Even Suave Obama Looks Dorky in a Bicycle Helmet

Wearing a helmet while cycling kind of sucks. It’s hot, sweaty, causes that ultra-attractive ‘helmet head’ hair phenomenon and just plain looks dorky. We all know that wearing helmets is necessary in the U.S. especially because of the fact that drivers here just can’t seem to process the idea of sharing the road with bicyclists. So, it’s good to know that as we put on these ugly brain protectors, even a suave gentleman like Obama looks like a dork with a bike helmet on.

Via [Ecorazzi]
Photo credit: AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Cyclist Killed by Car During ‘Bike to Work Week’

A 22-year-old cyclist participating in ‘Bike to Work Week’ was killed on Monday when the owner of an SUV opened their car door in his path. He was riding in the bike lane. Clinton Miceli was the fifth bicyclist to die in Chicago so far this year. WTF, people. Can we really not manage sharing the road with cyclists? Is it that hard to go a little slower, avoid going around blind curves at high speeds and give these people some room?

The Chicago Sun-Times has it:

Miceli, 22, was cycling in the bike lane on La Salle around 6:45 p.m. Monday when he slammed into an open SUV door, was thrown from his bike, then struck by a second car. The driver of the Nissan Xterra who opened the door into Miceli’s path was cited for opening a car door in traffic, police said.

A second rider collided with a CTA bus around 8:50 a.m. Tuesday at Broadway and Patterson in Lake View. That cyclist was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in serious condition, a Fire Department spokesman said. The CTA driver was cited for failure to yield and suspended without pay, authorities said.

First of all, it never fails to amaze me when people throw their car doors open without checking first to see if there’s anyone coming. Second, you would think that drivers would be a little more conscious, especially during ‘Bike to Work Week’. But everyone is so preoccupied with cell phone conversations, iPods, fiddling through their purses, putting on mascara, eating Big Macs or just plain zoning out. Wake up. Bicyclists have a right to safety on our roads.

Link [Chicago Sun-Times]
Photo credit: Flickr user borkur.net

Bumper Cars as an Alternative to Electric Cars?

Imagine taking a really stupid idea, multiplying it by a few million and setting it loose on the streets of America. No, I’m not talking about hybrid SUVs (this time). A website called Low-Tech has decided that, instead of focusing on increasing the battery life of electric cars, we should just get rid of the batteries all together. How? By re-introducing the ‘bumper car’ cable system.

Treehugger has it:

“Batteries are the flaw of electric cars, and not only when considering the environment. Electric cars are not yet a reality because of the limited mileage of their ‘fuel tanks.’ At best, an electric car can drive 100 or 200 miles. After that, the car has to be plugged in for hours.” Their suggested alternative: bumper car technology, where electricity is fed to the vehicle directly from the grid.

Kris De Decker reminds us that in many countries, there are networks of trolley cars and vehicles that use overhead wires for power yet drive on the road like a conventional vehicle. ” Like electric cars, the environmental score of a trolleybus depends on the way the electricity was generated. However, a trolleybus (just like a tram or an electric train) does not face the problem of energy storage. Therefore, the problem with the electric car is not that it’s electric, but that it’s wireless.”

What a mess that would be. Aside from the obvious problems of requiring massive, expensive overhauls of our road system and being unable to pass each other on the highway, a Treehugger commenter named Ross sums up our sentiments on the issue nicely:

So they’re proposing something like one of those newfangled train machines?

Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: Flickr user brainware3000

Sometimes it Sucks to be a Bicyclist

Imagine taking part in a weekend bike race, merrily pedaling along without a care in the world, when suddenly a car seems to be coming straight at you. Before you have time to move, it has plowed into the crowd, sending cyclists up into the air. This horrific photo shows just that, and the result was one dead cyclist and ten injured.

From CNN:

The 28-year-old driver was apparently drunk and fell asleep when he crashed into the race, said police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez.

A photograph taken by a city official showed bicyclists and equipment being hurled high into the air by the collision.

It’s things like this that make people afraid to ride bicycles in the roads. I still maintain that it should be harder to get and keep a driver’s license. There are way too many people out there that barely know what they’re doing, and the fact is, every time you get behind the wheel you become operator of a huge piece of dangerous machinery that, as illustrated here, could easily take out a crowd.

Link [CNN]
Photo credit: Jose Fidelino Vera Hernandez / AP

From Children in Buckets to Old Men in Suits, Amsterdam Does Bikes Right

Amsterdam gets a lot of things right. Among them are drug policy and tulips. It’s becoming increasingly clear that another thing they do far better than most other countries is bicycles. A traveler in Amsterdam took 82 pictures of bicycles in 73 minutes in a single city square, and the variety is amazing. Riding bicycles isn’t just an occasional recreational activity in Amsterdam – it’s a way of life.

This photo shows a normal scene of bikes parked in Amsterdam:

Here are just a small selection of the photos taken, and in them you’ll see bicycle riders of all sizes, ages and walks of life, including a very old man and a very young child, a man in a suit, a woman in pearls, people carrying large bundles and children balanced precariously on handlebars. It almost sounds like a Dr. Seuss book. It’s awesome.

People in Amsterdam take their bikes seriously. Very seriously. Check out the high security chains and locks, human-powered headlight contraptions, and all of the decorative touches. The photographer questions why they use such strong locks when all the bikes look to be worth about $10 – I think it’s because so many people ride bicycles, people wouldn’t think much to ‘borrow’ somebody else’s to get where they need to go – not to sell it.

You may find it curious that nobody’s wearing a helmet, kids seem so dangerously unprotected and many of these people are even talking on cell phones while they veer around cars in busy intersections. Sure, it looks dangerous to us. Trying to do these things in America would amount to a death wish, but there’s a simple reason why it works in Amsterdam: respect and awareness. They’re just used to it. The people driving cars know to watch out for people on bicycles. When you have a culture where bicycle riding is so commonplace, it’s easy to adjust. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get there, too?

Check out the site for all 82 pictures, plus large enhanced versions.

Link [Ski Epic]

Company Converts Gas Powered Cars to Electric

One question many people have had about the switch from gas powered vehicles to greener models is, what happens to the old cars? There is definitely a possibility for an awful lot of waste – not all of the materials from a vehicle can be recycled. Luckily, there are forward-thinking companies like Voitures électriques du Québec (Electric Cars of Quebec).

From the company’s website:

Electric Cars of Quebec is a company which is proud to offer electric cars to the public of Quebec. Since the company’s conception in 2007, the founder Mr. Loic Daigneault has been developing a line of products which offer a viable alternative to drivers who wish to save money and reduce their green house gas emissions. With safety as a priority all ECQ products meet the requirements of the SAAQ and have been designed to withstand the rigors of the Canadian climate.

While ECQ won’t turn the vehicle you already own into an electric car (they prefer to buy models that are already compatible with electric design to ensure quality and safety), purchasing a converted car from ECQ is an awesome way to go green AND recycle at the same time.

The cars have a range of 100 km (62.137 miles) with the option of traveling further via a gas generator, which essentially turns the car into a hybrid, making it able to charge its own battery. Without the gas generator, the car will take about 8-12 hours to recharge once spent. The battery doesn’t have memory, so you don’t have to wear it down completely before recharging. The battery lasts about 1200 recharges or 6 years.

Get more info at the Electric Cars of Quebec website!

Link [Electric Cars of Quebec]

Sweet! The Dutch Build the World’s First Solar Speedboat

Oh, how I love basking in the sunshine, smelling the salty air and dipping a foot into the water while relaxing on a boat. Too bad motor boats are really not good for the environment – they’re noisy, they use a lot of energy and leak oil. Then I saw this: the world’s first solar powered speedboat. Drrooooollll.

From gizmag:

Electricity and water: we usually do everything we can to keep the two apart, but it seems the electric engine revolution is moving through the boating world as well. And when you’re out on the water enjoying a speedboat, what more appropriate power source is there than the sun? The Czeers MK1 prototype solar speedboat is a 30-knot photovoltaic dream in delicious shades of carbon fiber Carbon fiber , solar cell and lush orange leather. Solar boats for environmental warriors eh? Next thing you’ll be telling us they’re making wind-powered ones.

The Czeers MK1 prototype is, as far as its Dutch creators are concerned, the world’s first solar speedboat. The Delft Technical University Solarboat Team built the original platform as an entry in the 2006 Nuon Frisian Solar challenge, which it easily won - and in the process, attracted serious investment power from Rabobank to get a full scale test boat built.

The resulting test boat, made from 100% carbon fiber inlaid with leather trim, photovoltaic cells on almost all horizontal surfaces and an LCD touch-screen control system, launched at the Millionaire Fair in 2007, and has since proven itself up to 30 knots on the water.

We are really looking forward to being rich ass green media tycoons. We’ll have a whole fleet of these babies. They won’t have leather trim though (yuck!). Seriously though, this thing is pretty sweet. No oil, no fumes, no engine noise. If you’re wondering about the cost, let’s put it this way: there’s a reason the LCD touch-screen system was launched at the Millionaire Fair.

You can check out a video of it in action on YouTube, complete with a weirdly inappropriate song choice (Aphex Twin).

Link [gizmag] + [YouTube]

Cooking Grease is Big Business as Gas Prices Soar

Don’t you wish you would have been one of those ‘weirdos’ who outfitted your diesel-engine car to use biofuels? Years ago, when people first started gathering used cooking oil from restaurants to fuel their vehicles, news of it was greeted by the public with amazement and more than a little scorn. After all, gas was still less than $2 a gallon and most people seemed to think we’d never run out. Well, who’s laughing now, bitches? Cooking grease is turning into a booming industry of its own, and the folks who are no longer dependent on petroleum are breathing a big ‘ol sigh of relief as the rest of the population worries about gas prices.

The Chicago Tribune has it:

Restaurants increasingly are being paid for their used cooking oil, icky stuff that historically they’ve had to pay to have hauled away. And sales of kits that allow diesel-powered cars to run on used cooking oil are soaring.

With all the attention, rendering firms are reporting a surge in grease thefts.

Grease’s rising star stems from rising energy prices. Demand for biodiesel is soaring, putting pressure on supplies of used vegetable oil, which can be used to make the alternative fuel.

Restaurants are getting into profit-sharing programs with companies that haul their raw used cooking oil away. Companies that make kits that convert diesel vehicles to burn straight vegetable oil are making money, too – one company, Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems in Massachusetts, expects to double their sales this year and are having trouble keeping up with demand.

Some drivers are still hitting up restaurants themselves to get oil for free and running it through filters to catch stray bits of food before putting it in their fuel tanks. Many, it seems, are also going the route of theft, making the business even more competitive. This cooking grease boom just goes to show that when they’re pinched, people get creative. Let’s see more of it!

Link [The Chicago Tribune]
Photo credit: Flickr user jsbarrie

Pedal-Powered Eco Cabs Debut in Sweden

If you visit Stockholm any time soon, you’ll have a new eco-friendly option for getting around the city: human-powered ‘eco cabs’. They don’t have A/C and probably aren’t the best choice if you’re in a hurry to get to the airport or something, but one bonus is you’ll be going slow enough to get a good tour of the scenery while en route.

Treehugger has it:

The Ecocab, that jazzy three-wheeled improvement on the older pedicab/rickshaw idea, debuted the first of May in Toronto and has been seen in cities such as Dublin and in Berlin for last year’s World Cup. In Toronto, advertising is to be the main revenue for cab company owners, at least at first. But while the new Stockholm-based fleet of eight Ecocabs trolling the inner city are brightly emblazoned with ads, they also cost cold hard cash, in some cases more than a regular taxi.

Stockholm’s Ecocabs, which will run only from May though September each year, charge 40 Swedish crowns ($6.50) per rider per 15 minute period. The ecocabs have a small 12v self-charging battery-driven engine to help the driver power up hills and run the indicator lights, and can reach a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour, though the average speed is closer to half that.

Something about sitting pretty while some poor schmuck has to work his ass off to pedal you around seems sorta wrong, but it’s certainly a great alternative to riding in a gas-powered automobile. Just be sure to give him a sugar cube and pat him on the head when you get to your destination.

Link [Treehugger]

Bring Back the Cute Micro Cars from the 1940s-60s!

Immediately after the end of World War II, European engineers created cute little micro-cars out of necessity. The cars were designed so small in the spirit of conservation, since there were shortages of food, raw materials, electricity and gas.

Haute*Nature came across the Micro Car Museum while browsing the web, and laments that we ever made the switch to larger cars. Indeed, the world would be a much better place if we had all stuck to micro cars. And they’re so cute!

From the Micro Car Museum:

It’s said that the true master reveals himself within limitations and so this focusing of energy and talent resulted in an enormous variety of small vehicles; some successful, others less so - but all of them interesting!

The microcar or “bubble car” came to symbolize this period of renewed energy and pulling together.

The bubble car boom lasted only a decade, but the period left a lasting impression even on those who abandoned their Kabinenroller for a “real” car.

The cars continue to be found in barns and collections throughout the world but are particularly meaningful to the Europeans, whose lifestyle was, in part, made possible by these tiny cars.

With a little tweaking for modern efficiency, this would be my dream car. It’s got that gorgeous classic look (I especially love that pale 1950s blue) and the compact size that would make a lot more sense for today’s need for energy conservation. Fab!

Link [Haute*Nature] + [Micro Car Museum]

Gas Prices Causing Commuters to Turn to Mass Transit

First, we heard that cities like Washington D.C. are initiating bike share programs. Then, there was the amazing news that about consumers are turning in their monstrous SUVs for smaller, more fuel efficient cars (hurray!). Now, we’re learning that gas prices have urged commuters to take the train, subway or bus instead of their personal vehicles. It seems that the way to change in America really is through our wallets, not through our heads and hearts. Though we’ve been warned for years that we needed to shift our way of thinking about transportation and energy, we haven’t listened, until now – when gas prices have reached $4 a gallon in many cities and are steadily rising.

The New York Times has it:

Mass transit systems around the country are seeing standing-room-only crowds on bus lines where seats were once easy to come by. Parking lots at many bus and light rail stations are suddenly overflowing, with commuters in some towns risking a ticket or tow by parking on nearby grassy areas and in vacant lots.

“In almost every transit system I talk to, we’re seeing very high rates of growth the last few months,” said William W. Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association.

“It’s very clear that a significant portion of the increase in transit use is directly caused by people who are looking for alternatives to paying $3.50 a gallon for gas.”

This is exciting. It’s a brilliant illustration of why high gas prices are a good thing for America. With the disturbing fact that Americans are the least fired up about global warming despite being the most educated about it, it seemed as if nothing could shake us up enough to make people willing to change. Even the specter of gloom and doom in the form of food and water shortages, towns being so polluted they have to be evacuated and insanely severe natural disasters (hello, anyone remember Hurricane Katrina?) didn’t seem to be enough to spur action. Now we know for sure. It’s all about the Benjamins. Crazy, but whatever works. Now we just need local and state governments to start putting money into transit systems, so people don’t get disenchanted with them when they show their limits.

Link [New York Times]
Photo credit: Flickr user Daquela manera

New Green Carpool Service Matches You Up with Rides to Concerts

Summer is the season of concerts, and all of us driving separately to get there isn’t exactly green. The folks at Reverb, who are already known for helping bands cut down their carbon footprint, have teamed up with PickupPal, a carpool service, to help people share rides when going to a concert.

From Mashable:

The partnership between PickupPal and Reverb won’t go live until next week, but PickupPal has already provided carpooling options for the Coachella Festival, and will be doing the same for the upcoming Virgin Mobile Festivals in Canada.

PickupPal provides a venue for passengers to match up with drivers to get around, giving the driver a small commission for their services. You submit a ride request to the PickupPal site and interested drivers offer rides. You check out their profile and make a decision based on reviews and the price. Afterward, the driver pays a small commission to PickupPal via PayPal.

It’s a pretty cool new way to get around, and all the better when going to concerts – hell, you can drink all you want and don’t have to worry about how you’re going to get home. My only concern is, do they let you search by drug preference? I mean, I don’t want to ride back home after a show rolling on E with a bunch of tweaked out speed freaks.

Link [Mashable]
Photo credit: Universal Pictures

18-Year-Old Invents Bad Ass Electric Bike to Combat Pollution

Cliched as it sounds, sometimes the youth really does have a fresh creative edge over the rest of the population. 18 year old Ben Gulak of Canada has spent the last few years creating a futuristic looking electric bike designed to reduce pollution. That’s right, he’s been working on this thing since he was a mere 14-15 years old.

The Telegraph has it:

Although it resembles a unicycle, the Uno has two wheels side by side and uses gyroscopic technology to stay upright.

Ben Gulak, 18, spent several years building the machine. The rider leans forward to accelerate to speeds of 25mph, and backwards to slow down.

Mr Gulak, from Canada, said: “I was inspired to make the bike after visiting China a few years ago and seeing all the smog. They all drive little bikes that are really polluting and I wanted to make something to combat that.”

Weighing 120lb, the bike is light enough to be taken indoors to be charged up, and runs for 2.5 hours.

Don’t you want one? When I saw the photo, the ‘Jetsons’ theme song instantly started playing in my head. When I was a little girl, I was under the impression that by the time I was in my 20’s we’d be living in a Jetsons-style futuristic world, and of course we’re nowhere near that, but cool inventions like this make it seem closer. I just hope that more of the inventions to come are as eco-friendly as this one.

Link [The Telegraph]

Photo credit: Motorcycle Mojo

SUVs Going Down in Value, Filling Up Used Car Lots due to Gas Prices

Praise be, y’all, sports utility vehicles are going down in value. Are people actually learning a lesson, here? SUVs are flooding the used car market as people realize that the behemoths are unnecessary, stupid environment killers – no, scratch, that, it’s because of gas prices. Well, whatever works, right?

Ridelust has it:

Most owners who go to a car dealership looking to trade their current ride in for something new usually come out shell-shocked when they learn what the dealership is willing to give them for their trade. Those choosing to turn in their SUV right now will certainly be finding their trade-in value far from what they had invisioned.

According to CNW Marketing Research and the AP SUV sales were down 14% in the month of March when compared to March of 2007. The darling SUV of the American Auto Industry no longer sparkles under the looming clouds of $4/gallon fuel prices. In the face of such a decline in value the only solution for many SUV owners looking to downsize may be to sell their vehicle themselves; a task many owners dread. Even diesel trucks are not immune to the declines in value.

All this has GM concerned that their ‘Green Car of the Year’, the Chevrolet Tahoe 2-Mode Hybrid will suffer a similar fate. The Tahoe Hybrid might get more miles to the gallon, but the $10,000-$15,000 markup probably doesn’t make it worth the cost, especially when depreciation is taken into consideration.

Don’t make any sudden moves, people. We are slowly sliding toward the edge of common sense and responsibility, but we don’t want to scare these SUV-loving folks into realizing they’re actually doing something good for the environment. They’re cringing as they trade in their cars, waiting for the chorus of I-Told-You-So’s, and rubbing it in could well make them want to keep their suburban monsters out of pure spite. The idea of doing things like those fruity Your-a-Peein’s doesn’t sit well with Middle America, no sirree.

Link [RideLust]

Photo credit: Flickr user reedbiotch

The Ultimate in Green Booze: French Returning to Shipping Wine by Sailboat

When French vineyards decided they wanted to reduce their carbon footprint, they thought backwards instead of forwards: they’re going back to a shipping method they last used in the 1800’s. Some vintners are choosing sailboats to transport their most eco-friendly wines.

From The Guardian:

Later this month 60,000 bottles from Languedoc will be shipped to Ireland in a 19th-century barque, saving 18,375lb of carbon. Further voyages to Bristol, Manchester and even Canada are planned soon afterwards.

The three-mast barque Belem, which was launched in 1896, the last French merchant sailing vessel to be built, will sail into Dublin following a voyage from Bordeaux that should last about four days. The wines will be delivered to Bordeaux by barge using the Canal du Midi and Canal du Garonne, which run across southern France from Sète in the east, via Béziers in Languedoc. Each bottle will be labelled: ‘Carried by sailing ship, a better deal for the planet.’ Although the whole process will end up taking up to a week longer than a flight, it is estimated it will save 4.9oz of carbon per bottle.

Frederic Albert, founder of the shipping company Compagnie de Transport Maritime à la Voile (CTMV), said: ‘My idea was to do something for the planet and something for the wines of Languedoc. One of my grandfathers was a wine-maker and one was a sailor.’

Smart move! Not only is it a great eco-friendly way to ship wine, it increases visibility of these vineyards because of the great story. What makes this even cooler is that ships will return to France bearing an equal tonnage of crushed glass for recycling into wine bottles. The vineyards have chosen their best, most sustainably produced wines for the sailboat voyage, because they want their eco-conscious consumers to get the full ‘green wine’ experience. Despite all this trouble, the wines will remain fairly cheap - €7 to €20 a bottle.

I’m a bit of a wino and a history dork, so the idea of my Beaujolais coming across the Atlantic on a romantic sailboat voyage makes me want to drink even more of it. Hey, we’ve got to make it worth their time and investment, right? A round of red for everyone!

Link [The Guardian]
Photo credit: Flickr user Kables

As Green as You Can Get: Shipping Wine With the Winds

Here’s something that I hope I read more of: French wine makers are using a three mast sailing vessel to ship 60,000 bottles of wine from France to Dublin, Ireland.

Brilliant!

Using wind to ship things around the world is something we’ve been doing for a long, long time. When the steam engine, and then later diesel burners, came onto the scene, the winds were mostly left behind. There has recently been some hopeful movements back to using wind to ship cargo in the form of the super kite- a giant rig that connects to traditional bunker oil burning ships that can save 15-20% of the fuel otherwise needed.

Each bottle of greenly shipped wine will come with the label “‘Carried by sailing ship, a better deal for the planet.’” Here’s a quick bit from the Guardian:

Later this month 60,000 bottles from Languedoc will be shipped to Ireland in a 19th-century barque, saving 18,375lb of carbon. Further voyages to Bristol, Manchester and even Canada are planned soon afterwards.

The three-mast barque Belem, which was launched in 1896, the last French merchant sailing vessel to be built, will sail into Dublin following a voyage from Bordeaux that should last about four days. The wines will be delivered to Bordeaux by barge using the Canal du Midi and Canal du Garonne, which run across southern France from Sète in the east, via Béziers in Languedoc. Each bottle will be labelled: ‘Carried by sailing ship, a better deal for the planet.’ Although the whole process will end up taking up to a week longer than a flight, it is estimated it will save 4.9oz of carbon per bottle.

Link [Guardian] via Environmental Graffiti

Hyper Efficient Car Built in 1973 Gets 377 MPG!

Damn, check this out- a guy just bought a car built in 1973 that gets 376.59 MPG.

The Seattle PI has it:

Don’t choke on your organic soy-double-decaf-fair-trade-carbon-neutral macchiato, but how does 376.59 miles per gallon sound? Makes your Honda Civic hybrid look Hummeresque, doesn’t it?

That number doesn’t come from some manta ray-shaped, wind tunnel-vetted carbon fiber space car. No, it’s from a chop-top, steel-frame 1959 Opel T-1 (think melting jelly bean, but uglier). And the record was set in 1973 in a contest sponsored by Shell Oil Co.

The car doesn’t look very comfortable, but at the same time it was made 34 YEARS ago. The Auto Industry is a bunch of wankhammers who need to get their efficiency groove on. If we could hit 376 MPG 34 years ago I’m sure we can get our current average up another 20 or 30 MPGs. We just need the people who make the cars to grow a set and take some leadership on the issue.

Link [Seattle PI]