Germany's Air Pollution Crisis Lead by Automakers

Germany is fighting one of their biggest air pollution wars against diesel cars. European governments previously promoted diesel cars as they produce less carbon dioxide than petroleum cars in efforts to curb climate change. However, it has become apparent that diesel vehicles are producing toxic nitric oxides. A report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) found nitrogen dioxide responsible for nearly 70,000 premature deaths in Europe in 2013. In Germany, the EEA attributed 10,610 premature deaths to the pollutant. The World Health Organization found an estimated 90% of EU citizens are exposed to some of the most harmful atmospheric pollutants at dangerous levels.

Stephan Weil, premier of Lower Saxony and member of Volkswagen's 20-strong supervisory board, said companies should implement measures in the short-term, adding: "Diesel is here to stay." August 2^nd the transportation ministry will hold is first National Diesel Forum to work with the auto industry and regional governments to cut emissions.

Read more at https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/06/27/business/27reuters-germany-emissions.html

Open Source Electricity

No, there isn’t a campaign to socialize our high utility costs.

Instead, different strategies to deal with the issue of providing energy to the growing electric car market are being explored in different countries. Currently, in America, there are charge stations available in certain locations, but nothing designed to support a broad customer base. 

In Israel, the electric car market has been developing over the last few years (since 2008), and it looks like 2011 is the big debut as electric cars and chargers flood the Israeli market, intended to ultimately represent 30% of the market. They have met their deadline so far, and one of the pressing issues is how Israel, who depends a lot on burning coal and oil for energy, will be able to provide the energy for the vehicles to run and for society to continue to run smoothly. 

The proposed model is that the projected two million cars (yes million) will be connected to a grid and managed by shared software that will coordinate and manage recharging “without the addition of a single generator or transmission line.” How this will be accomplished is not specified but we can guess.