Emission-Free Cars That are Affordable, Possible in Near Future

Finding the best possible way to develop an affordable emissions-free car is the aim of the researchers.

A University of Delaware research team has been considering the important question of what it will take to create an affordable emissions-free car.

Long-Term Climate Change Cannot be Done by Targeting Emissions of Pollutants
Targeting emission of non-CO2 gases and air pollutants with climate effects may not produce as many benefits for long-term climate change as previously estimated, claims a new study.

Hydrogen fuel cells may be the best option for powering zero-emission vehicles: Toyota has just introduced a hydrogen-powered car in Japan and will make them available in the United States in 2015.

But these fuel cells require an electrocatalyst, a platinum surface, to increase the reaction rate, and the cost of the precious metal makes it hard for hydrogen fuel cells to compete economically with the internal combustion engine.

Yushan Yan, distinguished Professor of Engineering and his group has been working on a new type of fuel cells, using alkaline polymers that could employ a number of non-precious metal catalysts such as nickel, which would be a thousand times cheaper than platinum.

Smartphone TVs Linked to Rise in Carbon Emissions
Watching TV on your smartphone or tablet could boost up carbon emissions, a new study claims.

But using alkaline polymers leads to a high pH, and researchers have discovered that the reaction goes about 100 times more slowly in this environment that it does in an acid.

In order to create less expensive electrocatalysts that work well in an alkaline environment, researchers have to know exactly how the reaction unfolds, and what its most essential mechanisms are.

Western Diet Linked to Global Warming
Scientists now say that giving up on the western “meat-loaded” diet or, in other words, not eating too much meat is the single most effective way to reduce global warming or cut greenhouse gas effect.

The study is published in the multidisciplinary journal Nature Communications.

Source-ANI

Heat Boosts Phthalate Emissions into the Air from Vinyl Crib Mattress Covers
The U.S. continues to look at the use and regulation of phthalates, which have been associated with a lot of health problems.