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E "s are here iii^ t0 keep UP, CHARGED Your EV may not be so green - but then again, it may. Posted December 17, 2014 by Charles Morris Here we go again. A mainstream news source distills (some would say "distorts ") a complex scientific study into a sensational headline, and the online echo chamber spins the story into a narrative that's almost the opposite of what the study actually found. The study, Life Cycle Air Quality Impacts of Conventional and Alternative Light -Duty Transportation in the United States, conducted by the University of Minnesota, examined the air pollution impact for different types of vehicle powertrains, including gas, diesel, CNG, ethanol, hybrid and EV. Under the headline "Your all- electric car may not be so green," the AP made much of one of the study's findings — that an EV powered by dirty energy sources causes substantially more air pollution than does a legacy gas vehicle. Here's what the study says: "We find that powering vehicles with corn ethanol or with coal - based or `grid average' electricity increases monetized environmental health impacts by 8o% or more relative to using conventional gasoline. Conversely, EVs powered by low- emitting electricity from natural gas, wind, water, or solar power reduce environmental health impacts by 50% or more. Consideration of potential climate change impacts alongside the human health outcomes described here further reinforces the environmental preferability of EVs powered by low- emitting electricity relative to gasoline vehicles." The AP article (which does not actually quote from the study) focuses on the first sentence above (EVs bad), briefly summarizing the next two sentences (EVs good) at the end of the piece.