Barcelona to ban old polluting cars in 2019
Barcelona will begin banning cars older than 20 years on weekdays in 2019 in a bid to curb the city’s air pollution problems.
Europe
London’s black cabs go electric
Any motorized vehicle will have to meet strict exhaust emissions standards or pay a heavy surcharge to commute around the city center. Electric vehicles (EVs) are one way for drivers to stay compliant and move about freely on the city’s streets.
U.K. emissions fall to lowest level since 19th century
According to the Carbon Brief, CO2 emissions fell by 5.8 per cent in 2016, after coal use fell a record 52 per cent.
Renewables accounted for 90% of Europe’s new power last year
In 2016, 21.1 GW of the 24.5 GW of new energy sources added to Europe’s electrical grids were from renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydro, and biomass.
Supermarkets in U.K. urged to create plastic-free aisle in every store
Environmental activist organisation A Plastic Planet will lobby Britain’s major supermarkets in the coming weeks to urge them to offer food packaged only in biodegradable materials.
French workers win legal right to avoid checking work email out-of-hours
From 1 January, workers have ‘right to disconnect’ as France seeks to establish agreements that afford work flexibility but avoid burnout
U.K. mass surveillance ruled illegal by E.U. court
Europe’s highest court says that the provision for mass surveillance contained in the recently-passed Investigatory Powers Act ‘cannot be considered to be justified within a democratic society’.
Germany is building the world’s first wind turbines with built-in hydroelectric batteries
Wind blows. Water falls. But for the first time, one is now powering the other. Engineers in Germany are storing water for hydroelectricity inside wind turbines allowing the towers act like massive batteries once the wind stops blowing.
Scotland is set to be 100% zero-carbon by 2020
A world run completely on renewable energyit sounds to be an impossible feat, but in a some places around the world, people have stopped burning fossil fuels for electricity. Another country is about to join the club: Scotland.
Poland unveils glow-in-the-dark bicycle path that is charged by the Sun
Poland just unveiled an amazing new bike path that glows bright blue at night! The path near Lidzbark Warminski is illuminated by phosphor, a synthetic material that lights up after it’s charged by sunlight.