Electric vehicles offer best opportunity for greenhouse gas reductions

Recent studies find that the electrification of the transportation sector represents the greatest opportunity to reduce greenhouse gases.

The studies –- including one by the American Council for An Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) — revealed that electrification overall would account for about 35 percent of the emissions reductions.

Of that number, the transportation sector would deliver the highest percentage of emission reductions, 72 percent, according to the research. That’s more than the electrification of buildings and factories, Steven Nadel, executive director at ACEEE, said. These facts underscore the need to heighten the focus on the electrification of vehicles, Nadel said.

Electrification of the transportation sector will also lead to greater energy-efficiency as electric vehicles, heat pumps and industrial electro-technologies are typically more efficient than conventional equipment, Nadel writes in a blog post on the ACEEE web site. This would, in turn, shrink loads and reduce the need for investments at both the customer level and the grid level, he said. With lower loads at the grid level, for example, the need for transmission and distribution enhancements goes down.

All of the studies that Nadel cited say there are substantial opportunities to reduce emissions through electrification across multiple sectors. But the numbers show that the transportation sector is a particularly good place to focus on for emission reductions.