MPG Now Almost as important as CPV

the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard! it just doesn't make sense to me~~~

for your information:
MPG= miles per gallon
CPV= cup holders per vehicle

MPG Now Almost as important as CPV

by Andrew Posner, Rhode Island, USA on 02.23.08

Here at treehugger we often talk about miles per gallon, be it in the form of an efficient, sporty diesel car, a souped down 1959 Opel, a modified hybrid or a plug-in hybrid, to name a few. Our interest in MPG is rooted in economic, geopolitical and environmental concerns. After years of struggling to gain traction, we now have new CAFE standards and MPG is finally becoming a more important part of what consumers look for in a new vehicle. In fact, General Motors says "buyers now rate fuel economy as third among reasons to buy a GM vehicle (behind styling and value). " However, for all the talk of miles per gallon, a CNW Marketing Research Study found that CPV (cup holders per vehicle) is still more important to consumers than efficiency. According to CNW

"interior conveniences like heated seats and cup holders are higher in priority (73%) for shoppers than fuel efficiency (67%). Mike J. Jackson, chief executive of AutoNation, the country's largest public dealer network, with 322 stores in 16 states, sees this all the time. And he says consumers may talk fuel efficiency, but they don't necessarily buy it."

We should, however, take the CNW study with a grain of salt, as they are the same folks that prepared a dubious life cycle analysis claiming that Hummers used less energy than the Prius.

With that caveat in mind, the article goes on to argue it isn't that people aren't interested in fuel economy, it's just that "they just don't want to pay for it, and they don't want to give up anything they have--horsepower, speed and size." The solution, according to Mr. Jackson, is to "increase the price of gasoline--give them (consumers) an economic incentive to buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle. Sixty percent of consumers [consider] hybrids. Two percent buy one. What happened? They literally take the back of an envelope and say, 'A hybrid costs X, gas costs X, it'll take ten years to get my money back. Show me something else.'"

What do you think, readers: is that will it will take? Or will the cost of more efficient technology come down enough over time to render the argument moot?

protesting about climate change_reduce size of airport

Heathrow Protesters Breach Security

by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 02.25.08

From mock billboards to the Camp for Climate Action, Heathrow Airport has been the scene of a number of climate-related protests. As far as we know, however, today may be the first time that campaigners have gone as far as breaching airport security and climbing on top of an airplane to voice their anger at expansion plans. According to the BBC, four protestors were arrested this morning unfurling a banner on top of an Airbus A320:

“…two women and two men crossed the tarmac at the airport after the passengers had disembarked. One protester, Anna Jones, said: "Our planet and the people who live on it are in danger. Climate change can be beaten but not by almost doubling the size of the airport. We are here to draw a line in the sand and tell Gordon Brown his new runway must not and will not be built.”

Interesting times at Heathrow. We're pretty sure this move will generate a predictably split response in the environmental community - from those who see this as a necessary escalation of tactics in the fight against climate change, to others who fear it will play into the hands of those who see greenies as dangerous radicals. Whether Greenpeace's tactics were justified or not, this is a worrying indication of how easy it is to get past airport security. Here’s Greenpeace’s version of events.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/heathrow_protes.php

How to Green Your Public Transportation

Facts and tipping points about how to green your public transportation:
due to the article is too long, I put up the link under

How to Green Your Public Transportation

by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 10.19.06

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/10/how_to_green_yo_1.php

due to the article is too long, I put up the link

That's Folding! Cube's Urban Street Concept Bike

more space for your garage...

That's Folding! Cube's Urban Street Concept Bike

by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 02.25.08

We love folding bikes. Because they remove one of the arguments about taking up cycling; “I don’t have any room for a bicycle.” Here is a folding bike concept to would give short shrift to that excuse, were it ever to transition into a real world commercial product. Gregor Dauth, a student at the Coburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany has worked with Cube bikes to develop his Urban Street Concept Bike. Gregor reckons you can fold up his full size bike to fit in a Smart car. Continue folding it like the blades of a Swiss Army Knife and he says the frame will fit into a rucksack. See more pics after the fold.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/thats_folding_c.php

Dutch Company Siphoning Heat from Asphalt for Energy Uses

Ideas about collecting the heat from roads and parking lots and used it to heat up our water and house. outside of solar power it is another alternative.

While most solar enthusiasts are busy focusing on building ever larger thin-film solar farms or ever more advanced concept solar cells, others have been relying on older, though no less innovative, technologies to supply households for years now. Ooms Avenhorn Holding BV, a Dutch civil engineering company, first conceived its Road Energy System 10 years ago; back then, a technology that aimed to siphon heat from roads and parking lots to heat offices and homes probably sounded a bit eccentric, if not outlandish.

Ten years on - with climate change and renewable energies featuring much in the news and in policy discussions - their once long-shot bet is looking like a shrewd one. Their thermal energy system, which collects solar energy from a 200-yard stretch of road and a parking lot, powers a 70-unit 4-story apartment complex in the small village of Avenhorn; the heat stored from 36,000 sq ft of pavement during the summer helps keep a 160,000 sq ft-industrial park warm in the winter.

Originally a system erected to reduce road maintenance costs, Ooms' technology consists of a network of flexible pipes held in place by a grid and covered over by asphalt - which helps magnify solar heat. Heated water coursing through the pipes is pumped deep underground into aquifers; it can then be retrieved, even months later, to keep the road ice-free during the winter. Alternatively, the system can pump cold water from a separate reservoir to cool homes or office buildings in the summer.

Though the water typically isn't hot enough on its own - it must first go through an electricity-powered heat pump - and the installation cost is about twice that of a conventional gas heating system, the energy required is only about half of what would otherwise be needed. That not only means lower heating bills but, perhaps more crucially, 50% less carbon emissions.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/01/dutch_company_asphalt_heat.php#ch02

Virgin jet to use biofuel blend in test flight

San Francisco Chronicle
Virgin jet to use biofuel blend in test flight
George Raine, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 5, 2008

A Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400 will make a historic flight later this month from London's Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam.
Although no passengers will be on board, the contents of the plane's fuel tanks will have everyone in the airline industry watching.
The trip will be the first time a commercial aircraft has flown on biofuel.
Airline industry officials, environmentalists and energy companies all have a huge interest in the future of air travel as it pertains to fuel consumption, carbon emissions and global warming.
From the business perspective, the airlines are under great financial pressure because of soaring fuel costs; the price of crude oil is consistently flirting with $100 per barrel. On the environmental side of things, aircraft represent up to 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions produced by the U.S. transportation sector, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Additionally, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, greenhouse gas emissions from domestic aircraft are expected to increase 60 percent by 2025. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that increases in air transportation over the next 50 years will result in a threefold increase in aircraft CO{-2} emissions and a 13 percent increase in ozone.
Environmental advocates say that the Virgin test flight has the potential to be a crucial benchmark in the industry's efforts to develop a biofuel that would help eliminate the industry's dependence on jet fuel and help reduce global carbon emissions.
Sir Richard Branson, the charismatic founder of Virgin Atlantic who also pioneered the discount carrier Virgin America based in Burlingame, announced the biofuel experiment in 2007, and analysts said it could be feasible by the end of 2008. Virgin said last week it is about 10 months ahead of the anticipated date.
"This breakthrough will help Virgin Atlantic fly its planes using clean fuel sooner than expected," Branson said in a statement. "The demonstration flight will give us crucial knowledge that we can use to dramatically reduce our carbon footprint."
To get it done, Virgin Atlantic is teaming with Boeing and GE Aviation, maker of the engines that power the airplane. The airline said the GE Aviation CF6 engines used during the flight will not require modifications to burn biofuel, nor will the biofuel have negative effects on the engines.
The fuel used in the flight will be a blend of 80 percent conventional jet fuel, which is essentially kerosene, and 20 percent biofuel. Although the exact type of biofuel to be used has not been disclosed, the airline said it is a form that does not compete with food and freshwater resources.
Branson did note that Virgin Atlantic's British parent company, Virgin Group, pledged to invest all profits from its transportation companies toward developing clean energy, "and with this breakthrough, we are well down the path to achieving our goals."
Jet aircraft use a petroleum-based fuel generally referred to as Jet A or Jet A-1. For the sake of safety, commercial jet fuel must meet technical and operational specifications.
In the United States, all aircraft engines must be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration for use, and FAA approval is specific to the fuel that is used with each particular aircraft engine and engine type. So, as it stands, no other type of fuel can currently be used in America, according to the Air Transport Association, the trade association for the nation's major airlines.
In other words, it will be years before alternative fuels can replace commercial jet fuel.
"There will be extensive testing before this reaches the commercial market," said former industry executive Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst with Forrester Research in San Francisco.
Harteveldt added that, despite the fact that Virgin Atlantic, Boeing and GE "have lent a lot of credibility" to the matter, there is some cynicism afoot. "People are saying, 'How real is this?' "
In September, Boeing, Air New Zealand and Rolls-Royce announced an agreement to conduct a biofuel demonstration flight in the second half of 2008. That flight, too, will be of a Boeing 747-400 equipped with Rolls-Royce engines.
The search for an alternative to present-day jet fuel extends beyond the commercial airline industry.
On Dec. 17, the 104th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first powered flight, the Air Force said it flew an aircraft for the first time ever coast to coast using a synthetic fuel blend.
A C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft took off from McChord Air Force Base in Washington State, with its four Pratt and Whitney F117-100 turbofan engines burning a mix of 50 percent traditional jet propulsion-8 aviation fuel and 50 percent Fischer-Tropsch Kerosene, a synthetic aviation fuel derived from natural gas. It is produced in a process called the Fischer-Tropsch method, which is named after the German chemists who invented it in the 1920s, Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch.
Hours later, the aircraft touched down at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. Officials said the flight was without incident.
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said, "I have established the goal of having the entire (Air Force) fleet certified to fly on a synthetic fuel blend by about 2011."
That would go a long way toward reducing U.S. dependence on foreign sources of energy, Wynne said, because the conversion process can convert many types of carbon-based materials, such as coal, of which the United States has an abundant supply, to synthetic aviation fuel.
Environmentalists object to that idea, said Deron Lovaas, transportation analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C., because "it is the path of least resistance to make synthetic fuel from other fossil fuels."
Lovaas and others argue that liquid coal - coal that has been converted to liquid fuel - releases almost double the global warming emissions per gallon as regular gasoline. The preferred path is toward something sustainable, he said.
Lovaas said of the Virgin Atlantic test, "Here we are with this futuristic experiment with a source of biofuel. What Branson and the others are doing deserve our praise."
Meanwhile, California Attorney General Jerry Brown, four other states and three environmental groups filed petitions in December with the Environmental Protection Agency saying it should curb carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted from airplanes, arguing it has a mandate under the Clean Air Act to set emission standards for aircraft.
"Global warming is such a big challenge that wherever we can reduce greenhouse gases, we must do so. The EPA has abdicated its responsibility in this area for years, and it won't do its job until it's legally required to do so," Brown said.
The agency has 180 days in which to respond to the petitions, dated Dec. 5.
E-mail George Raine at graine@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

sustainability design_Project 1 research_transportation

please throw what you've found about sustainable transportation design article here. (please read it as well, you can high light what is important )