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EPRI Analysis estimates costs of fully developing US smart grid could reach $476B; benefits up to $2T

Green Car Congress

Source: EPRI. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has released a broad assessment of the costs and benefits to modernize the US electricity system and deploy the smart grid. The analysis updates EPRI’s 2004 EPRI assessment, which estimated the cost of implementing a smart grid at $165 billion.

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Brattle Group: electric power sector investments of $75B – $125B needed to support projected 20M EVs in US by 2030

Green Car Congress

Electric vehicles (EVs) will be a major disruptor for the US electric power sector, with the number of EVs in the US projected to increase from 1.5 While this creates a large opportunity for the electricity industry to increase sales and infrastructure investments, it also comes with new challenges that will need to be addressed.

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Study: even with high LDV electrification, low-carbon biofuels will be necessary to meet 80% GHG reduction target; “daunting” policy implications

Green Car Congress

The same highly electrified scenarios, however, could not satisfy 80% GHG-reduction targets, even assuming 80% decarbonized electricity and no growth in travel demand. The researchers also considered intermediate (20% electric-powered miles) electrification—halfway between the high and low.

Carbon 150
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Plug-in Hybrid Study: Electricity Better

Plugs and Cars

The basic question addressed, which appears on the study homepage (epri-reports.org) is this: How would air quality and greenhouse gas emissions be affected if significant numbers of Americans drove cars that were fueled by the power grid? And the grid is getting cleaner and more renewable every year. billion metric tons.

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The 80-20 Rule

Plug In Partners

Take care of that 20% with a small, efficient gasoline engine that runs at its optimum speed. However, 70% of vehicles can apparently be fueled with no increase of electrical capacity. The reduction in emissions results from electric operation being much more efficient than gasoline operation. 2) The U.S. 2) The U.S.

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Coal Into Cars: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Plugs and Cars

The Good About half our electricity comes from coal, and that will change, at best, slowly as we move to renewables. But we need to keep in mind that when we're talking about cars, even coal-generated electricity results in lower greenhouse gas emissions compared with petroleum. But not all use of coal is alike.

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ARPA-E Selects 37 Projects for $106M in Funding in Second Round; Electrofuels, Better Batteries and Carbon Capture

Green Car Congress

ARPA-E’s first solicitation awarded $151 million to 37 projects aimed at transformational innovations in energy storage, biofuels, carbon capture, renewable power, building efficiency, vehicles, and other areas. Electrofuels: Biofuels from Electricity. Earlier post.) The grants will go to projects in 17 states. Electrofuels.

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