Wall Street Journal Op-Ed Needs a Better Accountant

nrdc-logoby Max Baumhefner
NRDC Switchboard Blog
March 12, 2013

A Wall Street Journal Op-Ed by Bjorn Lomborg, “Green Cars Have a Dirty Little Secret,” argues that even though driving on electricity emits half as much pollution as driving on gasoline, it never makes up for the additional energy it takes to build electric cars. How does Lomborg do the math? First, he picks an estimate for electric car manufacturing emissions that’s three times higher than conventional estimates. Second, he imagines electric cars will be prematurely sent to the junkyard, well before they’re even out of warranty.Everyone likes exposing a fake, but if there’s a hoax here, it’s not the electric car.

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