Climate Cities
All Stories
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Small Wonder
Sales of some big SUVs drop by half It’s an early Christmahanukwanzakah present for the planet, and a chunk of coal in the stocking of Detroit’s Big Three automakers: The American love affair with huge SUVs seems finally to be on the wane. Really this time! Sales of once-hot vehicles like the Ford Explorer and […]
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Character Building
Sierra Club celebrates eco-friendly building projects in new report The Sierra Club has often gone to court to stop bad development schemes, but now the venerable green group is trying the carrot instead of the stick. The group has released its first “Guide to America’s Best New Development Projects,” which gives kudos to builders putting […]
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I Wish They All Could Be California Copycats
New York, Massachusetts to adopt tougher auto-emissions standards The New York State Environmental Board voted unanimously this month to adopt California’s toughest-in-the-nation rules for cutting automotive greenhouse-gassiness. The new rules, which will be phased in with 2009 model-year cars, aim to cut carbon dioxide emissions about 30 percent by 2016 — effectively improving auto fuel […]
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Beep Beep, Beep Beep, Yeah!
Car mileage testing will catch up with reality, EPA declares After years of criticism from greens and independent testing groups, the U.S. EPA announced on Friday that its rules for testing automobile fuel economy will finally be updated and revised. New standards should be in place for testing 2008 model year cars. It’s a move […]
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A Bottle of Red, a Gas Tank of White
France’s wine glut turned into biofuel It was the best of times for French drivers; it was the worst of times for French oenophiles. Beset by fierce international competition and flattened domestic sales, France’s vintners this year will distill about 133 million bottles’ worth of surplus wine into ethanol, which will be added to gasoline […]
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The End of the End of the Affair
SUV sales regaining strength in the U.S. Showing characteristic signs of short-term memory loss, the American public is apparently renewing its love affair with the SUV. When gas prices spiked to over $3 a gallon following Hurricane Katrina, demand for hybrids was in the headlines and chatter about fuel-efficiency standards was all the rage. Now […]
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Start Spreading the Dues
Charging cars to enter city could loosen New York’s traffic jams Charging drivers a fee to enter the city center succeeded in ameliorating traffic woes in London — but can the concept make it on the mean streets of New York, N.Y.? ‘Cause if you can make it there … oh, never mind. The Partnership […]
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Arup and at ‘Em
China hires British engineers to create self-sufficient urban centers Remember Logan’s Run, the futuristic 1970s sci-fi flick where sex-crazed twentysomethings lived in a self-contained city sealed off from the ravages of a devastated environment? Seems reality might be catching up with fiction: China’s hiring British firm Arup to design and build up to five “eco-cities” […]
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Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na — Batwing!
Radical design might help curb greenhouse-gas emissions from aircraft Under pressure to reduce fuel use and greenhouse-gas emissions, the airline industry may turn to a futuristic airplane design sketched by Sir Frederick Handley Page in the 1960s. The delightfully dubbed “batwing” would be built of plastic rather than today’s heavy aluminum, and would be covered […]
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Umbra on diesel vs. standard gasoline cars
Dear Umbra, I’ve always heard bad things about diesel fuel. However, I know someone who has a diesel VW that gets 50 miles to the gallon. I’m wondering if you could do a cost-benefit analysis for me. I know I can’t afford a hybrid anytime soon, and was wondering if it would be better to […]
