Photo: Peter Vardy
Global warming is essentially an umbrella expression meant to describe a variety of climate changes. At its core, however, it has to do with the air temperature on our planet rising to levels that could forever alter our climate, our lifestyle, and ultimately our lives.
And it’s not something made-up, as some still seem inclined to believe. At least, not from where I’m standing. You see, the little corner of Europe I call home used to have fierce winters, with below-zero temperatures and snowfalls so large they not only closed roads but brought to a halt pretty much all kinds of activities.
It all began to change about a decade ago, with temperatures on a continuous rise, making snowfall all but impossible. This winter, for instance, we’ve only had a couple of inches of snow that fell one January night, only to quickly melt away the following day.
There are estimates, of course, of how much warmer things are going to get (not in all corners of this planet, as some still experience severe winters, but on average). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, by the time our calendars read the year 2100, air temperatures could be 9.7 degrees Fahrenheit (5.4 Celsius) higher than they are now.
It may not seem like much, but the increase spells disaster. It translates into 52 degrees Fahrenheit (11 Celsius) in New York during winter or 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 Celsius) in Qatar during the same season. Now imagine feeling that increase in a city made of steel and concrete, in a hot summer day…
Given how it seems there’s little we can now do to reverse this trend, it’s only natural for some people to start thinking ahead and come up with ideas that could allow us to exist under these conditions. Some of these ideas are really useful while others, like imagining how the cars of the future will look on a very hot Earth, are only here to allow us to see with our mind’s eye said future.
Just take a look at the rendering we have here. It looks like some sort of next-generation Volkswagen Golf that’s been left to starve in a desert somewhere. But flimsy as it may look, it is something we’ll probably get to see sometime in the future (not necessarily on the Golf, as it may not be around in 2100).
The staggered, slim wheels wrapped in tires with deep treads are supposed to be heat resistant, thus immune to both the melting asphalt or hot sand beneath the car and the high temperatures that might turn some other kind of rubber to mush.
The body of the Golf is not the one we know today, either. Up front, the car digitally received a large mesh grille to help with cooling and a black tint over the windshield (the rest of the windows have been digitally removed) to help send at least some of the heat back to where it came from. The stance of the Golf is also higher as it’ll probably have to navigate some rough terrain in this dreadful future of ours.
Just like the 2050 Ford F-150 STRM C4R and several other projects we’ve discussed not long ago, the VW Golf Heat Shield, as we named it, was put together at the request of Scottish car business Peter Vardy. In all fairness, it looks a bit childish, but can you really bet we won’t be needing something like this soon?
It all began to change about a decade ago, with temperatures on a continuous rise, making snowfall all but impossible. This winter, for instance, we’ve only had a couple of inches of snow that fell one January night, only to quickly melt away the following day.
There are estimates, of course, of how much warmer things are going to get (not in all corners of this planet, as some still experience severe winters, but on average). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, by the time our calendars read the year 2100, air temperatures could be 9.7 degrees Fahrenheit (5.4 Celsius) higher than they are now.
It may not seem like much, but the increase spells disaster. It translates into 52 degrees Fahrenheit (11 Celsius) in New York during winter or 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 Celsius) in Qatar during the same season. Now imagine feeling that increase in a city made of steel and concrete, in a hot summer day…
Given how it seems there’s little we can now do to reverse this trend, it’s only natural for some people to start thinking ahead and come up with ideas that could allow us to exist under these conditions. Some of these ideas are really useful while others, like imagining how the cars of the future will look on a very hot Earth, are only here to allow us to see with our mind’s eye said future.
Just take a look at the rendering we have here. It looks like some sort of next-generation Volkswagen Golf that’s been left to starve in a desert somewhere. But flimsy as it may look, it is something we’ll probably get to see sometime in the future (not necessarily on the Golf, as it may not be around in 2100).
The staggered, slim wheels wrapped in tires with deep treads are supposed to be heat resistant, thus immune to both the melting asphalt or hot sand beneath the car and the high temperatures that might turn some other kind of rubber to mush.
The body of the Golf is not the one we know today, either. Up front, the car digitally received a large mesh grille to help with cooling and a black tint over the windshield (the rest of the windows have been digitally removed) to help send at least some of the heat back to where it came from. The stance of the Golf is also higher as it’ll probably have to navigate some rough terrain in this dreadful future of ours.
Just like the 2050 Ford F-150 STRM C4R and several other projects we’ve discussed not long ago, the VW Golf Heat Shield, as we named it, was put together at the request of Scottish car business Peter Vardy. In all fairness, it looks a bit childish, but can you really bet we won’t be needing something like this soon?
Google News