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Volkswagen's modern Microbus remake, and more in the week that was
The Volkswagen microbus is one of the most iconic vehicles of all time, and now the automaker is set to revive the classic for the modern era. Meet the I.D. Buzz: VW's all-electric, self-driving microbus of the future. In other auto news, Nissan debuted a stylish Vmotion 2.0 sedan packed with self-driving technology, and the Chevrolet Bolt was named the 2017 North American Car of the Year. IKEA is known for its flat-pack furniture, but it's branching out into urban mobility by launching its very first bike. The Sladda is a chainless aluminum cycle that can be kitted out with front and rear racks, panniers and even a towable cart.
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.
Six smog-eating designs that purify the air
By Cat DiStasio Air pollution is a huge problem in cities around the globe. The widespread burning of fossil fuels combined with the destruction of air-cleaning forests results in dense concentrations of smog in large urban centers. What's more, the World Health Organization estimates that air pollution contributes to 7 million premature deaths each year. To address this enormous public health problem, engineers from around the world have developed some cool (and crazy) gadgets to help clean up the air. In Italy, the world's first vertical forest have inspired designers around the world, but smaller projects are actively fighting pollution too. From a sidewalk that eats smog to an air-cleaning vacuum that turns pollution into jewelry, you'll be amazed by the ways people are working to improve air quality.
Parts of Beijing shut down in first-ever smog 'red alert'
Beijing's smog is legendary, at times blocking out the mid-day sun and enveloping city landmarks, but Monday marked the first time officials have issued an emergency "red alert" concerning the city's air quality. During a red alert, the government recommends schools close up, while outdoor construction halts and half of the city's cars are banned from the streets -- vehicles with odd and even license plates are barred from driving on alternating days.
VW's emissions shenanigans may go back as far as 2009
Volkswagen has disclosed to regulators that issues with emissions from its larger cars and SUVs may actually date back more than six years and encompass thousands of more vehicles, the EPA reported on Friday. Essentially, the company is confirming what the EPA accused it of back at the start of the month: that VW, Porsche and Audi SUVs equipped with 3.0 liter, 6 cylinder gas engines were gaming smog tests in the same manner as VW's diesel vehicles. The EPA's investigation is ongoing.[Image Credit: Getty]
The EPA is cracking down hard on auto industry shenanigans
The smogging scandal that has enveloped Volkswagen has also left the Environmental Protection Agency with something of a black eye. So even though the EPA failed to catch on to VW's games this time, the agency is damn sure not about to let it happen again. Like, ever. "The Volkswagen violations before us now make it clear, we need to adapt and step up our oversight," Janet McCabe, acting administrator in the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, said during a press conference.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: 3D-printed suites and a new Prius
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Researchers at the University of Michigan are making waves in solar panels -- literally. It turns out that their undulating photovoltaic strips can collect up to 30 percent more energy than flat arrays. In other energy news, China and Pakistan just announced plans to build the world's largest solar farm in the Punjabi desert, and Aspen, Colorado, just became the third city in the US to be powered entirely by renewable energy. Heads up students -- we're giving away three solar energy-generating Voltaic backpacks and you can win one here. Voltaic also just launched a new solar-powered light that shines for 30-plus hours on a single charge. And designer Pauline van Dongen debuted a solar parka that keeps you charged when you journey off the grid.
TZOA is a wearable that tells you where to find clean air
Some mornings, you wake up, walk outside and breathe in a hearty lungful of dirty, smog-heavy air. It's almost tasteless, but it can still wreak havoc on your respiratory conditions. What if you could avoid those nasty, unseen pockets of nasty air? That's sort of the idea behind the TZOA, a Kickstarter project that bills itself as the world's first wearable enviro-tracker. The tiny, round tracker has sensors that keep tabs on air quality, UV light, humidity, and temperature -- all of which feed data to a companion smartphone app to quantify the environment around the wearer. The user can then see get a quick look at the quality of the local air and upload the data to create a crowdsourced pollution map of their town.
Tesla Roadster 2.5 gets 119 MPGe rating from EPA, still as expensive as ever (updated)
Move over, Nissan, because there's a new MPGe king in town. Yesterday, the EPA anointed Tesla scored its Roadster 2.5 with an MPGe rating of 119, which would make it the most fuel-efficient car on the market. That places the plug-in ahead of both the Nissan Leaf (99 MPGe) and Chevy Volt (93 MPGe). According to the government-approved mock-up window sticker, Tesla's EV can last for up to 245 miles on a single, eight-hour charge, while getting the equivalent of 112 miles per gallon on the highway and 124 in the city. The original Roadster, meanwhile, received an MPGe score of 111 yesterday, with ratings of 105 on the open road and 116 in the city. Both models scored a perfect 10 for their greenhouse gas and smog emissions, though those ratings probably didn't factor in all the cash you'd have to burn to actually buy one. Update: We just heard from the EPA, which clarified that this is not their official rating for the Roadster 2.5. These numbers are Tesla's, and the window sticker itself is a mockup - not a legitimate sticker from the EPA. Still, if you'd like to see it, it's down after the break.
TX Active, a new pollution-eating cement for Europe
Dwellers of modern cities often have to deal with the problems of industrial pollution, which leads to a host of problems ranging from thick and ugly smog to health issues like asthma. But a team of Italian inventors may have a new solution to this problem that urbanites have had to deal with since the 19th century -- use pollution-eating cement. Buildings and streets across Western Europe are just starting to use TX Active, which has been in development for a decade. According to an article in BusinessWeek, the town of Segrete in northern Italy has repaved a street that sustains 1,000 cars per hour with TX Active. A spokesman for the company, Italcementi, said that it had measured a 60 percent reduction in nitric oxide on that street. According to Italcementi, the cement has a photocatalyzer that speeds up the natural oxidation process of pollutants in the presence of natural or artificial light, making it more environmentally-friendly by "transforming them into less harmful compounds such as water, nitrates, or carbon dioxide." Now if only they could repave every freeway in Los Angeles with this stuff, that would be a major boon for the environment; of course, shutting down LA's arteries would be like shutting down our access to the internet -- not gonna happen.[Via MetaFilter]
Update: some air purifiers create -- cough, cough -- smog
It's been a year since we first heard that ionic air purifiers can actually make air quality worse, and that finding has now been confirmed by a peer-reviewed, government-funded study. According to the study, which appears in the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, using an ionic ozonolysis air purifier in a sealed room can lead to ozone levels as high as 350 parts per billion, a level equivalent to a Los Angeles Stage 2 Smog Alert. The EPA has already come out against ozone-producing air purifiers, saying that they have "little potential to remove indoor air contaminants."Update: As pointed out below in comments, the study quoted above apparently referred to both ionic air purifiers and ozone generators. However, many media outlets, including LiveScience (our source for this post), conflated the two. According to lead researcher Sergey Nizkorodov, a chemistry professor the University of California, Irvine, "ionic air purifiers do emit ozone. [But] none of the ionic air purifiers produce enough ozone when they are used properly to exceed smog alerts." LiveScience has since added a correction, which can be viewed here.
