Transmission losses are typically around 7% (I used to work in electric pricing), but if we are going down that road we have to also include the processing involved in petroleum. The manufacture of coal is "cleaner" in the sense that you just mine the stuff and it's burnt in a power plant pretty close by or shipped by rail, whereas oil is very pollution intensive to collect and process.
Coal/electric cars are somewhat better than gas cars, and it's still a step forward, even if it isn't a giant leap.
However, the US is sitting on the world's only terrain that is practically designed to create tornadoes. Really, the entire midwest is perfect for onshore wind power, and we could solve maybe 1/4 of the energy problems just by building wind turbines everywhere there.
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@txag70
Transmission losses are typically around 7% (I used to work in electric pricing), but if we are going down that road we have to also include the processing involved in petroleum. The manufacture of coal is "cleaner" in the sense that you just mine the stuff and it's burnt in a power plant pretty close by or shipped by rail, whereas oil is very pollution intensive to collect and process.
Coal/electric cars are somewhat better than gas cars, and it's still a step forward, even if it isn't a giant leap.
However, the US is sitting on the world's only terrain that is practically designed to create tornadoes. Really, the entire midwest is perfect for onshore wind power, and we could solve maybe 1/4 of the energy problems just by building wind turbines everywhere there.