As nations, automakers, and utilities contemplate how to tackle climate change in real terms, a perfect storm of competition is brewing that will—ideally—produce positive change for the rest of us. Automakers and electric utilities have been incentivized to build electric vehicles and install vast numbers of public charging stations to... More efficient gas engines as well as electric cars required to cut carbon emissions
As nations, automakers, and utilities contemplate how to tackle climate change in real terms, a perfect storm of competition is brewing that will—ideally—produce positive change for the rest of us. Automakers and electric utilities have been incentivized to build electric vehicles and install vast numbers of public charging stations to... 
One year ago at the Detroit auto show, a company called Achates Power unveiled models of a new kind of internal-combustion engine. With opposed pistons in the middle and crankshafts at either end, it was sufficiently different to startle most visitors who paid attention. That engine came with some audacious claims, too: How about an EPA combined... 
It's been hanging out there in limbo for more than six months: the answer to the question of what happens to gas-mileage rules under Trump. Given the daily political turmoil emanating from Washington, D.C., the fate of corporate average fuel economy rules may have gotten lost in the noise. But for automakers and consumers, the fate of current CAFE... 
It remains entirely unclear if the world as a whole will be able to cut its emissions of carbon dioxide fast enough to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees C over the next few decades. That's the level at which scientists say the most dire effects of climate change may be lessened or averted. Recent news has been both positive and... 
As children, we're all taught to turn off the lights behind us as we leave an empty room. But it seems Norwegians have taken that lesson one step further. Along a 5.5-mile stretch of road in Hole, Norway, smart streetlights automatically dim when nobody's around—then come back to full power when a car, pedestrian, or other object approaches... 
Ten years ago, energy security may have been as much a driving force behind electric cars for U.S. policymakers as climate change. Now, with continuous growth in domestic oil and gas production over that period, you just don't hear energy security discussed as much. Scientists agree that the effects of manmade climate change, on the other hand... 
We often speak of methods and technologies we can employ as a society to curb climate change, either by reducing carbon emissions or through other means. But less frequently do we talk about them in real terms, including how much excess carbon these methods and technologies can pratically remove from the atmosphere. That's where Drawdown, a... 
Here’s some not-good news: After three years of minimal growth, global emissions of carbon dioxide are on the rise. So much so that we’re looking at new record highs, according to the Global Carbon Project. It's due largely to China burning more coal than it has in previous years. CHECK OUT: Global carbon emissions have been flat for... ![Estimated U.S. energy consumption in 2016 [graphic: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/estimated-u-s-energy-consumption-in-2016-graphic-lawrence-livermore-national-laboratory_100634001_t.gif)
One of the interesting side effects of plug-in electric cars turns out to be a greater awareness of energy sources and uses. A 2012 California study, for instance, showed roughly four out of 10 electric-car drivers either had or were considering solar panels to provide electricity to their home. And because electric cars everywhere in the U.S...