hybrid cars
Government incentives to encourage the purchase of hybrid vehicles might not be as eco-smart as advertised, according to a new study from the University of British Columbia (UBC). The research finds that people are buying hybrids instead of small, relatively fuel-efficient conventional cars, rather than choosing them as an alternative
hybrid cars
Could the Honda Insight be the sucker punch of hybrid cars? After a four-day test drive, I’m ready to give it pretty good odds. It was just a few years ago that hybrids — cars powered by both electricity and petrol — were perceived mostly as the preferred mode of transportation
Jurdy fights an uphill battle …
carbon dioxide
In one of the odder discoveries related to climate change, researchers with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have found that rising carbon dioxide levels are causing opium poppies to become more potent. Scienceline, New York University’s environmental reporting programme, says researchers have found that poppies grown today produce
peak oil
How worrying is it when the pronouncements from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which had always tended to be on the more optimistic side, grow increasingly dire? And dire is pretty much the only way to describe today’s comments from Fatih Birol, the IEA’s chief economist, published in
electric cars
Nissan’s UK manufacturing plant in Sunderland will produce the batteries going into the new Nissan LEAF, which the company bills as “the world’s first affordable, zero-emission car.” Unveiled over the weekend, the LEAF is set to launch late next year in Europe, Japan and the US. A spokesperson
The UK’s regulations governing the collection, treatment and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment are both lawful and consistent with the EU Directive, the High Court has ruled. Ian Lucas, MP Minister for Business, called the ruling a “resounding endorsement of the UK Waste Electrical and Electronic Regulations. We
While making people invisible might encourage all sorts of mischief, making buildings “invisible” to destructive seismic waves could help protect them from damage in earthquakes, say scientists at the Institut Fresnel in Marseille. Such an “invisibility cloak” could also have applications in the automotive and aviation industries, among others. The
energy efficient buildings
A building design that allows air to circulate between an inner and outer façade could help keep structures cool in the summer and warm in the winter through the use of passive solar energy, according to researchers at Spain’s University of Cordoba. Called an airflow façade or double-skin façade,
carbon emissions
Looking for a low-tech solution to climate change? The UK could achieve almost 30 per cent of its 2020 carbon emissions reductions goal tomorrow in one fell swoop … all Britons have to do is stop eating meat. Yes, we know: there’s nothing like an “eat less meat” post to
Jurdy finds an energy-efficient alternative to the elevator …
carbon capture and storage
US energy researchers say they can use bees, pollen and helium-filled balloons to make sure carbon sequestration sites are really keeping in CO2. The technique, devised by scientists at the Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), involves “fingerprinting” stored CO2 with a chemical tracer that makes
