Manuel said:
"This is great news! I hope all cities pass this into law.The practice of using plastic bags just to quickly dispose of them has been going on far t..." [read]
Jay Knecht said:
"What are the performance stats for the Son of Max? ..." [read]
gazelle said:
"@ Dallas:
The book, and the supplementary videos in the "How It All Ends" youtube series, address this in detail, but I'll try to paraphrase:..." [read]
Barry said:
"Kofi Annan has about as much of a clue about electric cars and developing countries as Ann Ann the Panda.
He underestimates the ingenuity o..." [read]
JJ said:
"Very cool. I didn't thought that biodesel might be our future fuel...." [read]
Derek said:
""I guarantee you this will spark huge debates around the world," she said. "We have to delve into this in a way that hasn't been done in a long tim..." [read]
A lot of things can make people angry when they head to the gas station: the outrageous prices, having to wait in an awkward car-line, bad smells, and so on. But there's actually one thing that may be making you really mad without your even knowing it: exposure to the gasoline itself. A recent study has revealed that exposure to fumes from unleaded and leaded gas can cause heightened aggression.
Is algae the fuel of the gods? Well, on paper, it very well could be. Industry evangelists predict a bright future in which algae farms produce the equivalent of the entire amount of petroleum the United States' currently uses in a year. Even better: Algae could potentially do this using just one percent of the country's land mass and might actually remove carbon from the atmosphere in the process.
Apologies for the Bad Wordplay
UK Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis (nice alliteration) has announced that his government would be investing £30 million in charging stations for electric cars. The initiative is called "Plugged-In Places" and the stations will be located on streets, in car parks and in commercial, retail and leisure facilities in 3 to 6 cities/regions of the UK. Mr. Adonis said: "Our aim is for electric and low carbon cars to be an everyday feature of life on UK's roads in less than five years. There is still a lot of work to be done, however Plugged-In Places is one very significant step putting us firmly on the path to a low carbon future."
We Must Look at Complete Life-Cycles
A new study published in Environmental Research Letters pours some cold water on those who think that compressed air cars are the future. The technology does sound very good on paper: Simpler than fuel cell vehicles and electric cars and there are no tailpipe emissions. But if you dig a bit deeper than this and look at the whole picture, the picture becomes less rosy...
Previously we've talked about a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) carbon neutral project to ship grain from paddocks to pantries via sail-craft. That was in Canada's British Columbia. For the past year the Sail Transport Company (STC) have been following a similar ethos -- although a little further south -- moving vegetables across Puget Sound, from farmer's fields in Sequim to the produce markets in Seattle, with yachts.
Using only "wind, tide, and a little human muscle power," the Sail Transport Company has spent not a single cent on liquid hydrocarbon fuel. They even transport the boxes of vegies from the docks to the markets with electric-powered cargo trikes.
With a continuing stream of announcements regarding the aviation industry's drive to keep on flying while being a bit greener about it -- KLM is making the first aviation biofuel test flight with passengers today -- TreeHugger wondered how much land will be required to power the global aviation industry with biofuels. We did some quick calculations and this is what we found out:
Last week we posted a round-up of 22 extended frame cargo bikes. Previously we've also collected up a passel of 16 tricycles. Yet still we've managed to neglect a few. The Feetz is such a vehicle. It's trike for transporting kids or cargo. One that folds up into a shopping trolley, without adjusting the cargo hold or child seat.
From the eZee Quando to the Panasonic Time Off to an electric assist Brompton, electric folding bikes are becoming more common. The folding capacity for transportation, combined with electric assist to avoid a sweaty arrival at work, is an enticing combination for commuters in particular. Now there's a new kid on the block. And it's winning some major awards. I just need to know where I can get one...
Photo: Rolls Royce
Does It Matter? Depends How You Look at It...
Autocar reports that a source inside the company told them that Rolls Royce could have an electric version of its Phantom super-luxury car on the road by the end of 2010: "Internally it's thought that the near-silence of electric propulsion, and the fact that full torque is available from a standstill, would align perfectly with Rolls-Royce's core values. Engineers are currently hard at work making this a reality, although a running prototype has yet to hit the road."...
Image credit: Webecoist
From turning waste food into energy to delivering food by barge, UK supermarket Sainsbury's has been exploring alternative energy and transportation for some time. They even recently unveiled "people-powered" checkouts, though on closer inspection they appeared to be gasoline driven. Now the company is taking a significant step toward real, far-reaching electric vehicle infrastructure across London. ...
Photo: Tesla Motors
Roadster #203 Got Quite a Workout
Making a video game used to be all about a few guys writing code. But as the the industry grew into a mammoth, the production of games turned into huge enterprises employing tons of people and requiring more and more realistic sounds and images. One way to get realistic sounds is of course to go out in the field and record the real thing (we're pretty far from the BEEP BEEPs of old-school games). That's exactly what a few sound engineers from Microsoft Game Studios did when they found themselves needing some electric car sounds for the upcoming games Forza and Project Gotham Racing. Tom Burt, the owner of the electric Roadster #203 generously donated some sounds......
Image: CycleTracks iPhone App from Apple App Store
Crowdsourcing Bike Path Planning
People don't always go where you think they will. You can try to predict the best places for foot paths and bike routes, but you'll never be able to know for sure if they are located optimally... Unless there's a way to know where people are naturally going (the path of least resistance). That's exactly what the new free iPhone app by the San Francisco Transportation Authority is trying to do. ...
Source: EPA
About Time
It's been almost 40 years since the EPA's SO2 standards were strengthened. Sounds like a tightening was overdue... Until now. The EPA is look at a proposal to establish a new national one-hour SO2 standard, between 50 and 100 parts per billion (ppb). "The existing primary standards were 140 ppb measured over 24-hours, and 30 ppb measured over an entire year. The Agency also is taking comment on alternative levels for the 1-hour standard up to 150 ppb."...
American rock band '30 Seconds to Mars,' sing lyrics like: We were the kings and queens of promise / We were the victims of ourselves / These lessons that we learned here / Have only just begun. And they have chosen the vibrant bike culture of Los Angeles as the visual connection to their words.
Although parts of the city were closed off to allow for filming it is rather pleasing to see one of the world's more automobile-centric cities overrun with bicycles, with barely a car in sight. Though one does make a dramatic entrance stage left. ...
Photos: Public domain
Good Intentions, But Let's Wait for Real-World Results
The Chinese government and many Chinese businesses have been making pretty big bets on electric cars in the past few years. In fact, the richest man in China, Wang Chuanfu (in Chinese: 王传福), owes much of his fortune (at least on paper) to investments in electric cars and their batteries. So it isn't surprising that electric cars were on the agenda during the meeting between Barack Obama and Hu Jintao; what came out of it is the US-China "Electric Vehicles Initiative"....
Cyclists in Santa Clara. Not the actual bike-sharing program since there are no pics yet. Photo: Flickr, CC
First in the Bay Area
Despite talk about a bike-share program in San Francisco for the past couple of years, it looks like Santa Clara will actually beat them to the punch with a pilot program to be launched in mid-2010. Market research began last April, and about 1,200 surveys were conducted in the target area. ...
What with its lack of water, dependence on air conditioning and endless sprawl, people like Jim Kunstler don't think Phoenix has much of a future. That doesn't stop the people there from trying to be greener; an example is their great new light rail system, previously coverd by Mike in Video: Phoenix's Brand New Light Rail Has 60% More Users than Expected.
When I left supposedly transit-oriented Toronto for Greenbuild I had to pay fifty bucks for a limo to get to the airport; I paid 10 bucks to get from Phoenix Airport to my hotel in a hotel shuttle. The smoothest, coolest ride back to the airport by Light Rail: $ 1.75....
Is it a tricycle? Is it a weird bike? It's neither. Called Pardo, as an abbreviation of the word guepardo (which is cheetah in Spanish), this human powered vehicle seeks to imitate the movement and feeling of the animal. See how it works and more pics in the extended....
Quite a Character
I think the less I say about this one the better. You just have to see for yourself, and hopefully get it... For those who missed the previous appearance from Veronica, check out her interview (at the wheel of her SUV) here: Meet Veronica Moss, A.U.T.O. Lobbyist. I think she's a great character. Would love to have her visit other pedestrian and/or bike-friendly places to see her reaction. Via Streetfilms...
Photo: Nissan
Bigger Battery Optional, Instead of Bigger Engine
With gasoline and diesel powered vehicles, one of the biggest option choices facing buyers is engine size. 4 cylinders? A V6 maybe? Or even a V8? That's an important decision since the engine is at the heart of a vehicle. But when it comes to electric vehicles, the heart is no doubt the battery. This is why Tesla has announced battery options for its upcoming Model S electric sedan, and it is why Nissan is suggesting that it might eventually offer different battery options with its LEAF electric car....
Photo: WorkCycles Other photos via respective manufacturers.Bike Cargos for All Tastes!
In our endeavours to take a snapshot of the world of Bicycle Cargo we have to date looked at the Racks And Bags used for bicycle cargo as well as the Bike Trailer. Now in Chapter Three, we take a gander at over 20 Extended Frame Bikes, as used for the hauling of people, product or produce. As per usual, leave a message in the comments panel to alert fellow readers to any glaring omissions we've made. Please note, our earlier round-up of Quads and Tricycles also captured quite a few human powered-vehicles used as bicycle transport. (In the next upcoming chapter, we'll showcase some of those businesses that rely on cargo bikes to get the job done.)...
Building Bipartisan Support for Public Transportation
Our friends at Streetfilms did a short interview with William Lind, co-autor of Moving Minds: Conservatives and Public Transportation. Mr. Lind seems to want to help "liberal transit advocates" translate some of their ideas in language that political conservatives can related to (well, some of them anyway), and his main goal seems to be the expansion of rail in the US. I highly recommend that you watch the video above if only for the part where he talks about how subsidized the highway system is. Via Streetfilms. See also: Warren Buffett Makes a $44 Billion (!) Bet on Trains....
Flickr/BeijingPatrol
When Beijing Policeman Tan, the star of his very own local news segment, stops a motorcyclist because his passenger isn't wearing his helmet, we get an earful on gender norms, hairstyles, and one of our favorite topics -- helmets! See the video below....
Image credit: Peak Moment TV
From four-wheel-drive human-powered SUVs, to pedicabs, to cargo bikes, pedal-powered transportation is evolving. Students at Chico State University are determined to speed up that evolution with their Human-Powered-Vehicle challenge. Peak Moment TV took a ride on the winning entry. Check it out—I want one....
Image credit: Greenspeed
As the former owner of a Brompton folding bike, I know how convenient a human-powered vehicle that packs up small can be. But while the Brompton was great for commutes, it wasn't the finest touring bike in the world. So imagine my intrigue when I came across a folding recumbent trike. And then I saw a video of this thing doing some serious downhill action, and I fell in love....
Some 86 percent of Saudis have cars. Photo of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, via Ar-Riyadh Development Authority.
From instituting traffic calming measures to building metrobus systems, there are plenty of ways to ease congestion on the roads. But radio listeners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, think they have a better idea: Keep foreigners and the elderly from driving....
Image: Garmin
Knowledge is Power
Most of us probably don't realize that over the past few years our cars have turned into computers on wheels. There are tons of sensors everywhere, but most of that information isn't available to the driver. That's a shame, because if it was parsed through a user-intuitive interface, it could provide very useful feedback that could help people drive more efficiently (the Prius LCD effect). Well, this is exactly what Garmin is trying to do with a new add-on cable that can plug into your car's diagnostics communication port and feed that real-time data to your GPS device....
Photo: Dartz
A New Kind of Penis Car For Billionaire Oligarchs with No Taste
Some companies specialize in excess. Nobody really needs a Rolls Royce, but some people feel a need for exclusivity. Other companies go ever further and attempt excessive excess, like Dartz with its Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition armoured car (price tag: £1 million, or $1.65 million). It comes with tons of bling, such as ridiculously hyper-expensive vodka in a flask made out of pure gold, gold-plated windows, pure tungsten exhausts, and diamond-encrusted white gold speed gauges. Totally ridiculous, but I guess if you're some billionaire oligarch with no taste, it can work. Dartz seems to have gone a bit too far with the seats, though: They wanted to make them from whale penis leather (apparently it's very soft), and this drew protest from many environmental groups....
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the weekly archive if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
on 11.24.09
Photo: Rolls Royce
Does It Matter? Depends How You Look at It...
Autocar 
Image credit: 
Photo: Tesla Motors
Roadster #203 Got Quite a Workout
Making a video game used to be all about a few guys writing code. But as the the industry grew into a mammoth, the production of games turned into huge enterprises employing tons of people and requiring more and more realistic sounds and images. One way to get realistic sounds is of course to go out in the field and record the real thing (we're pretty far from the BEEP BEEPs of old-school games). That's exactly what a few sound engineers from Microsoft Game Studios did when they found themselves needing some electric car sounds for the upcoming games Forza and Project Gotham Racing. Tom Burt, the owner of the electric Roadster #203 generously donated some sounds......
Image: CycleTracks iPhone App from Apple App Store
Crowdsourcing Bike Path Planning
People don't always go where you think they will. You can try to predict the best places for foot paths and bike routes, but you'll never be able to know for sure if they are located optimally... Unless there's a way to know where people are naturally going (the path of least resistance). That's exactly what the new free iPhone app by the San Francisco Transportation Authority is trying to do. ...
Source: EPA
About Time
It's been almost 40 years since the EPA's SO2 standards were strengthened. Sounds like a tightening was overdue... Until now. The EPA is look at a proposal to establish a new national one-hour SO2 standard, between 50 and 100 parts per billion (ppb). "The existing primary standards were 140 ppb measured over 24-hours, and 30 ppb measured over an entire year. The Agency also is taking comment on alternative levels for the 1-hour standard up to 150 ppb."...
Photos: Public domain
Good Intentions, But Let's Wait for Real-World Results
The Chinese government and many Chinese businesses have been making pretty big bets on electric cars in the past few years. In fact, the 
Cyclists in Santa Clara. Not the actual bike-sharing program since there are no pics yet. Photo: Flickr, CC
First in the Bay Area
Despite talk about a bike-share program in San Francisco for the past couple of years, it looks like Santa Clara will actually beat them to the punch with a pilot program to be launched in mid-2010. Market research began last April, and about 1,200 surveys were conducted in the target area. ...
What with its lack of water, dependence on air conditioning and endless sprawl, people like 
Is it a tricycle? Is it a weird bike? It's neither. Called Pardo, as an abbreviation of the word guepardo (which is cheetah in Spanish), this human powered vehicle seeks to imitate the movement and feeling of the animal. See how it works and more pics in the extended....
Photo: Nissan
Bigger Battery Optional, Instead of Bigger Engine
With gasoline and diesel powered vehicles, one of the biggest option choices facing buyers is engine size. 4 cylinders? A V6 maybe? Or even a V8? That's an important decision since the engine is at the heart of a vehicle. But when it comes to electric vehicles, the heart is no doubt the battery. This is why Tesla has announced battery options for its upcoming 
Photo: 
Flickr/
Image credit: 
Image credit: 
Some 86 percent of Saudis have cars. Photo of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, via 
Image: Garmin
Knowledge is Power
Most of us probably don't realize that over the past few years our cars have turned into computers on wheels. There are tons of sensors everywhere, but most of that information isn't available to the driver. That's a shame, because if it was parsed through a user-intuitive interface, it could provide very useful feedback that could help people drive more efficiently (the Prius LCD effect). Well, this is exactly what Garmin is trying to do with a new add-on cable that can plug into your car's diagnostics communication port and feed that real-time data to your GPS device....
Photo: Dartz
A New Kind of Penis Car For Billionaire Oligarchs with No Taste
Some companies specialize in excess. Nobody really needs a Rolls Royce, but some people feel a need for exclusivity. Other companies go ever further and attempt excessive excess, like 
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