Climate Technology
All Stories
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Auto manufacturers don't trust people to buy efficient cars
The federal government is proposing a new fuel efficiency standard of 56.2 miles per gallon by 2025. This is fairly modest, on a global scale -- it would require a 5 percent increase every year from 2017 onwards, but Europe is on track to hit 60 MPG by 2020, so it can certainly be done. Car manufacturers aren't happy about the prospect, though, and are pushing for a lower standard.
Their objections: It could add thousands to the cost of a new vehicle (whereas using less $4-a-gallon gas would probably only save hundreds per vehicle every year). And more to the point, it would require them to make smaller cars. This is America -- who's going to buy a smaller car? Where would you keep your ATV? Where would you mount your buck? For god's sake, man, where would you hang your truck balls? THIS IS NOT WHAT WE FOUGHT THE NAZIS FOR BY JIMINY.
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'Cling-film' solar panels are 1/200th the thickness of Saran Wrap
New 'cling-film' solar panels can be printed like newspapers, and then self-organize into layers of plastics that can turn sunlight into electricity. The result is a useful solar panel that's only 60 nanometers thick -- or 1/200th the thickness of Saran Wrap.
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The world’s fastest all-electric plane
A French pilot flew a plane powered only by electricity at more than 175 miles per hour, the fastest an all-electric plane has ever gone. That's much, much faster than other all-electric planes, which tend to be the type available at toy stores, and about 15 mph faster than the previous record set by the pilot, Hugues Duval.
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Live chat: How to build your deep-green MBA
Join us for a live chat on July 12 with Ralph Meima, MBA program director at Marlboro College. We're talking MBAs the green way. How do you build the best program for yourself? What are your options? How does it all work? And do you have to eat granola in the morning?
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Gigantic, gorgeous visualization of humanity's transport footprint on planet Earth
It's the Atlantic, as you've never seen it before: Cities are red, shipping routes blue, roads green and air networks in white. Click on the image to see the full map of the entire planet.
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EVs can climb every mountain…OK, just Pikes Peak
To prove that electric cars are just as bad-ass as run-of-the-mill, gas-powered, souped-up race cars, Nissan entered the Leaf in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. This race is not for weenies: It requires drivers to cover 12.42 miles and navigate 156 turns while ascending 4,720 feet in altitude at an average grade of 7 percent. Nissan made minimal changes to the factory-floor version of the car, putting in racing tires and some safety equipment but nothing too fancy.
And the Leaf won! -
How America just lost 1 million green(ish) jobs to Europe
Airbus racked up $50 billion more in orders at the Paris Air Show than Boeing. Maybe it's because Boeing lags far behind in fuel efficiency.
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Google's plan for cleantech world dominance says government policy is essential
Google set out to discover the effects of technological breakthroughs, and in the process discovered that strong government policies are key to accelerating their penetration into the market. Radical new battery technology and solar panels are great, but regular consumers don’t pick them up unless they're nudged in the right direction. In other words, the internet’s most successful capitalists say that the free market is all well and good, but we really need government regulation.
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GM working on sexy new all-electric car for every country except U.S.
Germany, Korea, China, and now India are all venues for U.S. carmaking giant General Motors’ new all-electric hotness, the Chevrolet Beat.
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Google says delaying clean energy will cost the U.S. trillions
Google says that without a focus on renewables and electric vehicles, delaying the clean energy economy could cost the U.S. trillions of dollars.