Browsing: Transport

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-hiE_tz37s[/youtube]

Check out the Busycle!

Pretty awesome mode of transport.

Just think how much fun we’d have if we replaced all our public transport with these!

Perhaps Boris should replace his bendy buses with lots of Busycles! Cleaner, greener and the streets of London might be a lot less meaner too if everyone had to work together to get around!

http://www.busycle.com/

Hypermiling – the latest buzz word on the green motoring circuit – is not, as you might think, some crazy Star Trek inspired commuting technique, but it is, in fact a way to ensure that drivers get maximum fuel efficiency whilst driving, thereby lessening the effect on the wallet of rampant oil price increases, and helping save the planet at the same time.

The slighty controversial techniques are already gaining a huge following in the USA, and are now starting to creep into Europe, with many followers boasting of meeting and even exceeding the usually unattainable advertised miles per gallon of their vehicle of choice. Serious proponents of the art have gained almost unbelievable results, as is the case with Bill Kinney, who at Hybridfest 2007 gained an average of 168mpg from his Honda Insight Hybrid, which has an advertised fuel economy of 84mpg.

Find out how after the jump

Find out more about the Trevor Baylis wind-up bike lights.

This product reminded me vividly of a creative writing assignment back in school. The title intrigued me and, for once, I couldn’t wait to get stuck into it! (Which as my parents would confirm was not far short of miraculous.) However having set the scene, and began weaving the fabric of a, if I do say so myself, devastating plot, for some reason which now escapes me I ran out of either momentum or time and abruptly ended the fledgling classic with the classic ‘then i woke up and it had all been a dream…’

I commute everyday by bike and have on more than one occasion been caught short with my lamp batteries giving up the fight before journeys end. So owning some lights which will always be ready to ride after a few minutes’ winding is definitely appealing. Using the lamps is dead simple. Unfold the light’s crank from underneath, and then wind it up vigorously. These lights claim to give 90 minutes’ light for one minute’s winding — but that’s 90 minutes of the power-saving one LED mode, which is just too dim for the road. For the full-power three LED mode, I dismounted and re-wound after 20 minutes – not that the lamp had totally disappeared but I wasn’t happy with the level of illumination provided. A 3 LED flashing mode is also an option.

Where this product falls into ‘it had all been a dream’ crummy territory is the mounts for the lights – these are awful! You have to wind them tight, which just doesn’t work well – I inadvertently snapped one of the mounts (front) and I was being pretty careful with it. The back bracket I had to resort to mounting on the angled part of the frame as I couldn’t get it around my seat post securely. Installation’s is a one-time thing , so if your blessed with patience and dexterity you might not find this an issue. It’s worth noting that the way the lights slide on and off their mounts is somewhat fiddly (well it is in the dark when you’ve removed them for an additional wind) but once in place they are pretty stable.

NB No mounting instructions were included in the packaging, which incidentally, I was disappointed to note didn’t mention Trevor Baylis anywhere, AND was a somewhat un-environmentally friendly looking plastic blister pack…

In the final analysis the lights themselves are simple and relatively effective (though unlikely to tempt moths to swarm you), and competitively priced – and would be a welcome addition to any frame as a secondary / emergency set. However, for me at least, the design and ‘quirky’ functionality of the mounts undermines this product. I really wanted to score this item higher but just can’t bring myself to.

Trevor Baylis bike lamps are available to buy from Ethical Superstore, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Trevor Baylis Bike Lights – Ethical Superstore

What we’re hoping for in version 2.0:

• Improved bracket design
• Rubberised design to absorb the knocks
• Brighter optics
• Optional wearable bracket so that you can mount the lamp onto a rucksack or jacket
• Instructions

Also available as a twin pack – includes front and rear torches with quick release clamps. Trevor Baylis Micro-Bike Torch Front & Rear Twin Pack.

Here at How Ethical! we’ll be keeping a closer eye on McDonald’s from now on, after their announcement this morning that they are in the process of converting all of their delivery fleet to run on biodiesel, using their abundant supply of used cooking oil.

Over the course of the next year, they plan to convert all 155 of their delivery vehicles, and they estimate that this will save more than 1,650 tonnes of carbon each year.

After moving away from polystyrene packaging, to a biodegradable alternative, this move signals that McDonald’s may be serious about facing up to their environmental responsibility, and it is a move which is sure to be welcomed by those who see big businesses as key in the fight against climate change.

So a tentative thumbs up to McDonald’s – we’ll be watching this one closely.

Thanks to BBC News for the original story.

Next Saturday, the 7th of July, is the start of the 2007 Tour de France. This year the event starts in London before crossing the channel and heading south to Marseilles. 3 weeks and 3500 kilometres later, the remaining riders finish on the Champs-Elysées in Paris.

Now, we’re not going to analyse the actual event – somewhere there will be an article that discusses how environmentally unfriendly all the support vehicles are and how much carbon is emitted by the helicopters used by the camera crews – so we’ll just contend ourselves (for now) with the fact that it’s a celebration of the world’s most influential invention.

Tour de France bikes are normally constructed out of exotic composite materials, aluminium alloys and titanium, which are neither inexpensive to produce nor particularly sustainable. So, how about manufacturing them out of a material that is both sustainable and renewable?

Which brings us to a neat little story about a Californian bicycle manufacturer, Craig Calfee, who is about to set off for Africa to look at the viability of manufacturing bamboo bikes in Ghana.

“If there were an award for “Bicycle with lowest carbon footprint” (least amount of carbon dioxide emissions in the production of the frame), this frame would win, hands down.”

Now, at $2500 dollars for the frame it’s not really affordable, so the bikes for Ghana use bamboo lashed together with hemp fiber.

When bamboo is treated it forms a very hard wood which is both light and exceptionally tough. Some of the larger species can grow at a rate of over 1 meter per day, making it particularly suitable for use as a renewable crop.

The prototype bike was built entirely without the need for power tools, which is an essential requirement to facilitate easy manufacture in developing countries. The other part of Calfee’s visit is to look at existing transportation arrangements in rural areas of the country, and specifically the needs of Ghanian women, because they are the ones who tend the crops, do the chores, control the money and are most in need of access to affordable transportation.

If you really want to see some appropriate technology in action take a look at these wooden bicycles in East Africa.

This may or may not be the world’s first bamboo bike.

The example in the picture dates from 1896 and is in Prague’s technical museum.

It was made in America, so it’s like a “great grand pappy” of the Calfee bike.

For more links, here’s one courtesy of the American Bamboo Society and this is a bamboo mountain bike frame. If you’re really into bamboo, you can always join the World Bamboo Organisation or you could buy some black bamboo from the Guardian. Very funky.

via hippyshopper. Images © Calfee Design and latimes.com

Tomorrow is National liftshare Day here in the UK, so save money and reduce your carbon footprint while you’re at it!

liftshare estimates that a typical carsharer will save themselves around £1,000 and 1 tonne of CO2 per year by sharing their daily journey.

Lots more resources on the site including a handy cost calculator that works out how much you’d save. I’d save £1200. I’d save even more money if I loved my bike!

via treehugger

Yesterday morning saw Europe’s first biodiesel powered train set off on a journey from London to Llandudno.

The Virgin Voyager train has been modified to run on a slightly more eco-friendly fuel – a blend of regular diesel and 20% rapeseed, soya bean and palm oil. This should reduce CO2 emissions by about 14%. If the trial is successful, the company aims to convert more of it’s fleet in the future.

Virgin’s boss, Richard Branson, said that the company hopes to use 100% biodiesel in the future, which would be equivalent to removing 100,000 vehicles from the road. Virgin Atlantic have already ordered 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which are 27 percent more fuel efficient than its current fleet, and if you read Virgin’s press release they state that…

One hundred percent of any profits made by Virgin Group through its train and plane companies for the next 10 years will be invested into developing clean fuels.

…which sounds pretty impressive.

We’ll be watching Sir Richard more closely from now on, and we’ll be awarding him his How Ethical! rating once we’ve done some more research.

No word on whether or not the train actually made it to Llandudno on time…

Loving your bike may seem like an odd object on to which to place your affections, but Manchester Friends of the Earth and the city council want us to do just that!

Now I do actually in general quite like my bike. I’m in the fortunate position of having a route to work which is now 80% off road. On a warm summer’s evening the trip along the Tyne is a pleasure.

However if you hate the thought of even having a bike, then the FoE and Manchester City Council are keen to change your mind. The site has lots of general info on why cycling is good for you – if you truly love yourself, you’ll love your bike. There is also an interactive site showing safe routes to and from the city centre plus a neat blogging\mapping feature so you can identify good points and danger areas on the routes. Nice if you live in Manchester.

Visit this site and then challenge your city, town or district council to do the same.