Public Transit Gets Personal
[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 5, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Thursday, August 5th, 2010Would you trade your car for this kind of personalized point to point mass transit?
 Okay. Maybe they’ll have to sex up the look a little. This DOES look kind of like an external hard drive for your Mac. |
As someone who for most of his adult life has thought of the personal automobile as one of the stupidest inventions in the history of mankind, I’m always looking for a convincing alternative to present to my oil-addicted car owner friends. It doesn’t help when clever Chinese engineers come up with creative but ultimately nutty ideas like huge rail-dependent “straddle buses” that cars can drive under (video below). And while the Commutapult is one creative idea for personal rapid transit, it’s perhaps a bit too rapid. Even if they do provide a stabilizer for your latte, as pictured here. In spite of the humor of that concept, the fact is that Personal Rapid Transit is probably the smartest, most viable idea out there that has any hope of replacing the automobile, or in some cases – like with the Synchrotrain concept – partially replacing it, while incorporating a sensible way for cars to ride piggyback. Personal Rapid Transit concepts are probably the only mass-transit ideas that have any hope of addressing that one big obstacle to public acceptance, i.e.: our ego-driven need to go where we want, when we want. There are a number of systems in various stages of planning and construction, and two systems actually in or near operation, one at Heathrow Airport and one in Morgantown, West Virginia. There are also arguments against the viability of these systems, but it seems fairly obvious to me that most who oppose the idea vehemently overlook what recent technology and innovative thinking can bring to the mix. What do you think? Would you give up your car to ride these things? Videos of various concepts below. Read the rest of this entry »
The Reality Of Green Realty
[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 8, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Thursday, July 8th, 2010When location, location, location might translate to off the grid, underground, in a shipping container.
 I might draw the line at actually living underground. |
I mentioned recently that a friend had scoffed at my dream of building a fully wired, off the grid home. Well, I figure if the US government can do it, anyone can. And I won’t be building a 222,000-square-foot facility like the one in that article. I’m shooting for something much smaller, though certainly not as small as say, an Ecopod, as cool as prefab and container-based designs like this can be. I’m planning to build from the ground up, which runs the risk of having a greater initial resource footprint, something I hope to offset by making the home so amazingly zero energy and integrated into the local environment – though not so integrated as to be literally underground – that this will be irrelevant in the long run. I have the good fortune to be on a ten year plan, and very willing to relocate, so I don’t anticipate this being an insurmountable problem. But obvious important factors will include finding the ideal location, selecting the best materials, and working with the best designers and builders, things I will definitely take the time doing as I assemble a business plan to seek funding. If you’re thinking about pursuing a green building venture yourself, there’s a wealth of information out there. For some starting points check out GreenYour.com’s How to Choose a Green Realtor, which has some good basic info that can help you assess if a realtor is really green, or just using green as a pitch. For a really in-depth look at whether you want to build new or renovate, where to build, materials to use, and even advice about considering the local community as much as your actual building site, check out this EPA Green Building page. And to find certified professionals and learn more about what their certs mean, check out Green Home Guide’s Find a Pro If you have any tips of your own, feel free to share. I have more daydreaming to do.
Why I Won’t Live Where The Sun Don’t Shine
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on July 2, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Friday, July 2nd, 2010Wherever the wind blows me is where I’ll be settling down. Thinking about going off the grid? Here are some handy tools for finding the best place to exploit renewable energy sources.
I mentioned to a friend today that I was doing more research for my plan to build a wired, off-the-grid home, and he nearly spit out his coffee. I asked him what he thought was so bloody funny, and he looked first at my cell phone – which had just been ringing – and then at my laptop, and then at my face, smirking. Which all somehow was meant to imply that I was some rabid technophiliac that had a device for everything, and was always using it, and that I’d need solar panels covering an area the size of the Sahara to effectively go solar. Which I imagine is a common misconception about living “green” and “wired” at the same time. The fact is, in spite of having a computer on ALL THE TIME at home, I only use an average of about 9kWh a day, which is about a third of the national average. How do I do it? I never use AC, I have a small, energy efficient fridge, and I use lights only as needed. I also take in most of my video entertainment on the computer instead of the typical TV/DVD/Cable setup many people use. My usage would go up a bit if I had a washer and dryer in my apartment, but I bet I could still keep it well under the 30kWh a day that is the national average. So enough defensive tooting of my energy miser horn, the fact is that a lot of this is irrelevant, because I’m planning a house from the ground up, and basing my decision for where to live partly on the feasibility of wind and solar power. So how feasible is it to generate your own power and get off the grid? If you want to stay in an urban area, you have some challenges ahead, but it’s obviously a simple equation between your energy consumption, and how much you can generate. Duh. So how much can you generate? That obviously depends completely on where you live, but how do you determine how much to rely on wind, and how much to rely on solar wherever you live? That’s where we’re in luck, because compared to even a year or two ago, there’s a wealth of information out there to help you. Start out by figuring out your usage using a tool like the Lawrence Berkeley Labs’ Home Energy Calculator. And once you have a realistic handle on your usage, the best resources for taking an in-depth look at solar and wind resources nationwide are probably the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Solar Maps and the Department of Energy’s Wind Powering America Wind Resource Potential Estimates site, respectively. And if – as I am – you’re basing your choice on where to settle on the resources available, you might give also give some thought to MicroHydro. In our next piece we’ll be looking at real estate issues and site selection. Looks like I’ll see you in the Southwest, if the maps below are any indication. Read the rest of this entry »
Clean & Greenbacked: Grants For Green Building
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on June 26, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Saturday, June 26th, 2010I want to live in an off the grid, wired home. And have someone else pay for it.
I decided a few years ago to take the plunge of home ownership, and immediately realized a couple of things. The first was that I would never be happy living in 99% of existing pre-built homes. They’re simply not “green” enough or “wired” enough for my tastes. The second was that I don’t want to live in a building that is simply a big symbol of the decades of debt that lie ahead. My solution? As someone in need of a career change who has worked from a home office for over a decade, the only sensible approach I could see was to make the building of my home a business in itself. I’ve done a lot of casual research over the last two years, and recently decided to hunker down and get to work. First up: FUNDING. The Obama administration campaigned pretty heavily on green issues, so as I research the best locations and building solutions, I’m going to coordinate those plans with as many green building and renewable energy subsidies as possible. To that end, I’ve been compiling some resources, and thought I’d share them here. In upcoming pieces I’ll share information I’ve found on things like wind and solar resource potential by state, and green building resources and strategies. But to get started, below are some government funding resources I’ll be exploring. Please share any resources you may be aware of yourself, I’ll take all the help I can get! Read the rest of this entry »
Mean Green Machines
[ Comments Off ]Posted on June 20, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Sunday, June 20th, 2010Now available in two, four, and eight wheeled versions.
 Photo: Amadeus Photography via PopSci.com |
If you love the growl of a high-performance race car engine, this round up of cars that do 0-60MPH in less than 4 seconds will have little appeal for you. We’re sorry to inform you petrol addicts that these vehicles also won’t be contributing to any of those oil spills you seem so fond of. Just ten years ago, the idea of a stylish, high performance electric car or motorcycle still seemed a bit far-fetched. But as our oil-addicted culture sputters into the 21st century, the number of sexy electrics available is expanding rapidly. You may have heard of the innovative Tesla, which has an even brighter future now that Toyota is getting involved. Toyota’s decision makers were impressed with Tesla’s commitment to Monozukuri, which is part of the origin of Toyota’s 70 year philosophy of “contributing to the society through the manufacture of automobiles”. But Tesla’s not the only electric on the block these days. Finally, you can make a list called World’s Top 10 Fastest Electric Cars. And if the Shelby SuperCars Aero EV (no relation to this super car by Shelby) is for real, there’s some astounding innovation going on; they claim a 150-200 mile range from a mere 10 minute recharge on a standard 110V outlet. Some people have their doubts, but remember, it was just over a hundred years ago that people were calling those two guys in North Carolina crackpots for saying people could fly. This new focus on sexy, high performance EV’s isn’t limited to autos though. The MotoCzysz – a racing bike by American motorcycle developer Michael Czysz – just took a title in the legendary Isle of Man bike race, and Mission Motors lays claim to “Fastest Production Electric Motorcycle in the World” with their Mission One Superbike which can “pop wheelies” at 70MPH. And finally, if two or four wheels don’t strike your fancy, how about eight? The Eliica may look strange, but pulls a faster 0-60 than a Porsche 911 Turbo, and the designers intend to use it to break existing land speed record for street legal vehicles. Read the rest of this entry »