ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 15, 1996 TAG: 9602150046
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL TANGER
SEEMS EVERYONE'S going electric lately! They aren't necessarily doing it to help the environment, but that's the end result. And while some would like to stop all the new transmission-line projects needed to transport this additional electricity, such lines bring cleaner air and energy conservation, and should be welcomed by true environmentalists.
The future will see enormous increases in the demand for electricity as more technologies switch over from other energy sources. The most obvious future changeover is probably the electric automobile. But already in the past few years in our area, we've seen foundries, coal mines, lumber companies and asphalt plants go electric, switching mainly from diesel or natural gas. Ironically, some of the biggest new users have been natural gas transmission-line companies.
The automobile changeover is coming quickly, with government mandates in place to have company fleets start switching to electric vehicles starting in 1998. By 2000, 90 percent of companies' new car, van and light-truck purchases are to be electric.
As an environmentalist, I researched this potentially huge changeover because I hadn't seen the research on air pollution from electric cars (and their coal-fired electric plants) vs. petroleum-fueled cars (and their refineries). The best source on the subject is the Environmental Defense Fund study titled, "What's the Charge?" It was done for the Los Angeles area, comparing total electric-car emissions vs. total gasoline-powered car emissions. Electric cars, even with their power plants, were a clear winner.
The 765-kilovolt line proposed by American Electric Power [formerly Appalachian Power Co.] will help the environment even more than other power lines. The moment the switch is thrown on this new line, it will save 63 megawatts of electricity due to its greater efficiency compared with lower-voltage lines. Clearly, we ought to build these 765-kv lines in place of lower-voltage lines whenever given the opportunity.
The choice of the aesthetics of a transmission line vs. cleaner air seems clear to me. As long as we continue to burn fossil fuels, let's do it in the most environmentally sound way. A single-source, coal-fired power plant for electric cars is highly preferable over thousands of automobiles burning petroleum, and the EDF study and others prove it. If a transmission line is called for to deliver that power - and that cleaner air - then we environmentalists should support it.
Bill Tanger is co-chair of the Coalition for Energy and Economic Revitalization in Charleston, W.Va.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB