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Mechanical Enggineering Professor, Lukas Swan weighs in.

Article orginally featured in Chronicle Herald 聽

Most people聽think if you drive an electric car, then you are helping the environment.

But not if your electricity comes from a coal-fired power generation plant, according to a University of Toronto report.

In Nova Scotia, Alberta and聽Saskatchewan,.

That's because those provinces generate much of their electricity by burning coal, so consuming more electricity 鈥斅燽y charging your electric car battery, for instance 鈥斅爏ignificantly boosts carbon emissions.

For a given country or province, if average emissions are under 600 tonnes of CO2 per gigawatt hour, then switching from conventional to electric cars, buses and trucks will lead to a reduction in carbon emissions, Kennedy reported in a study published in the journal聽Nature Climate Change聽earlier this month. But anything over will not.

Electric car expert David Swan says while gasoline is imported into the province, electric vehicles rely on energy generated here. (CBC)

However, several experts in Nova Scotia say hang on:聽the numbers are from 2012 and don't consider renewable energy or what is about to come online in this province.

"I think Nova Scotia was pointed out rather abruptly because Nova Scotia is rather high on the greenhouse gas emitters list, but it failed to recognize the future in this province," says聽Lucas Swan, a professor of mechanical engineering at聽黄色直播聽University.聽

CBC radio, 10 minute podcast


CBC TV: go to minute 18

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