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Electric Vehicles

Transport

Electric vehicles are the cars of the future. If powered by solar energy, their carbon dioxide emissions drop by 95 percent compared to gasoline-powered vehicles.

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Rank and results by 2050 #26

Electric Vehicles

Reduced CO2: 11 gigatons
Net cost (Billions US$): $14,148.00
Net operational savings: $9,726.40 billion
What do these numbers mean?

TOTAL CO2-EQ REDUCTION (GT)

Total CO2-equivalent reduction in atmospheric greenhouse gases by 2050 (gigatons)

NET COST (billions US $)

Net cost to implement

SAVINGS (billions US $)

Net savings by 2050

Impact:

In 2014, 305,000 EVs were sold. If EV ownership rises to 16 percent of total passenger miles by 2050, 10.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide from fuel combustion could be avoided. Our analysis accounts for emissions from electricity generation and higher emissions of producing EVs compared to internal-combustion cars. We include slightly declining EV prices, expected due to declining battery costs.

Electric Vehicles

Transport

Electric vehicles are the cars of the future. If powered by solar energy, their carbon dioxide emissions drop by 95 percent compared to gasoline-powered vehicles.

Since the first electric vehicle (EV) prototype was built in 1828, the central challenge has been making good on a lightweight, durable battery with adequate range. In its absence, internal combustion engines have dominated the automotive landscape since the 1920s, and the atmosphere has paid the price.

Luckily, there are now more than 1 million EVs on the road, and the difference in impact is remarkable. Compared to gasoline-powered vehicles, emissions drop by 50 percent if an EV’s power comes off the conventional grid. If powered by solar energy, carbon dioxide emissions fall by 95 percent. The “fuel” for electric cars is cheaper too. EVs will disrupt auto and oil business models because they are simpler to make, have fewer moving parts, and require little maintenance and no fossil fuels.

What is the catch? With EVs, it is “range anxiety”—how far the car can go on a single charge. Typical today is a range of 80 to 90 miles, long enough for most daily travel. Carmakers are closing in on ranges of 200 miles, while keeping batteries affordable.

The rate of innovation in EVs guarantees they are the cars of the future. The question is how soon the future will arrive.

Vs

Temperate Forests

Land Use

Ninety-nine percent of temperate forests have been altered in some way — timbered, converted to agriculture, disrupted by development. Restoring them sequesters carbon and revives ecosystems.

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Rank and results by 2050 #12

Temperate Forests

Reduced CO2: 23 gigatons
What do these numbers mean?

TOTAL CO2-EQ REDUCTION (GT)

Total CO2-equivalent reduction in atmospheric greenhouse gases by 2050 (gigatons)

NET COST (billions US $)

Net cost to implement

SAVINGS (billions US $)

Net savings by 2050

Impact:

We project that temperate forest restoration will expand to an additional 235 million acres through natural regeneration. Though this is much lower than the available area for tropical forest restoration, it still sequesters 22.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2050.

Temperate Forests

Land Use

Ninety-nine percent of temperate forests have been altered in some way — timbered, converted to agriculture, disrupted by development. Restoring them sequesters carbon and revives ecosystems.

A quarter of the world’s forests lie in the temperate zone, mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. Some are deciduous; others are evergreen. Over the course of history, 99 percent of temperate forests have been altered in some way—timbered, converted to agriculture, disrupted by development. However, forests are resilient. They are dynamic systems that constantly recover from impacts, even if regaining their full ecological integrity may require centuries.

The world’s 1.9 billion acres of temperate forests are a net-carbon sink. According to the World Resources Institute, more than 1.4 billion additional acres are candidates for restoration—either large-scale, closed forest or mixed mosaics of forests, more sparsely growing trees, and land uses such as agriculture. With restoration comes additional carbon sequestration.

While temperate forests are not threatened by the same large-scale deforestation that afflicts the tropics, they continue to be fragmented by development. They also are experiencing hotter and more frequent droughts, longer heat waves, and more severe wildfires, as well as worsening insect and pathogen outbreaks. These disturbances can push temperate forests beyond their capacity for resilience. Restoration efforts will need to continue evolving in response, yet restoration is no replacement for protection.

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