| Category: | Lectures & Seminars |
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| Date: | Friday 17th April 2009 |
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| Time: | 12:30 | |
| Venue: | Royal College of Physicians of Ireland | |
| Organiser: | UCD Earth Systems Institute | |
| Website: | http://www.ucd.ie/earth | |
| Contact: | ||
| Audience: | All Welcome |
Plug-in hybrids - panacea or placebo?
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) constitute a significant technological step in the development of the motor car. Globally, PHEV hold out the promise of significantly reducing energy consumption, oil dependence, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transport sector.
This public talk will present an analysis of the issues associated with PHEV within the Irish context, and preview forthcoming developments from the major automotive manufacturers.
From an Irish perspective, PHEV offer the additional benefits of simultaneously increasing security of supply, improving air quality, reducing import-dependence of energy supplies, and - the icing on the cake - reducing the cost of private transport. Thus PHEV appear to represent a silver bullet solution to the notoriously intractable issue of ever-increasing GHG emissions from, and energy demands of, the transport sector. However, the benefits of PHEV accrue because some fraction of the petrol or diesel fuel normally consumed to move the vehicle is replaced by electricity extracted from the national grid.
The magnitude of the benefit therefore depends on many factors, including: the efficiency, Carbon footprint, and supply security of that grid; its capacity to service the energy demand of PHEVs; the degree of PHEV penetration in the Irish vehicle fleet; and the proportion of vehicle-kilometres (vkm) completed under electric power.
