You want to do your part for the environment so you buy a brand new electric car. But are you really helping matters? The answer to that question depends in large part on where you are. WaPo’s Michael Birnbaum on electric cars and the coal that runs them: “The global shift to electric cars has a clear climate benefit in regions that get most of their power from clean sources, such as California or Norway. But in areas supplied by dirtier power, like China, India and even the Netherlands, which is on track to miss ambitious emissions targets set for 2020, the electric-car jump has slimmer payoffs. In some cases, it could even worsen the overall climate impact of driving, experts say.” (This is why I can’t wait until my kids are old enough to push my car from place to place.)

+ NYT: “Why are only about 330,000 electric vehicles on the road? One answer lies in an unexpected and powerful camp of skeptics: car dealers.”