Two well known conservatives @PierrePoilievre and @MarkPMills convincing each other that EVs might be worse for the environment and the science is unclear.

As a scientist that actually studies this I can assure you that the science is clear and EVs much less CO2.
🧵
First objection: batteries are largely sourced from China because of Cobalt and rare earths.

Correct answer given in the video: North America used to produce 80% of this stuff but decided it didn't want it anymore.

Me: yes, it's basically like a lot of other stuff from China.
What drives me crazy is that Canada has SO much more resources than tar sands.

But somehow conservatives only want to produce fossil fuels and then start complaining that the alternatives (which are much cleaner) are not perfect.

Get off the couch and embrace the new economy!
Second objection: because China uses lots of coal "the honest scientific answer" is that we don't know if EVs emit less CO2.

I'm sorry, that's not "an honest scientific answer" but an objective untruth. EVs emit a LOT less CO2. This is what I've been researching for >10yrs now.
My pinned thread gives lots of example studies but you can also play around yourself and e.g. choose a battery from China and Denmark energy mix (=comparable to Canada).
transportenvironment.org/what-we-do/ele…
So this is another example of "people are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts".

EVs already emit less than half of the CO2 of comparable cars and have the potential to get very close to zero emissions as we green electricity and mining.

That's a fact.

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More from @AukeHoekstra

4 Jul
Brilliant video pointing out 2 flaws in major energy models that make us invest too little in renewables and too much in fossil fuels:
1) Underestimating renewable price drops
2) Assuming fossil capacity factors stay the same

🧵

ht @EastCoastEVGuy
About underestimating renewable price drops: after studying 200 other studies @MichaelGrubb9 et al. come to a simple conclusion: almost all models (e.g. DICE) ignore that more deployment means faster price reductions.
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.108…
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.10…
Many (e.g. I: hindawi.com/journals/compl…) have pointed out this is how you should model but Grubb et al prove that adding it to DICE means DICE will tell you to invest 2-5x more in clean stuff right away.

That means: stop investing in fossil fuels if you love your money!
Read 7 tweets
21 Jun
171 scientists find calculation error that proves the electric vehicle is not greener!

That's the gist of many German papers today but a better headline would be:

THE COMBUSTION ENGINE LOBBY IS GASLIGHTING AGAIN

Thread
The hubbub is about an open letter to the @EU_Commission by a greenwashing combustion engine lobby group iastec.org/open-letter-2 based on a calculation published in a mathematical (?) journal by some combustion engine scientists.
s875128239.online.de/wp-content/upl…

Let's take it apart!
I must admit the details of the math confused me at first. It seemed unnecessarily complicated so I asked my friend @nworbmot to take a look. (He's a quantum physics scientist who now makes energy models: he can do REALLY complicated math.)
Read 19 tweets
19 Jun
Is the deal with Australia a race to the bottom for UK farmers?

@herdyshepherd1 is right: it is now.

@MLiebreich is also right: it could become the opposite. IF we supplement farmers income with their ecosystem services.

Short thread because it's relevant for many countries.
First off: there is no protection in place for farmers now and the UK should really avoid competing head to head with the atrocious way they treat cattle in Australia. Image
BUT this is better fixed by standards.

I'm not a lawyer but rules should follow logic and logically it's simple: if practices are illegal in the UK then meat produced using similar practices in Australia (irrespective of if it's legal THERE) should be illegal in the UK.
Read 10 tweets
12 Jun
A new blogpost claiming it takes nonsensically long for an EV to negate its battery production by overestimating battery production and underestimating battery lifetime.
This time by @go_rozen.

Let me do a quick debunk. blog.gorozen.com/blog/exploring…
If you see this nonsense popping up in your timeline, please do your part of cleaning up the Internet by attaching this thread.

Special thanks to @shabbad for alerting me.
I've previously published about the usual errors in reports on emissions of electric vehicles (EVs) here: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

The blogpost by @go_rozen focuses on making the two most basic ones: 1) overestimating battery manufacturing, and 2) underestimating battery lifetime
Read 10 tweets
10 Jun
Today @exxonmobil is hit (and rightly so) for it's plans to expand emissions while @bp_plc and @Shell are moving beyond oil. But when I go to @Reuters world website, exactly half of all paid content is from Saudi @Aramco and it's the most blatant greenwashing I've ever seen.
🧵
"For some, the idea of an oil and gas company positively contributing to the climate challenge is a contradiction. We don't think so."

So Saudi Aramco is keeping it in the ground?

Ah, no. They emit a few % less because their oil is easy to pump up.
aramco.com/en/making-a-di…
But no large new projects then surely?

On the contrary!

Their latest climate change causing project to pump up oil is "A triumph of engineering, nature and human spirit".

We are supposed to celebrate with them I think.
aramco.com/who-we-are/meg…
Read 5 tweets
26 May
A new 'policy brief' for the Victorian Government in Australia has convinced them to create a road tax for EVs.

It wrongfully claims EVs emit more CO2.

If you follow me you know that's not true so I guess I have to do another debunk.
It's written by a group of architects and urban designers dreaming of a city with less cars who are apparently afraid that electric vehicles (EVs) will delay phasing out gas guzzlers.

My problem: they spread misinformation about EVs.
fionapatten.com.au/news/electric-…
They claim a full life cycle analysis (LCA) shows EVs emit more CO2 based on Hawkins et al from 2012 (!).

I know this study well. I'm even credited in the correction you find when you search for the article. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ji…
Read 15 tweets

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