Gizmodo: car exhaust

Dutch Town to Be Paved With Air Pollution-Sucking Bricks

Kit Eaton — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:39:00 EDT

The small Dutch town of Hengelo is about to test out a new kind of concrete paving slab that actually grabs onto the car-exhaust pollutant nitrogen oxide (a key smog and acid rain ingredient) sucking it out of the air and rendering it harmless. The special bricks contain a component based on titanium dioxide that acts to "fix" the pollutant with the aid of sunlight. The best bit is that the resulting nitrates just wash away with the next rain. Clever stuff: and if the trial results next summer show improved air quality, I'm sure we'll see environmentalists dancing along singing "Follow the green concrete road!" Or something. [Physorg]

1930s Steam Cooker Uses Car Exhaust To Cook For, Poison Your Family

Elaine Chow — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:30:00 EDT

Before the advent of the drive-through, families on road trips were stumped by the dilemma of how to have a hot meal ready at any time during their travels. But never fear, 1930s road warrior — hook up this automatic food cooking contraption to your exhaust pipe and your car will prepare your dinners for you!

The cooker, meant to be mounted on the rear bumper, contains a steam pressure kettle that gets heated by aromatic, flavorful hot exhaust. An hour's drive will yield you thoroughly cooked meats and vegetables, enveloped in the essence of leaded gasoline. Yum! [Modern Mechanix via Boing Boing]

Exhaust Grill Cooks Burgers with Smoke Heat

Kit Eaton — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:36:56 EST

If one crazy grill design wasn't enough today, then check out this Exhaust Burger grill concept. A short-listed entrant in a recent design competition titled "Dining in 2015," the grill, invented by an Iranian team, plugs directly into your car exhaust. It soaks up spare heat in the gases to do the cooking, and the clamshell design keeps those noxious fumes away from your food. Check out the extra image to see how it might let you "cook while you commute."

[Designboom, Dining in 2015]