sustainability
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Natural rubber from guayule could offset the oil, silica and virgin carbon black currently used in tires.
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EV cost vs. CO2 benefit: Updated tool helps navigate the numbers for 2021Need help in understanding how much good you can do for CO2 emissions in choosing an electric car or hybrid? The latest version of a tool from MIT scientists allows you to tweak variables for your own use.
Bengt Halvorson -
Survey finds strong enthusiasm for EVs in China, obstacles for other world markets
Some of Western Europe still isn't grasping the environmental benefits of electric cars, a supplier survey finds.
Stephen Edelstein -
Audi E-Tron EVs add urgency to plan making production sites CO2-neutral by 2025
Audi is hoping to make all of its assembly plants CO2-neutral, but past that there's much progress to be made in looking upstream in the supply chain.
Bengt Halvorson -
Audi plans to increase recycled materials in its mainstream vehicles
The German automaker says that the percentage of recycled materials will "rise considerably" in the coming years.
Stephen Edelstein -
Bridgestone cuts carbon emissions by using recovered carbon black for new tires
The CO2 emissions associated with making tires could be cut with the reuse of carbon black.
Byron Hurd -
In a process that's a bit like a flow battery, scientists have generated electricity by spraying salt water on a rusty film.
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Epic electric road trip: After 3 years and 33 countries, it's a wrap
Wiebe Wakker took one very long drive in an electric car—for a total of 1119 days, covering 59,000 miles and traversing portions of 33 countries on the way from the Netherlands to Australia. It was, by just about any standard, an epic road trip. Wakker reached Sydney last Sunday, April 7, and...
Bengt Halvorson -
Ahead of electric-car production, VW demands suppliers cut carbon emissions
As Volkswagen ramps up to build a new generation of mass-market electric vehicles in the aftermath of its diesel scandal, regulators and environmental groups will likely be paying close attention to their emissions—especially the emissions created in making them. The Financial Times, in a...
Bengt Halvorson -
GM commits to more efficient, electric, and autonomous cars
General Motors plans to add more hybrids and electric cars, despite missing its own goal for sales volume.
Stephen Edelstein -
GM Lauds Greenest Dealers, Shares Best Practices For Cutting Energy Use
General Motors launches its Green Dealer Recognition program to encourage energy-efficient practices.
Stephen Edelstein -
New Honda 'Green Dealer Guide' Spells Out Energy Efficiency For Dealership Buildings
Honda translated lessons learned from its green-dealer program into a set of voluntary guidelines.
Stephen Edelstein -
What technologies will have the most impact on making cars greener and transportation more sustainable--and provide that impact fastest? Suppose that the key isn't plug-in electric cars, but in fact connecting cars to each other and to the infrastructure around them--making traffic flow vastly more efficiently? That's the controversial thesis put forward by John DeCicco in a recent post on the University of Michigan's sustainability blog, perplexingly titled "Of Carts and Horses, Cars and Smarts." DON'T MISS: Michigan's Mock City: Where Robot Cars Will Drive (And, Ideally, Not Crash) He also...
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Diesel Fuel Derived From Algae Now Testing In 2 VW TDI Models
For a century, we've gotten almost all our gasoline and diesel fuel from petrochemicals. Now Silicon Valley startup Solazyme [NSDQ:SZYM] is testing diesel fuel derived from refining renewable oils--produced by specialized algae--in two Volkswagen turbodiesel models. Since July 2012, the VW Passat...
John Voelcker -
No Bull With Fisker Karma's Low Carbon, Sustainable Leather
It would be a shame to put so much effort into making a luxury super sedan like the 2012 Fisker Karma, only to fill the interior with materials that go against the low-carbon ethos. That's why Fisker and Scottish leather producer Bridge of Weir have announced their partnership for the Karma. The...
Antony Ingram -
Researchers Turn To Plants And Animals To Fuel Sustainable Car Development
Edible car contests are a fixture at college campuses and grade school science classes, where whacky fun combines with an exercise in engineering and imagination, but it seems that foodstuffs are no longer confined to scale models. But as illustrated by Ford's newly announced use of soybean oil to...
Talking Points Memo -
By Royal Appointment? Electric Cars Welcome in Prince of Wales’ Eco-village
While many in the United Kingdom doubt that he will accede his mother Queen Elizabeth II to the throne and become King, HRH the Prince of Wales has never been one to shy away from helping his subjects combine quintessential British values with new technology. His latest project does exactly that...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Greening The Rouge: Ford's More Sustainable Pickup Plant
A green roof is not at its most photogenic in a Michigan winter. In fact, it's hardly green at all--more like gray and brown--though it still insulates the building below just as well. But while some of the green aspects of Ford's showcase Rouge assembly plant have succumbed to the January weather...
John Voelcker -
Increasingly, in production electric vehicles such as the 2012 Ford Focus Electric and 2011 Nissan Leaf, automakers are turning to recycled and repurposed materials. But the rest of a modern car—even an ol' fossil-fuel burner—is no longer just sheetmetal, alloy, and plastics; extruded, cast, welded, and injection-molded. When it comes to the delicate sensors and microprocessors used so frequently in new vehicles, certain rare minerals, like cassiterite and coltan, need to be procured. And in an era of global sourcing, it can be difficult for a company to determine exactly how a...
