55 Articles
Closed-cycle CO2 cars might be a reality one day

Do you hate the idea of your car spewing exhaust? There might be a way to stop it without using any expensive batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. According to the New York Times, a pair of scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are working on a way to trap exhaust fumes (by blowing them over a liquid solution that contains potassium carbonate) and recycle the trapped carbon into either methanol, gasoline or jet fuel. F. Jeffrey Martin and William L. Kubic Jr. have named their process

Drivers will not play a role in carbon law

The United States government is in the early stages of crafting the nation's first carbon cap-and-trade law. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce released a white paper detailing the scope of the carbon law and one thing is already very clear: drivers won't be regulated directly because there are just too many of us! You can read the entire 22 page white page pdf here. Transportation is discussed on page 13 of the white paper. Here is exactly

Breathe easy: British website lists low CO2 emitters

British buyers have been able to glance quickly at their color coded environmental labels since 2005, a convenient way to assess the footprint they'll be leaving on things green or furry. Now buyers can head to the Department for Transport's website, and the DfT's ACT on CO2 program will provide a list of the top 10 cars in 14 different categories for low CO2 emissions. Providing this information in an accessible manner has the potential to spur drivers to purchase more fuel-efficient (and thus

Buy a VW Rabbit, get a bike... if you live in Chicago

Volkswagen has been down this road before with the Jetta Trek back in the late '90s. This time, though, they're putting a green spin on it. Lime, to be exact. Chi-town Volkswagen dealers are giving buyers a bicycle and roof rack for the next month. The premise is that the dealer will encourage you to take your bike on quick, short-distance jaunts. Not driving a car at all by riding a bike is super effective at reducing fuel consumption, gridlock, and CO2 emissions. Biking is also way cheaper tha

Ford European Executive Vice President talks global warming

Lewis Booth, Executive Vice President of Ford of Europe and Premier Automotive Group, gave a speech at the New Powertrain Technologies Conference in Amsterdam on March 28th covering many aspects of carbon emissions, global warming, environmental policy and the automotive industry's part to play in all of it. Booth made the point that the automotive industry accounts for around ten percent of carbon emissions but receives mo

Global clean energy markets to exceed $220 Billion by 2016

The sixth annual Clean Energy Trends report has been released which predicts a four-fold increase in the global clean-energy market over the next decade from $55.4 billion in revenues in 2006 to more than $226.5 billion by 2016. Tracked by the report are four benchmark technologies which can all expect their markets to dramatically rise: biofuels, solar, wind, and fuel cells. Key predictions centred around capacity increases for each of the technologies:

Canadian state moves to clean up coal-fired power plants

A new provisional policy has been announced by the progressive Canadian state of British Columbia to clean up coal-fired power stations; the same state that the GLOBE Foundation believes could be energy self-sufficient by 2025. The new policy requires that new coal-fired power plants must emit no carbon dioxide, but instead capture and sequester their carbon dioxide emissions usin

REEEP reduces uncertainty in voluntary carbon offset market

The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) is working with the Gold Standard to eliminate irregularities from the voluntary carbon-offsetting marketplace. Kyoto Protocol compliance introduced a regulated Certified Emissions Reduction (CER) marketplace where carbon credits generated from renewable energy generation and energy efficient projects could be bo

Slate's Green Challenge: can you manage a 5,000-lb diet?

They say we Americans love a good challenge, so in the face of global warming Slate collaborated with Treehugger to come up with the Slate Green Challenge. The idea is that you take a short quiz which determines your annual carbon footprint and then for the next eight weeks, the nation goes on a carbon diet with the end goal of reducing carbon emissions from individuals by 20 percent. The average for a U.S. citizen is 44,312 lbs.

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