Climate Cities

The Traffic is Murder Out There

Traffic causes heart attacks Being stuck in traffic could substantially raise your chances of having a heart attack — and it’s not just the stress. The particulate pollution that hovers over traffic is the likely culprit, says a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine, though “we can’t exclude that there is an […]

So whatcha whatcha whatcha want?

In the U.S., as with many other places, the industrial era saw a massive exodus from rural areas into cities.  The "information era" (or whatever buzzword you like) has seen a massive exodus from cities to suburbs and exurbs, with long commutes to work, sprawling colonies of large homes, strip malls, and cars, cars, cars.  Now, the mere fact of such a large exodus would seem to indicate that Americans prefer such a lifestyle (despite the fact that it may be killing them.)

But according to a new survey conducted by Smart Growth America in conjunction with the National Association of Realtors, it is not so.

Air Force Une

New car powered by compressed air to hit France There are some nifty-sounding cars in the making these days. The latest — to be introduced in France, where production will begin next year — is the Air Car, a car that runs on, uh, air. Well, and electricity too. You plug it in at home, […]

Cheese-Eating Efficiency Monkeys

France has made big strides in energy efficiency After the global oil crises of the 1970s, both the U.S. and France took steps to increase energy efficiency and reduce their vulnerability to oil price fluctuations. Unlike the U.S., however, France stuck with them. Since 1973, U.S. oil use has risen by 16 percent, while France’s […]

Take Two Tickets to the City and Call Me in the Morning

Suburban sprawl is bad for your health Not only is suburban sprawl bad for the environment — encouraging car use and overly large, energy-inefficient homes, paving paradise to put up a parking lot, etc. — but it’s bad for the folks who live there as well, according to a new study to be published in […]

If I Were Dictator … Oh, Wait, I Am!

China establishes its first-ever fuel-efficiency standards for cars Attempting to combat its growing dependence on oil imports, China is set to establish fuel-efficiency standards for cars, SUVs, and vans for the first time. The standards are identical to those in a draft circulated last November, about which the auto industry strenuously complained, claiming they were […]

When You Wish Upon a Car

Car-Free Day: A good idea, but not without its difficulties Yesterday was Car-Free Day. Couldn’t you tell? Some 1,500 municipalities, the vast majority in Europe, participated, but the idea hasn’t really caught on in the U.S., outside of a few scattered cities. Reading the European news does not give one great hope that it ever […]

Umbra on whether to leave the engine running

Dear Umbra, I have a question that has been nagging me for a while, and I would really like to have it answered once and for all. You see, I deliver pizzas for a living right now, and so I make many frequent stops and starts at people’s houses during a shift. I always turn […]

The Wicked Switch

Automakers Rapped for Pollution From Mercury Switches With recent revelations that just about all freshwater fish in the U.S. are contaminated with mercury, concern over the heavy-metal pollutant has regulators carefully examining every source. The fourth largest, as it happens, is automobiles, specifically the mercury switches in auto lights and brakes. Last year a record […]

Sunflower Power

Scientists Create Hydrogen Fuel from Sunflower Oil British scientists have discovered a way to power cars with sunflower oil. While biodiesel cars that directly burn cooking oil are fairly common, researcher Valerie Dupont and her colleagues have something else in mind, as they reported this week at an American Chemical Society conference. They’ve figured out […]