Hybrid Living

Crossposted from Carectomy.com

Taiwanese inventor Peng Yu-Lun has an innovative idea to make train transportation even more efficient: get rid of the stops. No, he’s not proposing that passengers are thrown on and off of fast-moving trains or that passengers are eliminated from the equation altogether. Instead, Yu-Lun envisions a small separated car perched atop the train. When the train enters a station, this car slides along on elevated rails that smoothly and gradually remove the car from the rest of the train and bring it to a stop.

Another identical car travels from these elevated tracks and gradually slides along the top of the train to pick up speed for boarding passengers. The end result: a train with no need to stop at stations.

Check out the video demonstration below, in Taiwanese, of what such a train would look like:

Sure, regenerative braking – the process that converts the energy typically wasted as heat when slowing down and storing it as electrical power in batteries – is a terrific energy saving solution. Many hybrid cars, such as the Prius, use regenerative braking and it’s starting to appear aboard hybrid diesel/electric trains as well. But more efficient still is to maintain your momentum and dispense with a train’s need to make stops.

Huge amounts of power go into bringing an entire train’s mass to a halt at stations and then reaccelerating it back up to speed. By keeping the main portion of the train on the move, the energy savings could be huge.

Via Boing Boing.

Completing the Circle: Gas at the Pump, War in Iraq, and Global Warming

The war in Iraq, originally known as O.I.L. (Operation Iraqi Liberation, that is) recently passed its fifth anniversary. Oil Change International recently published a study that quantifies the greenhouse gas emissions from the Iraq War as well as some of the environmental opportunity costs.

Bicing Takes Barcelona By Storm

In its first two months, Bicing, a bike-sharing program in Barcelona, Spain, garnered over 30,000 subscribers. The program’s popularity has only grown, which is good news for new bike-sharing programs in Washington D.C. and San Francisco.

All Aboard for National Train Day

May 10th marks the first edition of National Train Day, a celebration of trains, tracks, mass transit, and efficient travel. The date is significant as the anniversary of the joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways in Utah 1869 – which created the US’ first transcontinental railroad.

Valley Girl Decries Car Culture

The Los Angeles’ Times "Emerald City" blog recently ran a great post illustrating how Southern California turned from sunny citrus paradise to car-choked hell. Cassandra Davis mixes an historical account of the evolution of car culture in SoCal with her own firsthand experiences growing up as a Valley Girl.

HGTV “Green Home”: Complete with Gas Guzzling SUV!

Has greenwashing hit a new low? HGTV has completely missed the point of what it means to be sustainable with their new Green Home Giveaway sweepstakes.

The winner gets a fancy “green” home in Hiton Head, SC complete with energy efficient appliances, eco-floors, amenities, doo-dads, etc.; a membership to the local water-sucking, pesticide-spewing golf course; and a hybrid SUV. Of course all of these prizes are carefully branded and marketed through the HGTV programming.

“Bicycle City”: Perfection, Sans Picket Fences?

“Bicycle City” sounds like a place I’d like to live. By planners’ description, its “highlights” include a “walkable, urban design; vibrant local economy; eco-friendly, sustainable design; organic farming; human-powered transportation; strong and diverse community, active healthy lifestyle.” By contrast to most urban areas, Bicycle City doesn’t have “pollution, traffic jams, parking lots, national franchises, strip malls, stress, chemicals, or ‘cookie cutter’ ” designs.

Glastonbury Festival Celebrates Green Transport

The annual Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is encouraging concertgoers to leave their cars at home. A full third of people attending the three day celebration (akin to Woodstock, but in the English countryside) will commute by public transport (including via coach and rail) and Festival organizers are encouraging all who attend to car-share, if they must commute by vehicle. “The aim is to reduce the number of cars which come to the festival,” organizers say.

Cars Cause a Scentless Spring

Cars have made us fat, diseased, cash-strapped, and disconnected from one another and ourselves. Now, thanks to air pollution caused by cars and power plants, we don’t even have the scent of flowers to appreciate. As National Geographic reports, the potency of the smell of flowers has been reduced by as much as 90%.

Heyyyy, Ladies: The Perils and Pitfalls for Femi-Cyclists

We’ve addressed most run-of-the-mill safety issues that surround cycling here on Carectomy, like keeping a wary eye out for reckless drivers, following traffic laws, using hand signals, wearing bright lights at night, and protecting your noggin’—in essence, the basics. But we have yet to cover one issue that, to me, appears more pressing—and which is tough to protect against: the inherent vulnerability of being a woman on her bicycle.

Celebrate Earth Day Sans Car

What better way to celebrate Earth Day, an annual shindig for the environment on April 22, than to ditch your car, give the atmosphere a break, and stretch your legs a bit? For Earth Day 2008, we at Carectomy beseech you to take a look at what life can be like outside of cars.

Where Do Tires Go When They Die?

Without any tutorial or illustrated manual, I managed to bust the bolts from my wheel with the socket wrench and was able to screw on the spare. At the tire shop the next day, the dude behind the desk told me how much it would cost (I’m convinced that cars, between the cost of unforeseen repairs and gas prices, keep people in debt), and casually inquired if I wanted to keep my tires.

“What would I do with them?” I asked. “Besides make a tire swing?”

EcoTownz And Cloverleaf City Utopia

Chris Bingham recently asked us to take a look at his websites devoted to the designs of EcoTownz and Cloverleaf Cities. When I came across this tagline, it was clear that more Carectomy-investigation was needed: “Eco-towns should aim to cut car use as much as possible. Instead they should be promoting walking, cycling and public transport. Of everything listed here, transport has the greatest potential for improving quality of life.” Amen, brother!

Eight Ways to Overcome Excuses and Start Cycling

You haven’t yet begun bike commuting, but you’ve considered it. What’s putting the brakes on your brilliant plans? A handful of good excuses that have made cycling to work a mere pipe dream. But, whatever your reason for continuing to take the car, there’s likely a simple means to make bike commuting an efficient, reliable, and sustainable way to get to work. Here are eight common (however, lame) excuses—and how to overcome them with chutzpah. Prepare to dust off your helmet.

Birmingham’s Big City Plan

Leader of the Birmingham, UK City Council Mike Whitby commissioned a study to move the city towards sustainability and revitalize the city centre. Dubbed the “Big City Plan,” the goals include decreasing the city’s carbon emissions by 60% by 2026, revamping mass transit systems, and moving the city towards self-sufficiency with livable and walkable neighborhoods, local produce and products sold locally, and homegrown industries to support the residents.

Paris-Roubaix Inspires Commuters?

Paris-Roubaix is a “hard man’s race.” If you never realized that cycling is one of the world’s toughest sports – check it out. The event is so over-the-top difficult that it can’t help but inspire everyday cyclists to stop making excuses and get out and ride.

Greening the Concrete Jungle

Asphalt gardening is growing in popularity, as more green-thumbed urbanites reclaim the concrete and break ground to turn parking spots into lush, green space.

To Make Cities “Resilient,” Reduce Car Travel

The goal for modern cities, as environmental scientist Peter Newman describes it, is to move beyond “sustainability” to “resiliency.” The model of constant consumption needs to stop and cities need to be constructed in such a manner as to make this possible.

One of Newman’s main targets is a decrease in oil consumption and, not surprisingly, minimizing the use of cars. Building of suburbs should be scrapped in favor of denser urban settings than enable mass transit, walking, and biking.

U.S. Car Sales Crash in 2008

In the short span of one year, car sales in the United States have come crashing down–and the change is significant. Industry giants Chrysler and General Motors sold 19 percent less automobiles in March 2008 than they did in March of 2007, according to sales reports. Ford isn’t faring much better, with sales that are down 14 percent. Meanwhile, Toyota is still hanging on with a mere 10 percent drop.

Introducing Hummer H8: The Earth F@#ker

Tired of tip-toeing around the Hummer’s inherent incongruity with things like caring for the planet, giving a damn about anyone’s safety, or working towards national energy self-reliance, the auto manufacturer has officially proclaimed*, “Screw it!”

Diesel Exhaust Hurts Your Brain

New research indicates that exposure to diesel exhaust may cause long-term damage to brain function. The study, conducted by Particle & Fibre Toxicology, tracked the effects of the nanoparticles found in diesel exhaust.

America Ends its Affair With Autos

Last Saturday, Lady Liberty formally announced that her long-standing affair with the automobile was over, once and for all. The original Miss America decided to call it off in honor of the New York Auto Show, with support from her friends at Streetsblog.

Streetsblog staged the event, dubbed “The End of The Affair,” at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan, where the auto show is held annually.

In California, it Pays Not to Park

If someone paid you to park your car at home and find an alternate way to get to work, would you take the money and run? Angelenos and commuters throughout California are cashing in on a new program that pays them to take transit or their own two legs, instead of their cars.

Ethanol Production is Spreading the Dead Zone

The large “dead zone” that grows in the Gulf of Mexico every summer is nothing new. The toxic runoff of nitrogen fertilizer used on conventional crops in the Midwest leads to a huge swathe of sea that is incapable of sustaining life.

Corn is the biggest culprit in creating these environments, and now that the U.S. is looking to biofuels as a solution to its energy needs, the problem’s only getting worse. Bush signed legislation at the end of 2007 that will triple the amount of corn ethanol produced over the next several years.

New York City Council Approves Congestion Pricing

On Monday, the New York City Council voted to in favor of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposal to introduce congestion pricing on the clogged streets of Gotham. The measure passed in a 30-20 vote. It’s up to state legislators in Albany to pass the plan before it can be implemented. If Albany does approve the measure, the city would be eligible for $354 million in federal grants for improvements to existing mass transit.

The Green Car is a Myth

We at Carectomy have become fond of the expression that “the greenest car is the one you don’t drive”; Tom Konrad referred to us in his article for AltEnergy Stocks when he stated, “A Carectomy is Better than a Better Car”; Eco-Chick pointed out that the Smartest Car is Still Worse than the Dumbest Bike; and the country of Norway went so far as to proclaim it illegal for car manufacturers to use the words “green,” clean,” or “environmentally friendly” in any car advertisements.

DIY Electric Car asks, and answers, the questions: Are super-efficient or alternative-fuel cars eco-friendly? Can a car be green?

Walking Tours Provide Context

The best way to experience any travel destination isn’t behind the glass of an air-conditioned tour bus: it’s on foot, moving slowly, with your eyes, ears, and nose taking in the essence of the place. That’s the idea behind Context Travel, a company that compares its tours to small seminars in a liberal arts college classroom.

Trendsetting Japanese Teens Choose iPods Over Cars

While, Stateside, suburban soccer moms may still be plowing down narrow streets with their wide-berth S.U.V.s, a new generation of Japanese have deemed the car superfluous. The Wall Street Journal reports that many young Japanese have decided not to use a car, because it’s just not necessary.

Proof that “San Jose Hates Pedestrians”

San José hates pedestrians—at least, according to a web site by the same name. The site offers photographic evidence of its slogan: “San José: where cars matter more than people.”

AAA Study: Cars, Congestion, Cost, and Carnage

The American Automobile Association (AAA) just published a remarkable study quantifying the economic impacts of both congestion and car crashes. The study looks at 85 metropolitan areas of various sizes across the U.S. Crash costs across the board dwarfed costs associated with congestion. The larger cities lost less to crashes, more to congestion – a ratio of 1.85 to 1 with the average person losing $962 to crashes and $523 to congestion annually…

The Great Car Commuter Challenge

If you’ve ever wondered how the other side lives, here’s your chance to find out. The Nova Channel, “the world’s first online television channel dedicated to transport,” challenged car commuters to use the passenger rail, instead of their cars, to get to work. Their short, documentary film follows Halifax commuter Julian McEvoy as he alternately uses the passenger rail and his car to travel to work. The side-by-side comparison of these two commutes is conclusive in its findings.

Foreclosures Rockin’ the Suburbs, Now “Slums”

Greedy developers have grubbed the last of the land that surrounds many sprawling “urban” centers, and countless Americans commute an hour or more to-and-from their suburban McMansions daily. However, with the real estate market turning ugly, developers seem to have slowed their progress. People, it seems, are starting to take the hint that living in the ‘burbs and beyond just isn’t sustainable—not for their planet or their lifestyle.

Californians on Low-CARB Diet in 2009

California is putting itself on a new low-CARB diet—and it’s not part of the Atkins Revolution. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is issuing new regulations and ratings on vehicle emissions, which require manufacturers to provide and display new global warming information on cars’ smog index sticker. The global warming information will debut in 2009.

Drive Your Computer – Not Your Car

Modern technology has made it increasingly easier to conduct business from anywhere, yet as Christian Renaud, a Cisco executive, asks, “So why do people still hop on cross-country flights for two-hour face-to-face meetings instead of using rich collaboration technologies like video conferencing, voice over the Internet and virtual worlds?”

Albuquerque Gives Residents A Free Ride

In spite of Albuquerque’s low-riding love affair, the city is trying to step up its public transit. It’s introduced D-RIDE, a free bus service that travels a popular circuit through the downtown area. The problem? D-RIDE covers all of six city blocks—which, by my standards, are short and totally walkable. (Planners might be wise to improve transportation throughout the city, instead of investing in a tiny and unnecessary upgrade. Then again, some free transit is better than none.) The D-RIDE also connects to the downtown transit center, where commuters can hop aboard after a ride on the new Rail Runner train.

Blumenauer Introduces the National Bike Bill

On March 4th, thousands of cyclists gathered in support of biking at the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. They threw their collective weight behind Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and his National Bike Bill, which “recogniz[es] the importance of bicycling in transportation and recreation.”

Put on Your Walking Shoes, Generate Some Power

It has become clear that we need to figure out greener, renewable sources of energy. Well, what if we could produce our own damned power? Walking’s about as carectomy-friendly as it gets. Below are some concepts in the works that will allow us to crank out some electricity while keeping healthy, happy, and pollution-free out on our strolls.