Learn the difference between NOx, a key ingredient in smog, and nitrous oxide (N2O), which is not a major pollutant from cars. A conversation about oxides of nitrogen is only slightly less painful than root canal surgery—unless you use nitrous oxide.
In late April 2006, HybridCars.com editor Bradley Berman caught up with global warming evangelist Laurie David—before the media blitz began for her film "An Inconvenient Truth," starring Al Gore.
In 2000, after 100 years of refusing to endorse products, the Sierra Club—the world's largest environmental member organization—established an Excellence in Engineering Award. The award was given to the Honda Insight in 2000, and to the Toyota Prius in 2001. The award, according to Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, encourages automotive engineers "to spend their weekend tinkering with how to make a car that's better for the environment, and to go fight the guys with the green eyeshades who never want to do anything new."
EMFs are everywhere. Some come from the earth (why a compass works), some from the sun (sunspots intensify them), and some from man-made sources like power lines, televisions, radios, microwave ovens, and even cars. Should you be concerned about excess EMF exposure in your hybrid?
Biodiesel can have favorable effects on climate change emissions, although there is some debate about the net amount of greenhouse gases released in biodiesel production and use.
Automobile emission standards are an alphabet soup of bureaucratic acronyms. In some cases, there are different standards for different states. At other times, the same exact emission designation within the same standard carries different meanings when applied to vehicles in different weight classes. What can we say for certain?
Approximately 90 percent of the environmental impact associated with motor vehicles occurs as they're being driven. Effects from the manufacturing of cars and the extraction and transport of fuel account for the rest.
When you think of pollution from cars, the first thing that comes to mind is noxious fumes. But the problems don’t stop with air pollution. The environmental consequences associate with cars are much wider.
Jump in the car, start your engine, and you’re off. But do you give any thought to what’s coming out of the tailpipe as you go about your drive? Learn what your beloved car is producing.
