Having been around for more than a century, electric cars are perhaps the greatest never-been of the automobile industry.

With the potential to have us driving cheaper, cleaner and greener, we should all be using them.

However, there are a range of issues that have prevented them from taking over the mainstream.

Most cars use a four stroke internal combustion cycle to convert petrol into energy. By mixing fuel with heat and water in an enclosed space, energy is released in the form of a gas that then propels the car forward.

The difficulty of trying to get a global agreement for climate change comes down to one core problem – unemployment in America.

As demonstrated on 27 July, US politicians have given up trying to pass an emissions trading scheme (EMS) for fear of causing jobs losses and not getting re-elected.

And with America not pulling its weight, many other countries are refusing to do so as well.

On the surface it seems unfair to blame one country for the lack of progress.

David Bradshaw, an American beekeeper, has spent all his life caring for bees. But in February one year, Bradshaw opened his boxes to find half of his hundred million bees had simply disappeared.

Bradshaw’s experience, reported in the New York Times, sounds like a low rent horror movie. But the mysterious phenomenon dubbed ‘colony collapse disorder’ (CCD) is occurring all over the United States.

And if it continues, CCD may mean the extinction of the crops and food sources we rely on, and eventually, widespread human starvation.

If you’re heart goes out to the people of the American Gulf Coast during this current oil crisis, spare a thought for the people of the Niger Delta.

This oil-rich region along the coast of Nigeria has experienced oil spills the size of America’s Exxon Valdez every year for the last 40 years.

The Niger Delta is where the great Niger River breaks up before it meets the ocean on the southern coast of Nigeria.

Eco-cities have been promoted as the way of the future – sustainable urban zones designed to minimise human impact on the environment.

The general idea is to use less energy, water and food and produce less waste and pollution.

Internationally work has commenced on two such cities – the Tianjin project in China and Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. The hope is that lessons from these models can soon be applied to new and existing cities.

Unfortunately for BP and America, efforts at blocking the leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico haven’t worked. In fact, the latest attempt may have made the leak worse by 20%.

It’s now officially the worst oil disaster in US history, and White House officials are suggesting it’s their worst environmental disaster of any kind.

Now experts are pointing out a well-known problem within the industry – that the technology to fix a well is a long way behind the technology to drill a well.

Failed attempts

Until last week, life was created by gods or nature, depending on your stance on evolution.

Now, two American scientists have created such life, not cackling away in a castle on a hill, but in a lab in Maryland, USA. By using computers, they have given birth to a new species.

For some it spells danger and amounts to men playing God. But for those involved, it represents a new industrial revolution, allowing us to invent solutions for medicine, energy, climate change and beyond.

The science

The global need to find a sustainable energy source is growing (sustainable meaning ongoing and cost-effective, and energy meaning substance to produce electricity or power machinery).

Indeed, not only are we are using up fossil fuels faster than they form, but harmful carbon gases are being released into the atmosphere in the energy making process.

Putting climate change concerns aside, it’s simply dangerous to depend on resources that will eventually run out. So what are the options?

It has been four weeks now since the explosion that sunk the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Here’s a look at the latest efforts with the leak, the potential costs and who’s going to pay for it.

The latest

The oil has now reached the shore in three states – Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

For two weeks oil has been spilling out of a broken oil well 50 miles (80 km) off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.

As well as the 11 oil workers killed in the accident, it’s estimated that the several million litres of leaked oil will cause billions of dollars worth of damage.

So who is to blame? BP (British Petroleum) has taken on full responsibility for the cleanup but claims the accident wasn’t their fault. Instead they’re pointing the finger at their operating contractor who also happens to own the rig.