A beautiful plan, but sadly not carbon free because right now in the U.S. we generate 49% of our electricity by burning coal (which puts more carbon into the atmosphere than anything else we do) and another 21% by burning natural gas (puts out half as much CO2 as coal, but still a lot). So, with 70% of our electricity coming from power plants that put out millions of tons of CO2 every day, driving any plug-in electric car right now would not be carbon free.

Your idea of using solar panels on your roof to charge your Volt might work for you individually, but is not really practical for most people as you would need a very large system to provide enough power to do it. Not only would that be very expensive (even with government subsidies) but most people simply do not have the large amount of square footage of good solar-exposure open space necessary in their homes/apartments to place such a system.

This is why I advocate building a lot more nuclear power plants (the best green alternative power source there is, although improperly handled it is obviously very dangerous and so the idea scares the heck out of me). As much as I love solar, wind and water alternatives, there is no other way to dramatically and quickly reduce carbon emissions AND quickly provide all the extra electricity that all these electric cars will need to run on. Building out that much wind and solar generating capacity simply cannot be done in only 10 to 15 years. We should do as much of that as we possibly can, but it’s time for the green movement to grow up and accept the unpleasant fact that if we *really* want to make a big cut in our carbon emissions quickly then we simply have to drink the nasty medicine and build more nuke plants.

Even so, the Chevy Volt is the still best alternative vehicle right now because when its battery runs low, it uses its small gasoline engine to spin a generator which provides more on-board electricity to the electric motor to drive the wheels. Since the gasoline engine does not have to drive the wheels directly, it only has to run at a single constant speed and thus can be made extremely efficient and low-emission. Until we can get coal out of the electrical generating picture, the Volt’s approach will be the lowest total-emission method of powering an electric car.

The sad truth is that other types of hybrids — where a larger gasoline motor turns on and drives the wheels directly when the battery runs low — provide NO net reduction in CO2 emissions compared to driving a regular 30-mpg gasoline vehicle. Sorry, Honda and all you Prius fans, but that’s the simple truth as long as we are generating 70% of our household electricity with coal and natural gas.

You can read more about my thoughts on our electric power generating dilemma at

http://www.thegreenerhome.com/eblog/green-hype-part-1-natural-gas/

One, offer me some credit (and not at those usury rates that most banks demand).

Two, I’ll go to my local Chevy dealer and buy the 100 % electric plug-in Volt auto (when its available).

Three, offer me truly affordable solar panels and provide a competent installer (that I can afford, too) so I can utilize solar energy to recharge my Volt every evening.

What a beautiful, carbon-free world it would be.