Interesting Ideas

HVS was not a fringe hydrogen truck company with a sketch and a slogan. It had a serious ambition, a real engineering team, public support, private funding, partnerships, prototypes, and a target market that sounded plausible enough: zero-emission heavy-duty freight. Hydrogen Vehicle Systems wanted to build fuel-cell trucks for a ... [continued]

The post Hydrogen Transportation After HVS: Narrow Niches, Big Subsidies, Long Pilots appeared first on CleanTechnica.

After a series of deaths on the beaches of Brittany, one bereaved family set out to prove the foul-smelling bloom was to blame

When her phone rang at around 5pm on 8 September 2016, Rosy Auffray was still at work. It was one of her daughters, distressed, calling to tell her that their father, Jean-René, had not come back from his daily run. Only the family dog had returned, alone and exhausted. Rosy rushed back home.

When she arrived, Rosy noticed that the dog was behaving bizarrely: she refused to walk, then collapsed under a bush. Her fur stank of rotten eggs, of overflowing sewers. Rosy knew where that smell came from: the mudflats roughly three miles from the family home in Brittany, where seaweed had been accumulating and putrefying. The soggy, decomposing seaweed stretched for miles along the shore, sometimesas much asfive feet thick, killing other plants and suffocating fish and small birds.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is filming a new reality TV show with his family to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary while Americans are struggling to keep up with high gas prices and surging inflation. The costs of the so-called ‘Great American Road Trip’ the Duffy family has been filming ... [continued]

The post While Americans Struggle with Soaring Gas Prices, Transportation Secretary Duffy Films New Reality TV Show Using Taxpayer Money appeared first on CleanTechnica.

As dingoes vanish from parts of Australia, a new documentary is calling on governments to move away from eradication and towards solutions that benefit both farmers and animals

Carol Pettersen was a small child when her family moved deep into the bush around the Fitzgerald river, on Western Australia’s south coast. It was the 1940s, and her white father and Aboriginal mother had broken the law simply by being together. So the bush became their refuge.

In that country of mallee heath, banksias and low coastal scrub, dingoes were part of the family’s hidden world. At night, Pettersen could hear them calling through the dark; by day, she glimpsed them moving through the bush – a flicker of red fur among the trees.

I’ve said it before many times — even a decade ago when EV range was much lower and EV charging stations were much less abundant: range anxiety is massively overhyped and seems to plague non-EV drivers much more than EV drivers. As one reader explained it, it’s really anxiety about ... [continued]

The post Chinese EV Drivers Rolling Past Range Anxiety appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Reuters has an article out titled “Tesla’s robotaxi rollout features Texas-sized wait times.” Youch — stinger. Of course, as I’ve reminded readers in the past, less than a year ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk predicted that Tesla robotaxis would probably be covering half of the US population by the end ... [continued]

The post Issues with Tesla’s Robotaxi “Rollout” in Texas appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Families turn to dirty fuels such as firewood, bringing fears over air pollution and fragility of energy transition

In the ramshackle lanes of a south Delhi slum, Afshana Khatoon crouched wearily on her haunches and began lighting a small pile of firewood.

She had only just returned from six hours spent trudging through the urban forests and dry parks of India’s capital looking for kindling to turn into a makeshift stove. As the unforgiving summer heat soared above 40C, she had walked for miles, piling the sticks and fallen branches into a bundle on her head while sweat ran down her face.

Move by largest donor to environment programme poses further uncertainty for already troubled negotiations

The largest donor to the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) is reviewing its funding to the body before its revised budget on 12 May, triggering concern among member states and NGOs.

The news could carry significance for the already troubled plastic treaty negotiations being overseen by Unep. Since 2022 countries have been struggling to agree on how to deal with the volume of plastics being produced and used, a subject widely acknowledged to be one of the most serious environmental issues of the age, but despite six rounds of talks there has been no agreement in sight.

The Kenyan player has been recognised for his advocacy and grassroots work to tackle sport’s carbon footprint

“Most well-known people who talk about climate change are in North America and Europe,” says Kenyan rugby sevens star Kevin Wekesa, “but for us this is a very relevant conversation. It is not only about future tournaments or big international pledges. In Kenya, we see the effects in rising heat, cracked pitches and changing weather in communities where young athletes are growing up.”

A year before competing in his first Olympic Games at Paris 2024, Wekesa responded to Kenya’s relegation from the top tier of international sevens by offering free rugby coaching in schools across Kenya. After travelling to a school in Kirinyaga on the slopes of Mount Kenya, a wet and verdant region, Wekesa found an unplayable dry field and was forced to cancel the session. One of the students told Wekesa that conditions had been similar for two months, while another suggested the unfamiliar weather was because of climate change.

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UTVs tend to get used very differently depending on where they’re operated. In some cases, they’re weekend machines: short runs, light loads, and relatively easy terrain. In others, they’re used almost every day, hauling tools, climbing uneven ground, or covering longer distances across properties. In my experience, it’s really in ... [continued]

The post 2026 Best Golf Cart Battery: Vatrer 48V 105Ah (UTV/ATV Compatible) — The Ultimate Power Upgrade appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Colorado this week became the second US state to pass legislation permitting balcony solar in apartments and condos.

The post Balcony Solar Advances In Colorado As New Legislation Removes Barriers appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Phoenix, AZ  — Today, organizations including Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter, Chispa Arizona, and Solar United Neighbors, expressed disappointment in Governor Katie Hobbs’s announcement of her support for the Desert Southwest Pipeline, a methane gas pipeline that will stretch over 500 miles through three states — Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona — ... [continued]

The post Groups Express Disappointment with Governor Hobbs Over Her Support of the Desert Southwest Gas Pipeline — Locking in Methane Gas Use for Decades appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Hyundai electric vehicles are getting an update that enables a new FIFA World Cup 2026™ Display Theme in their infotainment systems. Well, it’s not only Hyundai EVs — a few non-EVs are getting the option as well. Also, one of the company’s EVs (one being pulled out of the US ... [continued]

The post Hyundai EVs Get Fun New FIFA World Cup 2026 Themes in Infotainment appeared first on CleanTechnica.

It is the most extracted solid material on Earth – but this extraction can threaten ecosystems and livelihoods

Malé is one of the world’s most overcrowded cities, but it faces double pressure. As well as a growing population, the capital of the Maldives is also threatened by rising sea levels. Owing to climate breakdown, its living space is shrinking.

So the justification for a land reclamation project seemed clear. Take sand from elsewhere in the archipelago and use it to build up the land available for Malé’s people. What could go wrong? After all, it’s only sand, right?

A new study examines the ‘industrial opportunity cost’ of proposals to weaken EU car CO2 targets. Spurred by the growing electric car market, much investment into EV production, batteries and components has been announced. But this is now at risk as the EU debates its car CO2 rules that will define ... [continued]

The post High Stakes: How Much EV Investment Is At Risk Across Europe appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Levels of Pfas in northern gannet eggs in Canada fell up to 74% over 55-year period of study

Levels of some of the most dangerous Pfas compounds have dramatically fallen in Canadian seabird eggs, which the authors of a new peer-reviewed study say illustrates how regulations are effective.

Researchers looked at Pfas levels in the eggs of northern gannets in the St Lawrence Seaway basin over a 55-year period. Pfas levels shot up from the 1960s through the peak of the chemicals’ use in the late 1990s and early aughts, then fell.

Data from missions showing critically low snowpack on mountains across the west raises alarm among experts

High above the jagged peaks of California’s Sierra Nevada, the view from the cockpit is breathtaking. At first glance, the mountains appear draped in a pristine white blanket. But as the flight crew gears up for a high-stakes mission, the sensors onboard this specialized aircraft prove that looks can be deceiving.

“This is a distinct dry year,” says Tom Painter, CEO of Airborne Snow Observatories.

Hunt’s Cross, Liverpool: A survey of the roadside verge turns up 21 species including cuckoo flower and yarrow. But not everyone likes it

The impact was visceral. For days last spring I watched an army of confederates, with their uniforms of fiery gold bands and anthracite hoops, advancing up the road. They were cinnabar moth caterpillars, gathered on their host plant, common ragwort. And thanks to Liverpool city council’s observance of No Mow May, there were plenty of both in the roadside verge near my home.

But days before the month ended, the mowing team arrived, like pilgrims breaking their Lenten fast early. The ragworts and their parties of travellers were churned up and spat out. I was desolate.

Cockrow Bridge in Surrey will open in the coming weeks to provide wildlife, including lizards and insects, with the ability to move between fragmented habitats

When James Herd moved near to Wisley Common 17 years ago, the heathland nature reserve was teeming with wildlife. “I’d take the dog around the common in spring and summer, and every few hundred metres I’d hear the rustle of a lizard in the undergrowth – and I’d see adders,” he says.

But over the past decade, the Surrey Wildlife Trust’s director of reserves management, who oversees the internationally important habitat, has seen that wildlife become depleted.

I’ve been covering the electric vehicle industry for 14 years. Different topics or themes tends to dominate the EV story for significant periods of time. You had the Nissan LEAF era, the social media buzz around the Tesla Model S, the booming Tesla Model 3 launch, the explosion in EV ... [continued]

The post Chinese EVs & The US Market — Where Is This Going? appeared first on CleanTechnica.