As Greg Williams informs us (Letters, 11/24), it is impossible to produce batteries, wind or solar devices or electric vehicles, without fossil fuels. That, as a standalone fact, is true.

What is also true is that America plows through 337 million gallons of gasoline per day, plus another 166 million gallons of aviation fuel.

In 2018 (earliest figures I could find), electric vehicles (EVs) displaced 323 million gallons of American gasoline usage for that year. You don’t need a degree in mathematics to recognize that amount as a proverbial drop in the bucket in terms of resource savings. But those figures are rapidly changing. 

I’m not sure what form of government would be required to enforce and maintain a standard of living for “4 billion people… with all the creature comforts we have on a reasonably sustainable basis.” Sounds like a utopian pipe dream to me.

What is real is this: For every internal combustion engine-powered vehicle that is replaced by an EV or fuel cell vehicle, there is left that much more oil in the ground to produce another battery, windmill blade or solar cell.

And that “truth” is our future.

Leo Muzzy

Eugene

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