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If you build bike paths, cyclists will come

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Posted in Anchor, bigo, FF, G & F, GE, LG, ONA, Safer, solar, Uncategorized | Tagged cities, cycling, health, journal, minneapolis, minneapolis greenway, number, obesity-society, science, solar | Comments Off

You know it’s good when your biggest transportation problem is too many cyclists

by CharlesLabarber Posted on October 20, 2014

You know it’s good when your biggest transportation problem is too many cyclists

By Amelia Urry

20 Oct 2014 6:11 PM

You know it’s good when your biggest transportation problem is too many cyclists

It must be nice to be Dutch: While the rest of us are dealing with ensuring reasonable access to reproductive healthcare and violent seasonal pumpkin festivals, in the Netherlands, people are taking to the streets to protest poor bike traffic planning.

While we’ve fretted about the possibility that there are TOO MANY bikers in the Low Country before, the truth is more complicated than that.

Citylab’s Sarah Goodyear points out that despite our utopian mental images of happy Dutchmen gleefully coasting along their superior bike infrastructure, even the most advanced of biking societies still have logistical speed bumps to work out when it comes to bike traffic. Case in point: In Utrecht, where an estimated third of trips are taken on two wheels, certain intersections have cyclists waiting so long for a green that some of them have just started running the light. And then the police started doing what they do best: writing tickets. The resulting backup last week was more than 100 bikers deep and rattled the city to its polite and measured core.

So last week, volunteers from the local chapter of Cyclists’ Union broke out the radical tools of social change — sweet rolls and pamphlets — to soothe their impatient compatriots and gently called attention to another of the poorly designed intersections last week. And it’s working! A day after the first incident, city planners conceded that the traffic signal’s timing was off, and readjusted it to cycle more cyclists through faster.

In the U.S., where cars vs. bikes sometimes feels like a physical battle of wheels more than a civil battle of wills, it’s nice to see what can happen when a large number of people ask nicely for a thing that will make their lives better. I don’t mean to go all Kumbaya on you here … so I’ll let Goodyear do it for me:

As the number of people riding bicycles on the streets and roads of the United States and other countries continues to rise, the need to create better infrastructure only becomes more apparent. That includes better bike-specific signal timing and bike-specific regulations such as the Idaho stop (which allows bikes to treat stop signs as yield signs).

Change is possible, even though it may take time. Someday, more places will be lucky enough to have Utrecht’s problems — and, one would hope, also its willingness to find solutions.

Source:
What We Can Learn from a Dutch Bike Traffic Jam

, CityLab.

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Posted in alo, Anchor, Everyone, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, solar, solar panels, Uncategorized | Tagged alo, anchor, cities, country, dutch, first, g & f, local, number, Ona, source | Comments Off

A Place With the Population of West Virginia Just Powered A Work Day Entirely on Clean Energy

by LatriceVaught Posted on October 14, 2014

Mother Jones

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Here’s one for the naysayers who insist renewable energy can’t keep the lights on and power our cities. An entire state in Australia with a population of around 1.7 million people just used renewable energy to meet 100 percent of its electricity needs throughout an entire working day. According to industry news site Energy Business News:

Between 9.30 and 6pm on Tuesday, September 30, a day not unlike most Tuesdays, with business and homes using electricity as usual, the state received the favourable weather conditions allowing solar and wind infrastructure to work side by side to achieve the impressive achievement.

The analysis comes from Pitt & Sherry, an Australian energy consultancy. As the wind picked up, all but two of the state’s coal-fired power generators, and one gas-powered unit, were shut down; the excess power was exported to other regions, according to the report. There were a few moments during the previous days—on September 27 and 28—when the state actually produced more wind power than the state’s total energy demand. Normally, nearly a third of the state’s energy comes from renewable sources, according to figures from 2012 to 2013.

South Australia, home to the city of Adelaide, has almost half of the country’s wind capacity; 25 percent of its households have rooftop solar installations, according to the report. The state is aggressively pursuing green energy goals, upping its 2025 renewable energy commitment from 33 percent to 50 percent, having met its previous goal six years ahead of schedule.

This is despite the conservative federal government under Prime Minister Tony Abbott threatening to gut a national renewable energy target, having already defunded several government agencies responsible for the country’s climate change policies. In July, Australia became the world’s first developed nation to repeal a carbon tax.

All of that policy uncertainty is having an impact on the renewable energy sector in Australia. Investment has virtually frozen in a land famous for being bathed in sun. Recent data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance shows Australia is on track to record its lowest level of financing for big renewable projects since 2002, dropping the country from the 11th largest investor to 31st in Bloomberg’s rankings. In the third quarter of this year, investment was down 78 percent from the same time last year.

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A Place With the Population of West Virginia Just Powered A Work Day Entirely on Clean Energy

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, green energy, LAI, LG, ONA, PUR, Radius, solar, solar power, Uncategorized, Venta, wind energy, wind power | Tagged adelaide, cities, climate desk, conservative, investment, radius, solar power, venta, wind energy | Comments Off

Michael Bloomberg, Now a U.N. Climate Envoy, Presses the Case for Urban Action

by Myrna Posted on September 19, 2014

Michael Bloomberg, a mayor turned U.N. climate envoy, explains what cities can do to blunt climate change and its impacts. Source article: Michael Bloomberg, Now a U.N. Climate Envoy, Presses the Case for Urban Action ; ; ;

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Michael Bloomberg, Now a U.N. Climate Envoy, Presses the Case for Urban Action

Posted in alternative energy, eco-friendly, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, Monterey, ONA, PUR, Ringer, solar, solar power, Uncategorized | Tagged channel, cities, clean energy, games, global warming, lord, manhattan, monks, new york city, space | Comments Off

Walk to work — you’ll be happier

by SergioBiraban Posted on August 21, 2014

Walk to work — you’ll be happier

By Sara Bernard

20 Aug 2014 8:59 PM

Walk to work — you’ll be happier

A recent survey from Montreal’s McGill University suggests that people who walk or take the train to the McGill campus are more satisfied with their daily commutes than those who do anything else.

Makes sense: If you walk or take the train, you’re not a slave to traffic. Ride the train, and you can even use your commute to get work done. That explains why walkers and train riders expressed 85 and 84 percent commute satisfaction, respectively.

But the discrepancies between the other modes of transportation are where things get interesting. Look at cyclists (82 percent satisfaction) and bus riders (75.5 percent), for example.

From City Lab:

Travel time accounts for much of the difference between the two tiers. Longer travel time led to lower satisfaction whatever the mode, but walkers, train riders, and cyclists were the least affected by time variables. … The satisfaction of drivers and bus riders also took a hit with additional “budgeted” trip time, likely on account of unpredictable traffic. …

While cyclists only budgeted 5 extra minutes a day for trip delays, bus riders budgeted 14 minutes. That’s more than an hour a week set aside by bus riders just to be sure they aren’t late for work.

Still, 75.5 percent satisfaction for those bus riders isn’t bad. Who knows, maybe people in Canada are just happier, no matter how they get to work.

Source:
Which Mode of Travel Provides the Happiest Commute?

, City Lab.

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Posted in Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Pines, solar, Uncategorized | Tagged article, canada, cities, count, g & f, montreal, solar, train, walk-or-take, which, while | Comments Off

Pittsburgh’s kale-lovers crying after another loss to the frackers

by MartyWhitehouse Posted on August 15, 2014

Pittsburgh’s kale-lovers crying after another loss to the frackers

By Eve Andrews

15 Aug 2014 7:30 PM

Pittsburgh’s kale-lovers crying after another loss to the frackers

About three weeks ago, we wrote about a natural gas compressor station that was proposed adjacent to one of the Pittsburgh area’s old guard organic farms. Don and Becky Kretschmann, the owners of the farm, argued that toxins associated with the natural gas processing could threaten Kretschmann Farm’s organic certification.

The Kretschmanns fought against it, the community came together to support them, and hundreds of urban CSA customers wrote in to the town’s board of supervisors to oppose the infrastructure. It was beautiful! But like many well-intentioned things, it failed.

On Thursday evening, the New Sewickley Township supervisors voted unanimously in favor of installing the compressor.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

“I feel the decision was very well thought out and followed the letter of the law. The ordinance and everything was handled very well,” said Duane Rape, the supervisors board chairman, who abstained from both the deliberations and the vote because of potential conflict of interest concerns. He has leased the shale gas under his property.

First the airport, now the asparagus? Is nothing sacred? The true test will come when natural gas deposits are discovered under Heinz Field.

Source:
New Sewickley supervisors OK Marcellus Shale gas compressor

, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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