Emissions

Europe's lofty plan to phase out the sale of internal combustion engine cars by 2035 now seems all but dead. The European Commission announced it's dropping the ban on new gas-powered cars a decade from now, owing to pressure from the auto industry.

A report out of Europe throws serious shade at plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) cars, pointing out that they emit nearly as much carbon dioxide emissions as gas-powered vehicles. So much for greener motoring.

AAA just dropped a bomb on some of the world's top-selling car manufacturers: Many vehicles from big-name companies are using far more fuel than advertised – as much as 33% more.

Once famous for building the world's biggest and most powerful engines, Finnish company Wärtsilä is investing heavily in technology to clean up the notoriously difficult heavy marine sector. CEO Håkan Agnevall lays out a roadmap to zero carbon 2050.

A new solution from Cambridge University could recycle both concrete and steel at the same time, by throwing old concrete into steel-recycling furnaces. If done using renewable energy, the process could make for completely carbon-zero cement.

That's without any modification to the ships themselves, too. The ambitious 'Blue Visby Solution' proposes enormous fuel and emissions savings for cargo ships worldwide, simply by being smarter about speed and timing and eliminating inefficiencies.

Despite its many advantages, glass has one major Achilles' heel – it’s brittle. Now, engineers at Penn State have developed LionGlass, a new form that's not only 10 times more damage resistant, but requires significantly less energy to manufacture.

Following a similar decision in the European Union, the state of California has announced it's phasing out new sales of diesel and gasoline cars by 2035, setting aggressive targets along the way. This move will have dramatic effects across the USA.

The global oil industry wastefully burns off about as much natural gas as is used by all of Central and South America – but a new methane binding agent offers a potential way for this greenhouse gas to be converted economically into liquid fuels.

A Ford-funded study by the University of Michigan has examined the environmental credentials of electric VTOL aircraft for commuting, compared to both regular and electric cars over a range of commuting distances. The results paint an interesting picture of future mobility.

British company Camcon Automotive has built a fully digital engine valve system, uncoupled from the crank, that offers unprecedented control over the combustion cycle. It enables some weird and wonderful ideas we've never seen before, such as giving 4-stroke engines brief 2-stroke power boosts​.

"Dieselgate" might be winding up for VW, but investigations into diesel emissions cheating are just getting started elsewhere. Following news Daimler is being investigated in Germany, the US DOJ has filed a civil suit against Fiat Chrysler for failing to correctly disclose emissions control devices.