emissions

  • Exhaust emissions from tailpipe [photo: Simone Ramella, 2005, used under Creative Commons 2.0]

    Now that the government has reopened after a 35-day shutdown, EPA employees are going back to work facing a backlog. Toward the end of the shutdown last week, executives at all three major Detroit automakers expressed concern about certification delays that could affect new models they plan to bring to market. It can now begin addressing that backlog, but any further delays could still threaten to postpone some new models—especially those with new technology designed to make them cleaner or more efficient. DON'T MISS: Trump administration releases proposal to weaken fuel economy...

  • Smokestacks pollution air quality
    EPA enforcement efforts slide 85 percent under Trump administration

    Not only do polluters have lower standards to meet under the Trump administration, they may not really have to meet those standards at all. That's the conclusion of a new study, published by the Washington Post, that shows enforcement activity has fallen drastically in the past two years since...

  • 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC
    Lifting the hammer: Germany considers limits on Autobahn speeds

    Efforts to curb global warming have led Germany to propose limiting speeds on its famous Autobahns. Facing heavy fines from the European Union if it fails to meet greenhouse-gas reduction targets, the country's committee on the future of transport put forward a series of draft proposals that...

  • 2019 Chevrolet Volt
    Trump on electric cars, tailpipe tests, tech to clean up engines: Today's Car News

    EVgo launches its first ultra-fast charger in the desert. Microwave ignition claims to clean up internal combustion. And a group proposes publishing its own independent emissions tests. All this and more on Green Car Reports. "All-electric is not going to work," President Trump said in an interview...

  • MWI microwave ignition module
    Former Porsche CEO backing company with TDI-like emissions claim

    Former Porsche AG CEO Wendelin Wiedeking, who waged a failed takeover of the Volkswagen Group ten years ago, is reportedly one of the backers of a new venture that, at face value, is making claims that sound very much like those made of what was then the favored tech for VW and Audi: TDI diesel...

  • Portable Emissions Measurement Systems (PEMS) on a Peugeot 308
    Independent group aims to be for emissions what NCAP or IIHS is for crash safety

    A newly formed organization called Allow Independent Road-testing (AIR) wants to make impartial emissions ratings available to vehicle shoppers. Using a simple rating from A (best) to H (worst), they would tell you, at a quick glance, how much you’re endangering the health of your family with...

  • Exhaust emissions from tailpipe [photo: Simone Ramella, 2005, used under Creative Commons 2.0]

    A new investigative report by the New York Times has revealed the puppeteer pulling the strings in the Trump administration's efforts to undo fuel-economy and emissions improvements: no surprise, the oil industry. Backed by America's largest refiners and organizations tied to or funded by the Koch brothers, an underground network coordinated a lobbying, advertising, bill-drafting, and letter-writing campaign, centered around two main ideas, according to the Times report: that America no longer needs to conserve oil because, after the fracking boom of the early 2010s, the country is awash in...

  • Smokestacks pollution air quality
    At climate talks, Trump team plans to promote coal

    At climate talks scheduled for next month, where nations are expected to set up rules to follow to meet targets set out in the Paris Climate Accord in 2015, the Trump administration is planning a sideshow to promote fossil fuels. President Trump notoriously announced six months after taking office...

  • Smog over Los Angeles, courtesy Flickr user steven-buss
    Colorado sides with California standards but won't yet mandate electric vehicles

    Colorado last week formally joined the ranks of states that are in some way choosing to adopt California’s rules for emissions, rather than those of the federal government. With a unanimous vote by the state’s Air Quality Control Commission, Colorado is joining Pennsylvania and...

  • Steve and Janet Wozniak with new 2016 Tesla Model S, December 2016  [source: Steve Wozniak Facebook]
    Ghosn out at Nissan, VW I.D. names, Faraday Future soap opera: Today's Car News

    Nissan announced it planned to remove Chairman Carlos Ghosn after an investigation revealed alleged financial misdealing. VW has no fun trademarking names for its new series of I.D. electric cars. The EPA plans to tighten emissions rules on heavy trucks. And cross-lawsuits reveal the underlying...

  • Western Star semi tractor used to promote Fitzgerald Glider Kits
    EPA announces tighter smog regulations on heavy trucks

    The EPA has loosened or eliminated a lot of regulations since President Trump took office, but last week the agency announced it would tighten regulations on emissions of nitrogen oxides from heavy trucks such as semis. The EPA notes that smog-forming NOx emissions from heavy trucks fell 40 percent...

  • Forest
    Study draws link between climate and weather—via jet stream

    For some, the evidence of global warming is hard to accept, especially when it has been difficult to draw the link between individual storms and an increase in atmospheric greenhouse gasses. Now a new study by a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University has done just that. By studying the...

  • Smokestacks pollution air quality

    The EPA has dismissed two panels of outside scientists that advised the agency on particulate matter and ground-level ozone, which have been linked to smog and respiratory problems. Under acting administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal-industry lobbyist, analyzing those pollutants will be left to the EPA's internal Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. The CASAC is a seven-member board made up primarily of government officials, such as state environmental, natural resources, and health officials and the Army Corps of Engineers. Its chairman, Anthony Cox, runs a private scientific...

  • UCS 2016 EV emissions mpg map
    UCS report shows electric cars get even cleaner in 2018

    Electric cars keep getting cleaner, despite efforts by the EPA and NHTSA to roll back pollution standards on cars and powerplants. That's the conclusion of the latest report from the Union of Concerned Scientists which annually measures the environmental impact of driving an electric car. The study...

  • Smokestacks pollution air quality
    Trump fuel-economy proposal writes off rising global temperatures

    It's not that the Trump administration doesn't believe in climate change. It just doesn't want to do anything about it. In a 500-page draft environmental impact statement concerning the EPA's and NHTSA's joint proposal to roll back fuel-economy and emissions regulations, the NHTSA reports that it...

  • EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler
    Commentary: How to make your voice heard on fuel economy freeze

    Drivers are not helpless in the face of government plans to roll back fuel economy standards. A joint August proposal from the EPA and NHTSA to freeze planned increases in fuel economy standards is out for public comments until Oct. 23. Public comments can make a difference. DON'T MISS: Trump...

  • Byton M-Byte electric SUV prototype
    VW diesel settlement, California clean air, and fuel economy demands: Today's Car News

    California clean air regulators held a reportedly contentious meeting with Trump administration officials over the proposal to roll back fuel economy standards. A wide survey of Americans told researchers that they're dissatisfied with the fuel economy their cars get now, implying they might want...

  • Exhaust emissions from tailpipe [photo: Simone Ramella, 2005, used under Creative Commons 2.0]
    California meets with federal regulators over fuel-economy rollback

    Trump administration officials met with California regulators Wednesday to discuss the EPA and NHTSA's proposal to freeze fuel economy and emissions standards from 2020 through 2026. The proposal would rescind scheduled increases planned under the Obama administration, which would have raised...

  • Volkswagen turbodiesels await their fate near Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado Springs

    Two more days. That's all the time owners of 2.0-liter diesel VWs have to file claims to receive a large financial settlement and to have their cars repaired to meet emissions standards. TDI owners have had plenty of notice to file paperwork to receive a financial settlement to replace or fix their cars, yet the latest report from the class action claims administrator shows that almost 10 percent of owners have not done so. Nationally, 91.1 percent of owners of 2.0-liter VW turbodiesels have filed to receive claims benefits as of Aug. 19. Among California owners the number was slightly higher...

  • Jaguar E-Type Zero
    Electric Jaguar E-Type, EPA blowback, Tesla pileups, and giant hybrid drones: The Week in Reverse

    Who objected to the Trump administration's plans to freeze emissions and fuel-economy standards? What was recalled going back to the beginning of modern electric cars? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending August 24, 2018...

  • Mazda6 undergoing real-world emissions testing in Europe [Credit: LSDSL - Wikipedia]
    Explainer: What is WLTP and why should you care?

    Starting next month, Europe will implement the first phase of new fuel economy and emissions standards that were intended to take effect worldwide. Automakers are required to release initial ratings based on lab tests using the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) on Sept. 1...

  • Exhaust emissions from tailpipe [photo: Simone Ramella, 2005, used under Creative Commons 2.0]
    OpEd: Who pays for principle in Trump's war on lower emissions and trade?

    Last week the Trump administration unveiled a broad drawdown of fuel-economy regulations that had been aimed at cutting emissions from passenger vehicles. In the 978-page proposal, administration officials argued those rules implemented by the Obama administration would create lighter, potentially...

  • Smog over Los Angeles, courtesy Flickr user steven-buss
    Trump administration releases proposal to weaken fuel economy, emissions standards

    President Donald Trump and federal officials on Thursday formally proposed scaling back Obama-era regulations for fuel economy and cited safety concerns that lighter, more fuel-efficient cars would be more dangerous on American roadways. The 978-page proposal outlines federal guidelines to freeze...

  • Traffic
    EPA could base emissions, mpg rollback on tired safety argument

    In the latest draft of new fuel economy and emissions standards obtained by the Associated Press, the Trump administration argues that reducing mileage standards will improve safety. It's an argument that dates back to the beginning of fuel economy standards in the 1970s, and one that ignores...

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