Blogs

Bike trees are a safe space to park

Hank Green — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:42:32 PDT

We spend an awful lot of time talking about cars here at EcoGeek. And that's not necessarily something that we're proud of. We think that cars, in the end, can never be green -- only greener. Which is why we love these bike trees.

In general, bike racks suck. They're used improperly, often there aren't enough around, and they can even be downright insecure. Parking and walking away from your thousand-dollar investment is never fun, especially when we all know that any lock, with enough persistence, can be cut.

Enter the bike tree, a marvelous bit of technology which will keep your bike safe in any situation (save a meteorite). Abhinav Dapke of Bahrain and India designed the trees to deal with theft and to address congested bike parking. The trees actually use significantly less space than traditional bike parking.

Just hook your bike into the device, push the thumbprint scanner, and the bike gets lifted to safety. When you return, scan your thumb again, and your bike comes down to meet you. A simple system, and one that could also be performed with RFID or a swipe card to lower the costs of thumb-scanning.

In any case, this is another way to make biking more convenient. Now if they just put a roof over the whole thing we wouldn't have to worry about soggy butts after a rainstorm.

Via TreeHugger

Carectomy week in review

Joshua Liberles — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:09:35 PDT

Completing the circle: Gas at the pump, war in Iraq, and global warming

The war in Iraq, originally known as O.I.L. (Operation Iraqi Liberation, that is) recently passed its fifth anniversary. Oil Change International recently published a study that quantifies the greenhouse gas emissions from the Iraq War as well as some of the environmental opportunity costs.

Bicing takes Barcelona by storm

In its first two months, Bicing, a bike-sharing program in Barcelona, Spain, garnered over 30,000 subscribers. The programâs popularity has only grown, which is good news for new bike-sharing programs in Washington D.C. and San Francisco.

All aboard for National Train Day

May 10th marks the first edition of National Train Day, a celebration of trains, tracks, mass transit, and efficient travel. The date is significant as the anniversary of the joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways in Utah 1869 -- which created the U.S.' first transcontinental railroad.

Valley Girl decries car culture

The Los Angeles' Times "Emerald City" blog recently ran a great post illustrating how Southern California turned from sunny citrus paradise to car-choked hell. Cassandra Davis mixes an historical account of the evolution of car culture in SoCal with her own firsthand experiences growing up as a Valley Girl.

How cheap is that electric bike really?

Peg Fong — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:08:27 PDT

It's a no-brainer. Bicycling is cheap transportation and good for the environment. But not all bikes are created equal and while they're all cheap compared to cars ... some can seem a bit steep.

And then there's the whole pedaling thing ... call me lazy, but I like the idea of my vehicle moving me, instead of me moving my vehicle. It's certainly a less green alternative, but far greener than a car.

Unfortunately electric bikes can cost upwards of a couple of thousand dollars, but an extraordinarily inexpensive option is being produced by California company Currie Technologies.Â

The $350 hybrid electric bike 388-PP can reach top speeds of 18 miles per hour and the range is 15 miles.

A rack-mounted regular sealed lead acid rechargeable battery powers the all-terrain bike. The battery, which is detachable, takes between two to four hours to charge up.

The good news is this cheap bike is available now for purchase. The bad news is if you're looking for something light, this probably won't cut it. The bike weighs a whopping 76 pounds, and so if you run out the charge, it's going to be a heavy haul with that battery weighing you down.

And the rechargeable battery has a short life span of between 200 to 300 charges before you need to buy a new replacement one from Currie for $120.

Via TreeHugger

Carectomy week in review

Joshua Liberles — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:51:49 PDT

HGTV âgreen homeâ: Complete with gas-guzzling SUV!

Has green-washing hit a new low? HGTV has completely missed the point of what it means to be sustainable with its new Green Home Giveaway sweepstakes.

The winner gets a fancy âgreenâ home in Hilton Head, SC, complete with energy-efficient appliances, eco-floors, amenities, doo-dads, etc.; a membership to the local water-sucking, pesticide-spewing golf course; and a hybrid SUV. Of course all of these prizes are carefully branded and marketed through the HGTV programming.

Bicycle City: Perfection, sans picket fences?

Bicycle City sounds like a place Iâd like to live. By plannersâ description, its highlights include a âwalkable, urban design; vibrant local economy; eco-friendly, sustainable design; organic farming; human-powered transportation; strong and diverse community; active healthy lifestyle.â

By contrast to most urban areas, Bicycle City doesnât have âpollution, traffic jams, parking lots, national franchises, strip malls, stress, chemicals, or 'cookie cutter' â designs.

Glastonbury Festival celebrates green transport

The annual Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is encouraging concertgoers to leave their cars at home. A full third of people attending the three-day celebration (akin to Woodstock, but in the English countryside) will commute by public transport (including via coach and rail) and festival organizers are encouraging all who attend to car-share, if they must commute by vehicle. âThe aim is to reduce the number of cars which come to the festival,â organizers say.

Cars cause a scentless spring

Cars have made us fat, diseased, cash-strapped, and disconnected from one another and ourselves. Now, thanks to air pollution caused by cars and power plants, we don't even have the scent of flowers to appreciate. As National Geographic reports, the potency of the smell of flowers has been reduced by as much as 90%.

Carectomy week in review

Joshua Liberles — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:37:08 PDT

Eight ways to overcome excuses and start cycling

You havenât yet begun bike commuting, but youâve considered it. Whatâs putting the brakes on your brilliant plans? Perhaps a handful of good excuses that have made cycling to work a mere pipe dream. Whatever your reason for continuing to take the car, thereâs likely a simple means to make bike commuting an efficient, reliable, and sustainable way to get to work. Here are eight common (probably lame) excuses -- and how to overcome them with chutzpah. Prepare to dust off your helmet.

Birmingham's big city plan

Leader of the Birmingham, UK, City Council Mike Whitby commissioned a study to move the city towards sustainability and revitalize the city centre. Dubbed the âBig City Plan,â the goals include decreasing the city's carbon emissions by 60% by 2026, revamping mass transit systems, and moving the city towards self-sufficiency with livable and walkable neighborhoods, local produce and products sold locally, and homegrown industries to support the residents.

Paris-Roubaix inspires commuters?

Paris-Roubaix is a âhard man's race.â If you never realized that cycling is one of the world's toughest sports, check it out. The event is so over-the-top difficult that it can't help but inspire everyday cyclists to stop making excuses and get out and ride.

Greening the concrete jungle

Asphalt gardening is growing in popularity, as green-thumbed urbanites reclaim the concrete and break ground to turn parking spots into lush, green space.

Man invents air-powered motorcycle in garage

Hank Green — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:29:49 PDT

We love backyard inventors. Sometimes, we have to take things we hear from them with a grain of salt, though.

Like, if someone told me that they made a motorcycle that was powered by air, I might not immediately believe them. But looking at this bike, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it:

Was built in someone's garage.
Works exactly as described.
Is powered 100% by air.

Of course, when I say "works exactly as described," the description isn't all that exciting. The top speed is about 18 mph, and it can only go 7 miles before the air pressure runs out.

But this is, after all, a guy in his garage ... a lot more power could probably be pulled by tweaking his configuration.

Jem Stansfield, a University of Bristol graduate with a degree in aeronautics, created the bike by strapping two high-pressure tanks onto the side of his Puch moped. The tanks are basically scuba tanks. He uses the (yes, mostly coal-fired) electricity from his house to fill the tanks. The power is then "stored" there, much like a battery, ready for use.

There are several advantages to using air pressure to store energy vs. batteries. First, compressors can recharge air tanks faster than batteries can be recharged, Stansfield says his tanks recharge in "seconds."

Another advantage is that air tanks are, overall, very simple things. Though to be able to store a lot of energy in a small place, they need to be extremely strong. Jem's are carbon-fiber tanks of the sort used by firefighters for oxygen. But still, they're far cheaper than even the lead acid battery you've got in your car now.

Of course, MDI is way farther along in developing air-powered vehicles, with sales set to begin in 2010 and a hybrid version on the horizon as well.

Via MotorCycleNews (careful, it crashed my browser!)

50 miles per burrito

Hank Green — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:39:46 PDT

I just noticed this post about some rather clever bike-advocacy shirts at Carectomy and thought to myself, "53 Miles per Burrito is a really excellent slogan, but it's also a really excellent point."

The question is, is the human body actually more efficient than an automobile and, if so, why?

A little bit of research tells us that riding a light-weight bicycle consumes about 35 calories per mile. Walking consumes about 100 calories per mile and is, of course, considerably slower.

Driving a car ends up consuming 1,800 calories per mile. This sure makes one think twice about biofuel doesn't it?

I try to eat about 2,000 calories per day. If that food was converted to biofuel (as most of it could, since most of it is carbohydrates) it would drive a car less than a mile. But if I use it to bike, I could go 57 miles!

How many miles can I extract from a burrito?

A Chipotle burrito with beef, beans, cheese, sour cream and guacamole, comes in at an astounding 1,300 calories. Bust a gut with one of those and you'll find enough energy to travel 37 miles. If it were gasoline instead of a burrito, those same calories wouldn't even get you a full mile.

So why is the human body so much more efficient than automobiles?

It turns out that they aren't that much more efficient. Car engines aren't superbly efficient, that's for sure. But What's much more inefficient is the fact that 95% of the net weight of a car is car... only 5% is the driver. Only 65 of the 1,800 calories used to move the car that mile are for the driver. The rest is used to move the doors and the roof and the airbags and the cup holders with you.

With a bike, the equation is shifted significantly toward the weight of the driver, not the vehicle.

Our bodies turn out to be almost two times better at converting calories to motion than cars.

Sometimes, if you want to see some powerful environmental technology, you don't have to look any further than your big beefy quadriceps.

Carectomy week in review

Joshua Liberles — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 01:09:56 PDT

Drive your computer â not your car

Modern technology has made it increasingly easier to conduct business from anywhere, yet as Christian Renaud, a Cisco executive, asks, âSo why do people still hop on cross-country flights for two-hour face-to-face meetings instead of using rich collaboration technologies like video conferencing, voice over the Internet, and virtual worlds?â

Albuquerque gives residents a free ride

In spite of Albuquerqueâs low-riding love affair, the city is trying to step up its public transit. Itâs introduced D-RIDE, a free bus service that travels a popular circuit through the downtown area.

The problem? D-RIDE covers all of six city blocks -- which, by my standards, are short and totally walkable. (Planners might be wise to improve transportation throughout the city, instead of investing in a tiny and unnecessary upgrade. Then again, some free transit is better than none.)

The D-RIDE also connects to the downtown transit center, where commuters can hop aboard after a ride on the new Rail Runner train.

Blumenauer introduces the National Bike Bill

On March 4th, thousands of cyclists gathered in support of biking at the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. They threw their collective weight behind Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and his National Bike Bill, which ârecogniz[es] the importance of bicycling in transportation and recreation.â

Put on your walking shoes, generate some power

It has become clear that we need to figure out greener, renewable sources of energy. Well, what if we could produce our own damned power? Walkingâs about as carectomy-friendly as it gets.

This week, we look at some concepts in the works that will allow us to crank out some electricity while keeping healthy, happy, and pollution-free out on our strolls.

An extra hour of sun

Trystan L. Bass — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:08:36 PDT

It's not technically spring yet, but most of the U.S. sprang forward this past Sunday anyway. Daylight saving time (DST) started on March 9 this year, thanks to the changes brought about by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Not everyone agrees that DST really saves much energy. As I mentioned when we fell back last November, studies in the 1970s suggested huge energy savings, but more recent savings looked much smaller.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported on a University of California-Santa Barbara study of Indiana households that showed DST actual cost raised electricity bills instead of lowering them.

The conclusion was that reducing lighting needs were offset by higher air-conditioning and heating needs. Then again, I wonder about more moderate climates -- few people I know here in California have AC, and we rarely have mornings cold enough to require a heater.

Regardless, the law right now is to set the clock an hour ahead. So why not take advantage of an extra hour of daylight in the evening?

Here are some great green things to do with the sunny time:

Use Walkscore to find new restaurants, cafes, shops, parks, and services that are within walking distance of your home or office. Check out a different place each week.

Take your dog for a walk -- and make sure to bring a supply of BioBags for the inevitable trail Fido will leave behind. BioBags are "plastic" bags made from starch and are 100% biodegradable and compostable (unlike standard plastics that are made from oil).

Water your plants and make sure you're giving them the just the right amount.

Go for a bike ride, either solo or take a friend, spouse, or the kids. Looking for bike rentals or help with repairs? Cruise through this directory of community bike programs.

Wash your car and clean out the inside. Carrying around junk in the trunk reduces your gas mileage significantly. Make sure to use an earth-friendly, biodegradable cleaner (I like Simple Green) on the outside, so any water runoff into the storm drains won't pollute.

Channel your old scouting days and carve a willow whistle.

Plan a microdrip irrigation system for a larger garden. You'll save water and probably money too in the long run.

String up a clothesline so you can start drying some of your clothes outside this year. Even if the weather isn't great right now, the heat will be on soon enough. Then you'll save money (and energy) by taking advantage of free sunshine.

Tee off at an Audubon-certified golf course (PDF). These are doubly green greens because they protect water quality and provide wildlife habitats, according to the environmental organization.

Get outside and enjoy the extra sunshine!

Carectomy week in review

Joshua Liberles — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:41:17 PST

Aquaduct improves bicycleâs brilliance

Itâs no secret that we at Carectomy have a bit of a bike fetish. The smog-free human-powered machine offers the world a 100-year-old solution to its transportation needs.

Thanks to the Innovate or Die â Pedal Powered Machine Contest, weâve seen bike technology tweaked and put to some interesting new uses. But the winner, the Aquaduct Mobile Filtration Device, could very well change the world.

Mass transit trims the fat

Instead of going to the gym, downing diet pills, or resorting to gastric bypass surgery to get thin and beautiful, why not just take mass transit? According to a recent report by USA Today, taking public transportation instead of driving is a proven way to lose weight and improve your overall health.

U.S. train travel on the rise

U.S. travelers -- frustrated by gas prices, traffic congestion, and the hassle and delays of air travel -- are increasingly rediscovering the train. One in four domestic flights arrived late in 2007. Add in the maddening yellow-orange-mauve alert security checks, and itâs understandable why passengers are fed up.

Ethanol not an eco-darling after all

The future for gas-guzzling, inefficient cars doesnât look promising. As gas prices rise and oil grows scarce, Western nations are scrambling to become self-sufficient in producing their own fuel. In the search for alternative energy sources, ethanol has emerged as a favorite. A recent study by scientists at Stanford University, however, has knocked ethanol from its eco-pedestal.

Put the pedal to the metal

Hank Green — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:57:06 PST

OK, so since we just posted about a ridiculous pedal-powered concept, I thought we should also write a bit about a more serious prospect, the Imagine LMV.

The Imagine LMV is what HumanCar is calling its new offering. And while it is both pedal and row-bar powered, the people don't directly drive the car.

In fact, the Imagine LMV is an electric vehicle that simply allows the passengers to charge the batteries while driving. The batteries (we're guessing) can also be charged through more traditional means.

Using batteries instead of pure human power allows the bike to hit speeds of up to 30 mph while also being, in theory, much safer than bicycles. Unfortunately, the batteries and generators also make the vehicle tremendously more expensive than traditional pedal-powered transit at roughly $15,000.

At that price, we have to wonder why we aren't just looking to buy a really nice hybrid electric bicycle. Or three...

For more info, check out HumanCar's PDF brochure on the new vehicle.

Via AutoBlogGreen

Car(bon) free in California

Trystan L. Bass — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:31:57 PDT

California dreaming is all about putting the top down on your convertible car and driving up and down the coast, burning rubber with a hottie by your side, road tripping through the redwoods, or cruising L.A.'s miles of freeway. Right?

Wrong! The new dream is green, according to Charles of Car(bon)free in California. This San Francisco Bay Area guy has a blog about reducing the impact of cars, especially on the Golden State. And if he can cut back on auto use in asphalt-paved suburban Cali, then so can people living across the U.S.

He posts news, both local and national, ideas like a carbon subsidy, and notes about how your schedule effects commuting.

Recently, Charles started his own Five for Footprints campaign. Just reduce five percent of your diving -- that's only 1 trip in 20 -- and he's posting five easy steps to help.

First up, telecommuting. Let me tell you, we love this one at Yahoo! -- people get more done without all the hustle and distractions in the office (and personally, I enjoy sitting at my home computer with a cat in my lap).

Next, carpool. Someone you work with probably lives within a reasonable distance or on the way. Just ask around. If you work for a big company, see if it has a carpool list set up already. Some cities have services to connect potential carpoolers, like 511.org Ridematch in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Check the blog regularly to see his other recommendations. I bet biking and public transit may show up. Maybe walking? They're all good, carbon-neutral ways to get around, and I should know -- I've lived in California most of my life without a car too!