One of the most comforting fantasies common to affluent liberals is that they are "saving the world" by driving an expensive rechargeable electric car.  In fact, they are doing the opposite, with their desire to signal their virtue causing intense human suffering on the part of some of the most powerless people on the planet. They overlook the fact that 39% of America's electricity comes from coal-fired generation and that owing to losses of energy in transmission, more hydrocarbons must be burned than if gasoline were used to power the car directly. But if you believe, as I do, that atmospheric carbon dioxide is a trivial concern because any rise causes more plant life to flourish and consume more CO2, an equilibrating mechanism characteristic of the power of Mother Nature, then this is more a matter of particulates emitted in the burning of coal than it is of CO2, and the non-polluting advantage goes to gasoline power. My worries about rechargeable...(Read Full Post)