In the US, 30% of our carbon emissions derive from transportation. The improvements in cost and performance of electric vehicle represent a great immediate opportunity for us to decrease our carbon pollution. EV sales in 2018 increased 81% over the previous year.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have an abundance of renewable energy resources and at the macro level, namely the existing hydro system and the significant wind farms installed in the last 15 years. We also have an abundance of sunshine providing great opportunity for distributed generation. When you utilize solar pv to replace your gasoline consumption, you are reaping a tremendous financial gain and also making a significant decrease in your personal carbon pollution.
While these micro-grids are new and not inexpensive, we have begun to perform installations around the edge of this technology. This article talks about the benefits fleet managers at larger corporations are seeing in markets where the electricity cost signals and reliability issues are a little different than our location, however this is probably coming universally. Who will be the first locally to see the benefit of EV fleets and on-site solar generation using a micro-grid?
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/why-electrified-transportation-needs-microgrids
