Transportation

Here's a fascinating but a little speculative article about the possibility of biogas for a road vehicle. It's definitely a possibility. I have seen many biogas digesters through my travels and I would love to see if a biogas combustion engine could be a reality. It would have to be a highly consistent formula I would think...
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New York City has initiated a city-wide bike share program! I have often wondered if the American public could handle such a neat idea. This has been public transportation reality in Copenhagen and many other European cities as well as a growing number in Asia.

It sounds like they have thought it through. It's initially an annual commitment to curb bike thefts. Let's see how it goes. The nation is watching New York. Will Portland be next?

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Bike Party is a great way to meet new people and participate in an outreach event to encourage more cycling and less cars! They are becoming increasingly popular all over the world. I have to admit that I am very jealous of Coby Zeifman's bike parties in Changwon, Korea and I look forward to actually attending one somewhere some day.

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I suppose I don't know how to feel about stories like this. In one way, it's good. The president is making appropriate steps to update and reform the US's outdated, oil dependent transportation infrastructure. However knowing federal politics like we all do, I don't hold my breath for sweeping reforms.

I would love to see an American bullet train system be fully realized. Or more mass transit initiatives in our cities. Heck, I would even take more natural gas options for cars as a way to transition to a cleaner fuel. But the oil companies are such huge adversaries to any progress in combating climate change and promoting renewable energy that I'm careful to not get my hopes up.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/mar/16/obama-seeks-sustainability-in-transportation/
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I really liked this article about future sustainable transportation. She merely just explores the topic because it one that is often overlooked. I agree with her that less cars in the future are absolutely imperative for a sustainable world. We need light rail, priority bus lanes, pedestrian and bike only zones, etc. Basically, all of the above. The sooner we get away from car culture the better we are all off. However, it is hard to imagine the United States without cars. American infrastructure is so intimately and hopelessly tied to the fate of the car that, to put it mildly, we certainly face a great challenge ahead. There are ways to make car culture/suburban lifestyle have less of an impact through battery sharing or biogas but those strategies seem to me slow coming. I fear that unless we tackle this issue directly oil prices will rise and most Americans will really be in hard times. The urgency of a fuel crisis will probably push some folks into conserving resources or force lifestyle changes but it certainly won't be comfortable. People will most likely adjust to living more locally but after great sacrifice or isolation.

I ultimately like this article because its a great introduction to the discussion of sustainable transportation. What will transit look like in the future? Especially, in car dominated American urban areas with an outdated and expensive highway system. Even in a supposedly progressive place like Portland, Oregon almost everybody has a car and relies on one to get around. Food for thought. Leave a comment.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130128-the-future-of-urban-transport/2


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What continues to be the most eco-friendly mode of transport? The bicycle!

Now, with the innovation of the $20 cardboard bicycle, people from all of over the world have a greater opportunity to get their hands on one of man's greatest modes of personal transportation. The bicycle is made from all recycled material and as any good gardener knows cardboard can be used to improve soils in raised beds. Three cheers for low-cost sustainable solutions!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/10/15/162949884/for-about-20-cardboard-bicycle-could-change-the-world-inventor-says



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