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Mechanical Enggineering Professor, Lukas Swan weighs in.

Article orginally featured in Chronicle Herald  

Most people think if you drive an electric car, then you are helping the environment.

But not if your electricity comes from a coal-fired power generation plant, according to a University of Toronto report.

• Electric cars could boost CO2 emissions in some provinces

In Nova Scotia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, electric cars generate more carbon over their lifetimes than gas-powered vehicles, Chris Kennedy, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto, told CBC Radio's The Current last week.

That's because those provinces generate much of their electricity by burning coal, so consuming more electricity — by charging your electric car battery, for instance — significantly boosts carbon emissions.

For a given country or province, if average emissions are under 600 tonnes of CO2 per gigawatt hour, then switching from conventional to electric cars, buses and trucks will lead to a reduction in carbon emissions, Kennedy reported in a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change earlier this month. But anything over will not.

Electric car expert David Swan says while gasoline is imported into the province, electric vehicles rely on energy generated here. (CBC)

However, several experts in Nova Scotia say hang on: the numbers are from 2012 and don't consider renewable energy or what is about to come online in this province.

"I think Nova Scotia was pointed out rather abruptly because Nova Scotia is rather high on the greenhouse gas emitters list, but it failed to recognize the future in this province," says Lucas Swan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Dalhousie University. 

CBC radio, 10 minute podcast
http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/nsinfomorn_20150331_65596.mp3

CBC TV: go to minute 18
http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/NS/ID/2661724472/

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