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Sorry, you can't plant enough trees to offset fossil fuels
Ever planted a tree to feel better about your environmental footprint? It's a good idea, but it might not have as much of an effect as you'd hope. A simulation-based study has determined that it would be utterly unrealistic to plant enough trees to offset humanity's CO2 emissions as they are -- the plantations would need to be so big that they'd "eliminate most natural ecosystems" or cut into food production. Even under the reductions from the Paris Climate Agreement, you'd still have to replace natural ecosystems on an area more than a third the size of the world's forests. The most viable option involving trees would require both "ambitious" emissions reductions and improvements to both nurturing the plants as well as capturing their CO2.
Dear Donald Trump: 'Clean coal' doesn't exist
"Clean coal" is an oxymoron. Even if you took a hunk of coal, doused it in bleach and scrubbed it for six hours with a soapy horsehair brush, it would still cause lung cancer and fill the air with carbon emissions when you burned it. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. However, the phrase "clean coal" is ridiculously tenacious in public discourse. Just this week, President Donald Trump used it: As he signed an executive order rolling back a bevvy of environmental protections laid out under the Clean Power Plan, he turned to the coal miners staged around his desk and promised to "end the war on coal and have clean coal, really clean coal." The president of the United States is lying.
Trump rolls back Obama-era climate change policies
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that rolls back policies designed to combat climate change implemented by former President Barack Obama. The order is a broad stroke, touching everything from federal policy-making to Energy Star regulations on home appliances. However, today's move specifically targets the Clean Power Plan, allowing the Trump administration to rewrite carbon emission rules for new and existing power plants. It also restarts the federal coal leasing program, enabling energy companies to once again buy the rights to mine on federal lands.
California's new car emission standards defy the White House
The Trump administration may be rethinking car efficiency regulations, but that isn't stopping California from putting its foot down. The state's Air Resources Board has finalized car emissions standards for 2022-2025 that the White House still wants to review, creating the potential for a conflict if federal officials rethink the rules. The Board's Mary Nichols even went so far as to blast car makers for turning to the feds, claiming that they were throwing themselves "on the mercy" of the new US government rather than working with California.
NASA finds biofuels make air travel 70 percent greener
Air travel releases almost 800 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, pushing us ever closer to our looming environmental catastrophe. NASA scientists want to do something about it, and teamed up with researchers in Germany and Canada to find a way to tackle the issue. Its findings claim that jets that use biofuels emit up to 70 percent less pollution and reduces the formation of water condensation trails (contrails) in their wake.
EPA head suggests CO2 isn't a 'primary contributor' to climate change
If you want a good example of why American environmental scientists are in such a state of despair these days, you just got it. When asked by CNBC whether or not he thought carbon dioxide was the "primary control knob" for global warming, new EPA chief Scott Pruitt suggested that it wasn't a "primary contributor." The answer is a bit fuzzy (it's merged with a broader attempt to cast doubt on the human role in climate change), but it's still far from flattering -- either he's trying to downplay basic climate science for the sake of his fossil fuel industry friends, or he genuinely doesn't know how it works.
The Engadget Podcast Ep 24: The Biggest Lie
Senior editors Edgar Alvarez and Devindra Hardawar join host Terrence O'Brien to discuss the biggest stories of the week, including Facebook's Journalism Project and the Emoji takeover of Monopoly. Then they'll talk about Volkswagen's massive settlement and pending indictments. Plus they'll try to recap Dieselgate without messing up the timeline.
Chrysler pulls a VW, cheats emissions tests
The Environmental Protection Agency has just notified Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) that the carmaker has violated the Clean Air Act, alleging that it installed software in some of its diesel vehicles that increased emissions beyond what the company claimed. Specifically, the EPA says that "light-duty model year 2014, 2015 and 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Ram 1500 trucks with 3.0 liter diesel engines sold in the United States" are releasing excess nitrogen oxide emissions.
VW pleads guilty in US emissions scandal, will pay $4.3 billion
Volkswagen has agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle criminal and civil charges brought by the United States Justice Department over the company's use of emissions-cheating technology in millions of its diesel vehicles sold around the world, the AP reports. As part of the settlement, the company plead guilty to three criminal charges and it will be required to work with an independent monitor for three years. Overall, this is the largest penalty handed down to an automaker in US history.
Regulators approve VW plan to fix 70,000 more diesel vehicles
Before it can reinvent itself as an EV automaker, Volkswagen still has to clean up the remnants of the ongoing Dieselgate scandal that has cost the company billions in buyback programs, repairs and class action settlements. With so many different models affected, VW has also had a difficult time getting regulators to approve it fixes. However, the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board announced Friday that they have approved the company's plans to repair about 70,000 Generation 3 2-liter engine vehicles.
Smog creates havoc in China on New Year's Day
If you happen to be in northern China, your new year didn't exactly get off to a grand start -- and pollution is squarely to blame. Smog levels were serious enough that officials took drastic steps to curb emissions, shutting down large swaths of the transportation network. Tianjin, Beijing's major neighboring city, both closed highways and cancelled over 300 flights at its airport. Beijing itself, meanwhile, axed 126 flights and stopped all buses running to nearby cities. The current conditions are expected to last until Thursday, too, so many of these closures could last for a while.
VW to pour $200 million more into an anti-pollution fund
Believe it or not, Volkswagen still isn't done paying for its diesel emissions scandal. Reuters understands that the car maker has agreed to pay over $200 million extra into a US Environmental Protection Agency fund devoted to reducing pollution created by VW's diesel emissions cheating. The company had already agreed to spend $2.7 billion over three years, but the extra money will cover the 80,000 3-liter diesels that violated emissions limits -- previously, it was only accounting for 2-liter vehicles. Barring surprises, the deal could be made official as soon as the 19th.
EPA could lock in emissions rules before Trump takes office
The EPA and the Obama administration set lofty goals for lowering vehicle greenhouse gas emissions back in 2012. Under those terms, US automakers would have until 2025 to double fuel efficiency to 54.5 MPG which would lead to well over $1 trillion is fuel savings over the life of new cars. Of course, the plan would cost manufacturers $200 billion to meet that goal before the end of the 13-year term.
Researchers find a new way to convert heat into electricity
When we think about ways to make existing power plants more efficient, we typically look at waste heat. It's something almost everything generates -- coal plants, automobiles and even your refrigerator loses a sizeable amount of energy to lost heat. Capturing and using this heat to generate electricity with can save money and reduce fossil fuel consumption, but capturing power from that heat has always been a challenge. Now, researchers have created a new material that could represent a major step forward in thermoelectric electricity production.
Worldwide carbon emissions were flat for third year in a row
For the third year in a row, carbon emissions around the world have remained flat, according to the research group Global Carbon Project. The group revealed its findings in the Global Carbon Budget 2016, which measures how much carbon is emitted by countries around the world, and then how much of that is absorbed into the earth by plants, land and oceans. The remaining carbon hangs out in the atmosphere and drives global warming, and it's the focus of Global Carbon Project's research.
VW says Audi software can distort emissions during tests
No, the Volkswagen Auto Group's emission cheating scandal isn't done unfolding. VW has confirmed earlier reports (including one from Suddeutsche Zeitung) that Audi software can distort emissions during tests. Cars with automatic transmissions can change their shift patterns in a way that lowers carbon dioxide and nitric oxide emissions, making it appear as if the vehicles are more eco-friendly than they are during typical driving. The transmission normally adapts based solely on the driving conditions, VW says.
Audi reportedly cheated gas engine emissions tests, too
The California Air Resources Board has reportedly discovered that even more VW-Group vehicles were cheating emissions tests. The WSJ and Reuters (via German paper Bild) are talking about how regulators have found software in Audi cars that effectively masked their CO2 output under examination. The revelations were apparently made up to four months ago, but neither Volkswagen, Audi or CARB have made the news public.
ICYMI: Getting ethanol from more than just corn
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory created ethanol out of carbon dioxide in a way that they believe would be easy to scale up. Most importantly, the conversion happens at room temperature so it could be done nearly anywhere in the world. We are also tickled by this stop-motion music video for a new song by Dan Sultan, and enjoy the dress designer who wants to put alcohol in clothes. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
California bill would require more zero-emissions cars
California's tougher-than-usual climate change policy might become more stringent before long. Assemblywoman Autumn Burke tells the Associate Press that she's introducing a bill requiring that car manufacturers sell at least 15 percent zero-emissions free vehicles within a decade. Companies operating in the state already have to hit yearly emissions targets and get credits for sales, but this would require that they embrace electric or hydrogen fuel cell cars in a big way -- not just one or two novelty models. And if they don't sell enough eco-friendly cars, they'd have to either pay a fine to the state or pay rivals that meet the targets. Yes, they might inadvertently help the competition.
EPA findings should lead to caps on aircraft emissions
It's no secret that aircraft contribute to harmful emissions like road-going vehicles, and the Environmental Protection Agency is one step closer to keeping that pollution in check. It recently finalized findings showing that some aircraft produce air pollution that contributes directly to climate change. As a result, the EPA is now free to set standards for aircraft emissions that help the US honor the Clean Air Act and, ultimately, its commitment to the Paris climate change agreement. While the US is already backing an international standard, this gives it the chance to demand tougher (or at least, more America-specific) requirements.
