into the weeds.

[@Alactriann]

I hadn't thought about how power plants would be more efficient than engines but that makes so much sense.

[@ScramJett]

"But, the hard truth is that we've built a world that depends on automobiles." No. The hard truth is that we need to dismantle the world we've built around automobiles and rebuild it away from automotive dependency. If you want to reduce climate emissions, nothing less will do. By the way, it may be true that if everyone switched from ICE to EVs today, we'd cut emissions in half. However, unless you plan on providing every single household in the US (let alone the world) with an EV, it will take decades for that switch to happen. And as the IPCC report pointed out, we don't have decades. Hybrid cars have been on the market for nearly 20 years and their market share is still only single digit.

[@hondaguy9153]

68%? I wish you would have posted a source on that. I have a really hard time believing that. That might be the high end of the scale...I'm willing to bet the average is much lower than that.

[@gasdive]

The ones I've seen depend on the expected life of the electric car being much shorter, but reality seems to be their lives are longer.

[@Bertinator-nm9ld]

Long range electric vehicles require huge batteries. That's where a lot of the extra emissions come in. Unfortunately, long range electric vehicles are the much more in demand option.

[@gasdive]

@@Bertinator-nm9ld The long range batteries also mean more distance to battery replacement. The one I'm most familiar with is my own electric motorcycle. It gets 6000 charge cycles. With a range of 200 miles, that means the life of the battery is 1,200,000 miles, about 10 times longer than a similar petrol bike.

[@gadyariv2456]

Didn't drive a car ever since I moved to a small town that is connected by intercity Electric rail, that was a decade ago. the thing I miss the least were the traffic jam every morning.

[@JonathanSwinney]

I would like to see a video about electricity providers that sell renewable power (especially wind energy in Texas). If I pay for renewable power through the grid, am I actually lowering carbon emissions or am I just causing others who don't care how their electricity is generated to use a higher percentage of fossil fuel generated electricity?

[@jnzkngs]

Everyone seems oblivious to the fact that if it were harder to finance cars, we would have a much higher percentage of fuel efficient cars and EVs on the road. It's been proven time and again that when people are spending credit as opposed to spending money that they have already earned, they spend more and buy more luxurious options. Back when it was harder for people to get financing, the people who could not afford to buy a new car had to settle for the used cars of people who were frugal enough to save up for a new one. Frugal people who save up their money to buy a car are much more likely to factor in costs such as fuel efficiency, insurance cost, and long-term reliability. People who finance the entire price of a vehicle are much less likely to worry about fuel efficiency or reliability and focus more on appearance and luxury. This is why The big three American automotive manufacturers have all but given up selling small fuel-efficient cars in the United States in favor of less fuel-efficient and more luxurious trucks and SUVs. Even the political party that is supposedly all for saving the environment completely ignores this because much of their campaign financing comes from the financial industry.

[@piggyatbaqaqi]

I was already leaning all-electric for my next car. This decided me.

[@evolt7553]

Here are some KZbin channels dedicated to EVs: kzbin.info kzbin.info kzbin.info kzbin.info/door/MFmrcGuFNu_59L0pHcR0OA kzbin.info/door/NX6A--KWiqE_F45EcPqmNw

[@cornkopp2985]

So I should buy a used electric car and live in a city so I don’t need to use it often?

[@excentrisitet7922]

3:38-3:46 - Bbbut?.. But the hydro-electro-stations...

[@dannydetonator]

They incorporate massive investment and destroys a lot of natural habitat. Choose wisely how and where to get your energy (advice fora state):: My country get 80% of electricity from hydroelectric power, but building the biggest of these stations not only displaced 100s of peasants, but levelled entire ecosystems with all the river-coast related natural monuments like famous and unique cliffs, caves, animal and plant habitats. Building another-one's bridge, it was tested by covering it in heavy vechicles, wich caused it to collapse(🙈) taking the lifes of over 40 ppl.... Yes, it happened in Soviet times, when entire nations' concerns could be dismissed, but things similar are still to consider trying to develop something good for the planet. It's far from black-and-white, as often presented...

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

Diesels often emit more CO2 than gasoline vehicles. Examples: Chevy Cruze: 153 hp (gasoline), 137 hp (diesel); CO2/mile 277g (gasoline), CO2/mile 294g (diesel); annual fuel cost $1,050 (gasoline); annual fuel cost $1,200 (diesel); EPA smog rating (out of 10) - 6 - (gasoline), EPA smog rating (out of 10) - 3 - (diesel). Mazda CX-5: 187 hp (gasoline), 173 hp (diesel); CO2/mile 335g (gasoline), CO2/mile 365g (diesel); annual fuel cost $1,300 (gasoline); annual fuel cost $1,600 (diesel); EPA smog rating (out of 10) - 7 - (gasoline), EPA smog rating (out of 10) - 1 - (diesel). Honda Accord Hybrid (absolutely destroys any of the vehicles listed above): 212 hp (gasoline); CO2/mile 184g (gasoline); annual fuel cost $700 (gasoline); EPA smog rating (out of 10) - 7 - (gasoline). Prius: 121 hp (gasoline); CO2/mile 170g (gasoline); annual fuel cost $650 (gasoline); EPA smog rating (out of 10) - 7 - (gasoline). Trucks... Ford F-150 2.7 EcoBoost: 325 hp (gasoline); CO2/mile 423g (gasoline); annual fuel cost $1,600 (gasoline); EPA smog rating (out of 10) - 5 - (gasoline). Compare to... Ford F-150 3.0 Power Stroke: 250 hp (diesel); CO2/mile 463g (diesel); annual fuel cost $2,000 (diesel); EPA smog rating (out of 10) - 1 - (diesel). Ram 1500 3.0 EcoDiesel: 240 hp (diesel); CO2/mile 448g (diesel); annual fuel cost $2,000 (diesel); EPA smog rating (out of 10) - 1 - (diesel).

[@Furiends]

There's two problems with this comparison. You're comparing CO2 per mile. That metric is useful for comparing similar models but not different weight classes. A truck halls more weight as shown by the near double horse power. The second problem is the same model isn't a useful comparison between its mileage because those optimizations have a lot to do with where the car is made, the regulations imposed and which markets its intended for. For example: A French car the Renault Talisman with an 160 hp diesel gets 71.5g CO2/mile vs a 150 hp gasoline gets 79g CO2/mile. By the way this is non-linear to size. Large trucks will see a larger difference in the rate.

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

@@Furiends Also, the hybrids are listed to show that it clearly makes more sense to accept the added complexity, weight and cost of a gasoline-electric hybrid system, rather than adding complexity, weight and cost to a vehicle by powering it with diesel engine.

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

@@Furiends Wow, I just noticed that one of my comments didn't post here. You need to reread the comment you replied to in order to understand why you're wrong.

[@Furiends]

@@PistonAvatarGuy You're making a bit of an ephemeral point. Overall you're right the average gas car preforms better on emissions than diesel. But this is more a function of emission and fuel efficiency standards of different jurisdictions not of diesel technology itself. For example the Ford F-150s gasoline version is under more stringent emission requirements than its diesel counterpart. That's why I'm giving the Renault Talisman as a counter example. It's about a $30,000 dollar car but its manufactured in France where most cars are diesel and their emission requirements are stricter on diesel. Jumping to the theoretical though diesel does have more carbon in it than gasoline. Diesel engines in a theoretical sense have an easier time combusting fuel efficiently than a gas car does which means even with their higher carbon content they have less emissions for the power to the wheel they provide. In fact diesel cars were primarily a response to the Kyoto Protocol because they emitted less carbon. Without getting into a whole other subject the reasoning behind using gasoline is its lower toxic to breath emissions like NOx. However modern equipment can filter nearly all of that out. Finally we have one elephant in the room that hasn't even been mentioned which is that it takes more energy to crack gasoline out of crude than diesel. Its also possible that the distillation process emits more with gasoline.

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

@@Furiends "For example the Ford F-150s gasoline version is under more stringent emission requirements than its diesel counterpart." - No, it isn't. In the light truck category, both engines have to meet the same minimum standards, the diesel barely squeaks past the regulations, while the gasoline engine blows past them... and it's the same for every vehicle on my list. The other issue is that, as you increase the 'cleanliness' of diesel emissions, efficiency is reduced, because the emissions controls are so restrictive. Your theory doesn't explain the other vehicles on my list. - "It's about a $30,000 dollar car but its manufactured in France where most cars are diesel and their emission requirements are stricter on diesel." - The last I read, the EU has LESS restrictive requirements for diesels than the US does, but I'll have to look into that. In the comment that didn't post, I noted that European vehicles have gasoline engines which perform VERY poorly when compared to the gasoline engines that we get in the US, which is a major reason why they don't sell here. - "Diesel engines in a theoretical sense have an easier time combusting fuel efficiently than a gas car does..." - Not in the modern world. Gasoline engines typically have a BFSC that's on par with diesel engines, and are superior in that regard when emissions controls are thrown into the mix. - "In fact diesel cars were primarily a response to the Kyoto Protocol because they emitted less carbon." - But, IN PRACTICE, they DON'T have lower emissions. - "However modern equipment can filter nearly all of that out." - AGAIN, read my first comment, read it CAREFULLY. The diesels can't even remotely begin to compete in that area. You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

[@jengilbert8858]

Diesel engines also release black carbon (soot) which contributes to climate change, even though it's not a greenhouse gas. That would be a very informative episode as most ppl only consider CO2e. Adding filters to diesel engines & replacing inefficient cook stoves would be a relatively cheap & easy way to reduce warming to give us a bit more time to implement ghg reduction.

[@mauriciocantu6745]

You guys should post your sources in description!! It would help me a lot when arguing with people!

[@HotMessPBS]

Done!

[@mauriciocantu6745]

@@HotMessPBS Awesome! Thank you so much!!

[@Noctuoidea228]

Could you guys produce a video about the climate impact of shipping? Id be interested in both international and domestic

[@Helicoptro]

Any resources for estimating the emissions of a hybrid vs conventional car in a given area? Providing some examples in the video of when a hybrid is better or worse than conventional would have been a lot more helpful than just saying "it depends".

[@patnaiksuman]

You mentioned in the beginning that one must consider not only the road time emissions but also manufacturing and post disposal. Please make a video on post disposal environmental effects. My feeling is - batteries do more toxic damage to the environment (soil, water and air contamination). Well environment is not only the air we breath.

[@Goni983]

Some places offer different supplier who can feed the grid renewable energy sourced power based on your individual preference. So you can choose to go 100% renewable in those cases making driving an EV 100% clean in that sense at least. Looking up your specific state and county electric suppliers could get you that. The available options might surprise some.

[@TheSaigonSaint]

Compressed air is used in the industry for power drills and stuff. I wonder if compressed air could make low output engines work. Compressor would be solar powered, or could be powered by a smaller battery or a really small petrol engine. This way emission would be minimal only because of the compressing unit and maybe we would be able to modify our exsting cars.

[@maurice3590]

Thanks for this Video its good to see that people finaly get more into Green Living and producing less waste. First time i see a "almost" fair comparsion of the diffrent Car types There are a few Points that haven't been talk'd about and should be considered. - All Cars produce pollution with Rubber from the Tires and Breaking dust - How about Recycling possibilities? - i guess a lot of the Battery's can get Recycled and Re-Used. - Its not clear how much Pollution is produced by the BIG OIL company's by farming Off-Shore to make Gasoline and Diesel. (remember the Gulf of Mexico). Giant Ships (that are running havy fuel oil) transport it to Land and its getting reffined, where the last mile is mostly made with Trucks. I dont want to offend any one, but this research was not completed properly i love all the topic's you are doing. ps. According to this Source Ships are the worst polluting thing on our Planet - guess how the Offshore Oil comes to land.... www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/21/the-worlds-largest-cruise-ship-and-its-supersized-pollution-problem

[@ttv_mxr_btw_sweatytryhard6824]

If countryes stopped fighting and started developing their renovable energy skills, the world could be MUCH better

[@MxCharlie]

Would love to see a video about how much climate impact a horse has vs an average car. What if everyone switched back to riding horses or riding in horse drawn carriages?

[@lucidmoses]

I got to say, I find that EV production pollution being more then ICE hard to believe. EV's have so many fewer parts. With less parts being driven around. How did they calculate the ICE cars footprint? Is it only the final assembly plant? Do you have a reference link for this?

[@discosteve]

The materials used in the batteries are much more energy intensive to produce than a chunk of aluminium or steel, hence the initial energy cost is higher.

[@lucidmoses]

@@discosteve Yea, I got that from what he said. I'm just having trouble buying it. Refining steel isn't free or cheap. Besides costs is not a good indication of pollution. Hence I'd like to see where he got his numbers from.

[@SamNYC2000]

Why don't you put the links to these tools on the PBS website ??? I had to google and come to KZbin even though I watched this on the PBS site.

[@dovakin6666]

You should go check out Quebec in Canada, we have got Hydro electricity!

[@natttomes4588]

we use hydro in Oregon USA

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

Pretty much 100% hydroelectricity in British Columbia.

[@Furiends]

Fuel cell vehicles are a necessary component for decarbonization. However their main advantage over batteries is that they scale really well. For large SUVs and for buses and trucks fuel cells are really the better option. Ultimately though fuel cells really depend on how the hydrogen is produced. There isn't really a reason we couldn't just build a few dozen massive molten salt solar arrays they just do electrolysis all day but unfortunately it'll always make more sense to use gas reforming instead. Thats why fuel cells and in fact most renewable technologies entirely depend on a carbon tax to be competitive.

[@blank.9301]

Non plug in hybrids are good, charges while you drive from potential/kinetic energy. Half the battery size, but still efficient and very fuel efficient. 👍.

[@AlecMuller]

"If everyone in the US switched to electric cars, emissions would be cut in half." Not only that, but assuming any kind of decent range, that's more than enough battery capacity to go to a zero-carbon electrical grid with vehicle-to-grid (V2G). A Tesla Model 3 stores as much energy as 5 Powerwalls. The biggest limiting factor is life-cycle cost per kWh (i.e. $200/kWh / 1000 cycles => $0.20/kWh). V2G only makes sense with cheap enough batteries, but we're getting close.

[@gregsimones9295]

You mentioned creation to grave for cars. I would like to see you address the disposal impacts of conventional vs. hybrid/electric cars because the carbon footprint is not the only environmental impact there is for cars.

[@srpenguinbr]

Make a videos about cara that run on ethanol or other less conventional combustion sources. You can also use animal waste to produce gases that can either be burned and turned into electricity or burned inside your car. It emits some greenhouse compounds, but not burning that original gas is worse

[@pewien_internauta]

Some time ago experts calculated that electric bus in Poland is worse to the environment due to the fact that almost all electricity here is produced from coal. So yeah... it's bad around here

[@kevindegraux485]

I would like to complement to the conclusion to emphasize some of the very good points of the video: if you can't live without a car, don't buy a big one like a SUV (which are unfortunately gaining in popularity nowadays) but choose a small, low-tech low-emission vehicle (not necessarily a car, for that matter) that is easy to produce, long-lived and easy to recycle. EVs are cool and may be more emission efficient compared to the average non-electric car (as are some lighter, smaller non-EV) but they remain unaffordable for a lot or ppl. Moreover, I heard recently that if everyone suddenly changes to EV, charging many of them at the same time could create massive issues with the electric grid. Anyhow, the best is definitely not to own a car yourself. In my country there are more and more platforms that allow to carpool and to share/rent cars for sporadic usage. This can also be a complement to soft mobility (public transportation, bike,...) And it can save money!

[@tylerpeterson4726]

"suddenly changes to EV... could create massive issues with the electric grid." But are we going to suddenly change to EVs? I think it's far more likely going to be gradually making more new cars EVs and therefore replace the vehicle fleet with EVs over about 20 years. We are already seeing electrical utilities adapting to EVs with new technologies and policies, so I think the electrical utilities will be able to absorb the new demand. I'd like to disclaim that I also want to see low car lifestyles enabled and this is preferable to everyone owning an EV.

[@kevindegraux485]

@@tylerpeterson4726 agreed! I was just saying that to counterweight the argument about the fact that suddenly changing all cars to EVs would cut US car-related emissions by two beside the fact that it's unrealistic. My point is I think that you could achieve a similar result with light vehicles (and alternatives) and I felt that it was missing from the video.

[@Furiends]

Unfortunately getting to small car is basically impossible in a free market system. In fact the reason SUVs are popular is because of fuel efficiency standards that let drivers get away with hulling around a tank everywhere they go. But I do think theres a solution that would work but it would require a massive unprecedented amount of investment. We should connect every major city in the US with maglev. This would both get a lot of trucks off the road but would also provide very robust commuter access thanks to the way cities have been planned badly for commutes. This also makes EVs more practical since long distances could rely on trains and rented cars rather than driving an SUV all across the the continent.

[@mafarmerga]

Still doing the calculations on my 35 year old Volvo diesel that still averages 32 mpg. 460K miles and still going.

[@stevenjhaws]

Best option of all (for those who enjoy cycling)... a Velomobile. You can't get much greener transportation (besides your own two feet)

[@marcioflorindo]

Great video, but it lacked two important things: the huge amounts of energy needed to extract oil from the ground, refine it and transport it; and, regarding hydrogen, more that 95% of it nowadays is produced from gas reforming, which produces huge amounts of CO2 - not to mention that hydrogen is way less efficient than electricity, considering everything that goes into delivering it to the car.

[@neatodd]

Wait - a fuel efficient car is better for the environment that a gas guzzler?! Who knew? Thank goodness for videos like this pointing out this important information!!

[@NetAndyCz]

Shared car is the best for the climate.

[@xchopp]

4:16 -- Disappointing that this did not mention the huge amounts of electricity used to refine oil to gasoline. We could use that electricity to power a bunch of EVs. This really changes the equation -- but I cannot know if it was factored into the "cut emissions in half" statistic given or not.

[@gravijta936]

My favorite vessel is the coupe. It runs on grain, and it's only emissions are chickens and eggs!

[@SylvainPont]

Except that for the technologies of today we CANNOT all have electric cars... Batteries really need to evolve for it to become possible. (I own an electric car, and of course am pro for it, but the reality is just not that simple)

[@juschu85]

No car at all is a good solution. But a bike often isn't an option because of the weather, your phisical condition (age, disability, illness) or something you want to take with you and public transportation still has its own carbon footprint (what doesn't mean any solution which isn't perfect isn't worth it). Also, with public transportation, you depend on their routes and time tables. You could improve that problem but it will never go away. So perhaps, smart self-driving on-demand cars you don't own yourself could be a solution for those cases where you would still need a car. As long as you could just use your bike or public transportation you do that. As soon as you need a car you take your smartphone, open an app and order a car that picks you up. When you're planning your vacation, which isn't so far you need to take a plane or you need a car for a longer period for any other reason then you can book a car early for a few days. That way you are always sure a car is ready for you, you can leave your stuff in the car and have the same flexibility as if it would be your own car. Since they are smart self-driving cars it's possible for them to communicate with other cars and they could drive so close to each other that they are practically a "car train". This way they are much more aerodynamic. So what I'm describing is basically a mix of taxis and car-rental. But that is still too expensive for most people to use it in a regular way. In a bigger scale where everybody uses it it would proabably much cheaper. I'm pretty sure car rentals are just overpriced. And it would be cheaper than taxis since you don't have to pay any driver. Of course, that would cost many people their job. But that's a completely different problem that shouldn't be solved by just not doing any of this automation stuff at all but with a better social system and a universal basic income in the long run. When all of the world is automated and nobody has to work anymore there still is enough wealth for everyone. Probably even more. We just have to make sure it's distributed in a fair way.

[@academicpandemic]

I kinda was hoping for a list of car models xD

[@Fhantom99]

Forget electric cars, gimme a teleporter. Bingo ... planet saved!

[@JohannesLilover]

love this channel

[@hyric8927]

Would be nice to get coverage on hydrogen fuel cells too. Just remember that to reach the total efficiency, one has to *multiply* with every step and not subtract.

[@blueberryjapan6015]

There is a vehicle that produces no green house gasses after manufacturing. It’s called a bicycle. I stopped driving a car now for ten years. Never felt better.

[@C_Bat]

Just a few hours ago, I realised I forgot to buy some ingredients for my cheesecake, so I just walked down 2 blocks to buy them. So I got the car thing down. My questions is: are ovens environmentally friendly, and is there an alternative? The damn thing gave my cheesecake uneven browning.

[@mulemom9826]

Yes, would love to see a video about hydrogen fuel cell cars -- thanks!!

[@Dragrath1]

Yep probably the key to sustainability in the long run is to reduce cars which will require our society to convert from automobiles to something else. But car sharing could probably be a useful intermediary step too.

[@DmitryRudoy]

That's I'm opting for hybrid cars for last 6+ years!

[@DraconixDG]

Why is he clicking left but it scrolls right?

[@xpehkto]

I recall Damien Linhart's map for Jakub Marian from 2016 where electric car foorprint was calculated for many countries in Europe based on these countries' electricity generation structure: jakubmarian.com/where-in-europe-is-electric-car-a-good-idea/ I really want to see such calculation based on the modern data and for more countries. I somewhat expected something like this from this video based on it's tittle.

[@edgbarra]

Hi, are you doing the diet that it's best for the environment?

[@steveco1800]

If you can only afford used cars it won't make much difference what you choose - someone else will still buy and use the car you didn't.

[@mysteriousperson5461]

We have to start to learn about ways we all can make a difference no matter what gender, sexuality, religion,race we can make a difference we have time but not a lot we o my have about 10 years left before it’s to late spread the word and make a change we CAN make the world a better place 🤗🙂

[@theredreceivers]

I own a 2014 Nissan Versa sedan. Would it be better for the environment if I was to sell this car and buy an EV, or keep it for a few more years, considering the emissions that go in to making a new car?

[@cloudpoint0]

If the two available options were just keep the old car vs scrap/replace with new, then keep is definitely better if there’s life left in the old car. But if you sell the old one and buy a new one, the old car still gets used by someone else (who might have been forced to buy a new cheap gas-guzzler instead) and your new car pollutes less. It comes down to personal economics in this case.

[@daveblodgett2438]

OK, have not watched yet but feel obliged to point out that buying a new car does not decrease your carbon footprint even if you downsize from a Ram 3500 to a Tesla. WHY? Because the carbon footprint of production is so vast it takes years for your lower emmission vehicle to offset that footprint. IF you really want to decrease your footprint drive as little as possible and keep your current car as long as possible THEN trade it for a low emmission vehicle and repeat that paradigm.

[@kefie1029384756]

Can you post your sources? Thanks!

[@SaintStephenAnon]

Is the new website Ecosia actually good for the environment?

[@hyric8927]

There are many reasons to go electric. Helping with climate change is just one of them. Depending on the location, it might simply be cheaper to run on electric vehicles since gasoline and diesel are more expensive than coal and gas on a per MWh basis. Then comes the fact that thermal generation in power plants not only run more efficiently than ICEs in cars but also take advantage of economies of scale. Air quality is another potential benefit depending on how electricity is generated. If most of a country's electricity comes from natural gas, that is already much cleaner than gasoline and diesel engines. It gets even better when you mix it in with nuclear and renewable energy. It could also potentially help with a country's trade balance if the country imports a lot of gasoline, especially if the electricity these vehicles will charge on is generated using domestically available fuels or sources.

[@aaronsmith5864]

Here is my concern. As far as I know no one has done any longterm research on what the life of an electric car is. What if the batteries need to be replaced every 5 or ten years, surely that cuts into any emissions savings. It might even make then worse for the environment. Let's say I buy a really efficient gas car like some fiat with a 1.5 liter engine and I keep it on the road for 20 years is that better or worse than an electric car that needs to get a new battery every 8ish years. That's what I want to know.

[@mr.boomguy]

And then theres the FUDsters...

[@lvl5dino749]

Another video on this please

[@kevinzhwzhangwang4494]

using this great fact trove for my bibliography

[@diogonunes1865]

Hydrogen is a dead end, the energy efficiency of hydrogen compared to electric vehicles is way lower, and it even uses more energy to produce hydrogen than the hydrogen itself can make, you could not run a hydrogen manufacturing facility on hydrogen, which is as you might expect bad (Check Real Engineering's video about hydrogen cars for more details)

[@joeybroda9167]

It depends on the application. For regular car purchasers, i think battery electric is going to make the most sense. But when you’re talking about long distance trucking, ships, planes, intercity buses - the downsides of battery electric become more of a problem. A semi truck requires several tonnes of battery to have a practical range. An electric plane, is going to have a very short range and be higher risk than a conventional plane. Hydrogen has the advantage of being super light. So in applications where weight savings are important - it will be a player.

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

@@joeybroda9167 "So in applications where weight savings are important - it will be a player." Wrong. Hydrogen fuel cells and their storage tanks are HEAVIER than batteries!

[@jerry3790]

Of course it takes more energy to produce the hydrogen than you can get from it. That’s just thermodynamics. It’s the same with batteries, they output less energy than it took to charge them. Batteries do have an advantage with this however, but it’s no reason to rule hydrogen out.

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

@@jerry3790 "Batteries do have an advantage with this however, but it’s no reason to rule hydrogen out." No, it's just one reason on a VERY long list of reasons.

[@diogonunes1865]

@@jerry3790 yes it takes more energy to produce hydrogen cause 100% efficiency impossibility, but compared to everything else hydrogen has very low production efficiency

[@someone_there]

Thanks for this new video! Continue guys! Can be nice an episode on Hydrogen, whe hear a lot of stuff about it, difficult to get what is true or false...

[@gothicpagan.666]

The ultimate answers have to be: 1 Get any old car or truck and convert it to electrical power 2 As 1 but convert it's existing engine to run on hydrogen gas. 3rd option, get a bike👌

[@juschu85]

3:20 And that's exactly why Tesla is building solar-powered factories. I didn't hear about any other car manufacturer who is doing this. That's also something you should factor in. What's the CO² footprint of a Tesla produced today (as long as I know they are not done yet)? What would be the CO² footprint of a Tesla produced when they are done and every Tesla is produced with renewable energy? 3:35 Is it really like that in the US? Here in Germany, you can just choose a different plan and then your electricity (technically rather the amount of electricity you consume and not the actual electricity from your wall socket) is produced depending on your plan and not depending on where you live. I highly doubt that there is no way of choosing a green power plan in the US. If that's not possible there's really something going wrong. 5:25 Hydrogen cars have a bunch of problems on their own. Real Engineering made a video where he compares battery cars with hydrogen cars kzbin.info/www/bejne/nGiwq3mcqrOCqrs

[@NetAndyCz]

Do they produce solar panels with energy from solar panels though?

[@patrickreese1868]

For electric car you can't really include the co2 from power plants because it will just go somewhere else

[@by9917]

I switch to EV some years back and full solar shortly after. Currently my home sends out far more energy than it takes in over a year including all transportation, but I still would rather not have a car. I wish that was more feasible in this oil state I live in, but maybe I should just retire and move to a place were owning a car is not so entwined with life.

[@monkeydluffy2062]

Conclusion : Use a bicycle

[@yazanc7665]

No never

[@AquilaSornoAranion]

Right now in my country, 100% of the power is from hydroelectric dams.

[@marvinmartinsYT]

My mom has an electric car. Her power bill is massive. And her electrical power is produced by coal fired power station. Had she kept the petrol car. She’d be better off.

[@MortyMortyMorty]

1:16 Either this chart is wrong or you are saying it wrong! What about emission from Coal plants, Meat industry, Construction industry? The chart should say U.S TRANSPORT emissions or something like this.

[@MrFindX]

Please tell us more about the hydrogen gas car

[@areside]

So informative! I’ve always been wondering about this, thank you! :)

[@BobQuigley]

3.4kw solar system =0 emissions from charging

[@godtiermtg]

Make a hydrogen fuel cell video!!