ecobites.com

Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

They are already being used on a few magnetic levitation trains, where very cold magnets hover over tracks and can reach speeds of more than 240 MPH / 400 kilometres per hour.

For personal travel, a team at the University of Tasmania has created a hybrid scooter that uses a combination of battery power and ethanol fuel. While the approach is not new, the team has developed a system that can be retro-fitted to existing scooters, dramatically reducing fuel consumption and emissions.

A scooter equipped with the additional gear can travel 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) on only 17 Litres / 4 gal. of fuel.

Less Pollution - Get rid of old autos

The Hummer may be a symbol of everything environmentalists hate, but there's one part of it that could win a "much improved" award -- the tailpipe. Although the Hummer guzzles gas like a supertanker, it also benefits from modern emissions control technology.The average new car emits only a 10th as many hydrocarbons as the average car on the road, and a 20th of 1960s cars. A 1962 VW Bug undoubtedly causes more smog than a 2008 Ford Expedition.

Hypermiling Increasing our mileage by simple adjustments can add up to huge savings for our wallets and collectively, the environment. Green travel by driving less and driving with fuel economy in mind. Hypermile in any car, whether it’s a Suburu Forrester, a Prius or heck, even a Hummer -  take out the golf clubs, and any extraneous weight, make sure tires are pumped up fully, and change the air filter and keep the oil change and service up to date.

Many of the principles behind hypermiling like coasting, slow acceleration, limited braking can conserve fuel.

Travel 'green' by slowing down to 60 MPH and riding your bike and using public transport more. Drive less and drive with fuel economy in mind. Turning off the car at train crossings, or when stuck in a traffic jam.

Put less miles on the car and use foot and pedal power for short distances and public transport for longer distances.
 

Hurrah, hurrah, for the merry wheel. With tyres of rubber and spokes of steel ...

The bicycle boom of the 1890's conjures up a vision of husky young men with tweed caps and handlebar moustaches hurtling through sleepy villages and towns terrifying old ladies and horses. Now bicycles are back in vogue, for the very reason that they provide a real and non-polluting alternative to the motor car.

Because they are efficient and built on a human scale they make little demand on materials and energy sources - and they are healthy!

It was John Evelyn, who wrote on gardens and the life of the times, who first spoke, in 1665, of friends at Epsom who made a "wheele for one to run races in".

The bicycle evolved from the wooden "hobby horse" of the British fops to the French velocipede ("bone shaker") of 1863, then to the penny Farthing of the 1870's, with pedals directly fixed to the hub of the front wheel.

It reached its "standard" shape shortly after, ironically, the popularity of the bicycle opened up the country roads, paving the way for the car.

Bicycle technology played an important part in the evolution of the ball-bearing, pneumatic tyres, the motorcycle, aeroplane, battery lamp and the car itself.

Henry Ford's first car used bicycle wheels and chains, the Wright Brothers were bicycle makers, so were Leyland, Hillman, Morris and Olds.

The bicycle also played an early role in the liberation of women, clearing the way for "bloomers" and "sensible clothing" which allowed free movement for women cyclists.

To quote from S.S. Wilson, Scientific American, march 1973: "It (the bicycle) uses the right muscles (those of the thighs, the most powerful in the body) in the right motion (a smooth rotary action of the feet) at the right speed (60 to 80 revolutions per minute). Such a design must transmit power efficiently (by means of ball-bearings and the bush roller chain): it must minimise rolling resistance (by means of the pneumatic tyre), and it must be the minimum weight in order to reduce the effort of pedalling uphill".

Bikes are made for people. What we need now are special cycleways, to escape the dangers of cars, pleasant cycle trails through parks and forests, bicycle parking areas and easy bike transport on trains, bus and ferry.

The Netherlands are well equipped with cycle-paths and other segregated cycle facilities. The network stretches to all provinces, and the bordering nations - Belgium and Germany. The country values its cycleways as much as any other method of transportation - like a network of roads, these cycleways can take one from any city to a destination of choice - even long distances such as from Maastricht to Amsterdam. As a result, the quality of these cycleways is very high, and cycling at considerable speed is possible. These cycleways come in many forms, with their own sets of rules and systems - including traffic signals (or traffic lights), tunnels and lanes.
Source: wikipedia

The combination of bicycle and public transport can work to the benefit of both, by increasing the range of the bicycle and making public transport more accessible, thus reducing the need for the car, and also providing more flexibility.

Such multimodal transport should be encouraged:

Bicycle carriage on buses and trains should be facilitated.

There must be safe and clearly signposted access routes for bicycles to all train stations, airports and ports.

Secure long-term and convenient short-term bicycle parking must be provided at major transport interchanges.

Establishment of bicycle hire at train and bus stations should be encouraged.

No discrimination against bicycles on ferries. "Car package" deals must be available to bicycle users on at least equal terms. Ferry companies should not be allowed to ban bicycles on their vessels as some now do.

More cyclists will reduce the amount of traffic. Therefore, we need to make cycling safer.

We need to divert funds from roads to cycling infrastructure.

We need to reduce road rage by motorists towards cyclists.