The Greener Truth » transportation http://thegreenertruth.com -your guide to a greener life Mon, 09 May 2011 20:21:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 A Bendable Bike http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/08/a-bendable-bike/ http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/08/a-bendable-bike/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:55:26 +0000 Aaron Midgett http://thegreenertruth.com/?p=1139 I am alsways looking for new ideas that will make greener forms of transportation easier and last week I found a great one.  This may seem like an odd concept, but in big cities, where bikes locked with massive chains routinely dissapear, what better way to keep your bike from being stolen than [...]]]> bendable bikeI am alsways looking for new ideas that will make greener forms of transportation easier and last week I found a great one.  This may seem like an odd concept, but in big cities, where bikes locked with massive chains routinely dissapear, what better way to keep your bike from being stolen than to use it as the lock.  Now, I am not too sure how this works, or how well it rides, but the idea behind this bendable bike is genius.  Kevin Scott’s bike simply bends around a post and the two wheels and the frame can all be locked together with a U lock.  In order to make the bike bendable when needed and stable when being ridden, a crank tightens a cable inside the frame.  The next step will be to incorporate the lock so that the bike can just lock to itself.  But for now, what a cool invention.

bendable bike 2

]]> http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/08/a-bendable-bike/feed/ 1 ELECTRIX http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/08/electrix/ http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/08/electrix/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:36:05 +0000 Aaron Midgett http://thegreenertruth.com/?p=1137 It has been too long since my last post.  I have no good excuse other than having a crazy few weeks.  On my way to work today, I get a little incentive when I had the pleasure of driving behind a Tesla Roadster with the liscense plate ELECTRIX.  I was surprised by two things.  First, [...]]]> teslavanityplate2It has been too long since my last post.  I have no good excuse other than having a crazy few weeks.  On my way to work today, I get a little incentive when I had the pleasure of driving behind a Tesla Roadster with the liscense plate ELECTRIX.  I was surprised by two things.  First, how small and sporty it looks and second, the acceleration it had.  The lucky guy doing the driving was in his 60s and was by no means a spead deamon when driving, but we stoppped next to eachother at a stop light and when it turned green, he blew me away.  You hear that this car can do 0-60 in 3.7 seconds, but you don’t realize how fast that really is until you are sitting next to one as it takes off.  Now I see why everyone wants to drive one.  The best part about this car, is that not only is it one of the sportiest cars to drive, it is also one of the greenest .  This just shows that going greener does not always have to mean sacrificing quality or comfort.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford the $110 price tag, but if I did have an extra hundred grand to throw around, I would seriously consider it.  Maybe the $32K Nissan Leaf or the newly announced $41K Chevy Volt will be a little closer to my price range.  Too bad it doesn’t look as fun to drive as the Roadster.

More Information about the Tesla Roadster and Electric Cars

-Nissan

-Tesla

-Hybrid Cars

-Wikipedia:Tesla Roadster

-Wikipedia:Electric Car

]]> http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/08/electrix/feed/ 0 Lance Leads the Leaf Electric Car Charge http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/07/lance-leads-the-leaf-electric-car-charge/ http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/07/lance-leads-the-leaf-electric-car-charge/#comments Wed, 14 Jul 2010 22:38:41 +0000 Aaron Midgett http://thegreenertruth.com/?p=1124 Lance Armstrong may be 17 minutes behind the leaders in the Tour de France this summer, but that is ok with me, because he is stepping up to lead the charge for the Nissan Leaf.  Not long ago, Lance was named the official spokesperson for the electric car, and now he stars in their new commercial about [...]]]> Lance Armstrong may be 17 minutes behind the leaders in the Tour de France this summer, but that is ok with me, because he is stepping up to lead the charge for the Nissan Leaf.  Not long ago, Lance was named the official spokesperson for the electric car, and now he stars in their new commercial about the clean design of the car.

While this may just be another paycheck for the cycling superstar, he is also set to be the first recipient of a Leaf and genuinly seems dedicated to the cause.  More celebrities are standing up for causes they care about, and in a culture that is always trying to find the best deal, this is one way that alternative forms of transportation and renewable energy are going to take hold.  Next time you see you see Matt Damon or Brad Pitt driving around in a sporty Tesla Roadster, don’t think about the $100K that they dropped to get the car, but the service they are doing to promote a cleaner driving experience for us all.

More Information about the Nissan Leaf and Electric Cars

-Nissan

-Tesla

-Hybrid Cars

-Wikipedia:Leaf

-Wikipedia:Electric Car

]]> http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/07/lance-leads-the-leaf-electric-car-charge/feed/ 0 Sail Across the US on a Pterosail http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/07/sail-across-the-us-on-a-pterosail/ http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/07/sail-across-the-us-on-a-pterosail/#comments Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:47:42 +0000 Aaron Midgett http://thegreenertruth.com/?p=1118 I am always excited about new eco adventures, and here is one that I think would be a ton of fun.  The Pterosail is a recumbant trike that is equiped with a special stable sail.  For me, this is the perfect combination, because I love riding a bike and sailing.  When I was 12, my grandmother [...]]]> ptreosail-trike-systems-to-sail-across-the-usa-on-solar-and-wind-energy_1_8ZYnX_69I am always excited about new eco adventures, and here is one that I think would be a ton of fun.  The Pterosail is a recumbant trike that is equiped with a special stable sail.  For me, this is the perfect combination, because I love riding a bike and sailing.  When I was 12, my grandmother gave me lessons in a little sunfish, and since then, I have always loved being on the water, but now that I live in colorado it is chalenging to get to an ocean.  The Pterosail solves this problem, and they will be proving it over the next few weeks.  On June 28th they started a journey from San Diego, CA to St. Augistine, FL.  So far they are averaging 50-60 miles a day thanks to the wind and the sun.  Along with the sail and peddle power, there is also a solar pannel that rides above the driver and powers electronics and a small electric backup motor.  I am sure that they are getting some wierd looks, but at this rate it won’t be long before they make it to the Atlantic.  Right now, these wind powered trikes are crazy expensive ($5500), but I hope that with time that will come down some.  From my experience traveling by bike, I am sure that this is a great way to see the country and I hope one day I will get a chance to try it out.

More information on Sail Bikes

-Pterosail

-EcoFriend

-SolarFeeds

]]> http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/07/sail-across-the-us-on-a-pterosail/feed/ 0 Most Honest Ad for Oil Ever! http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/06/most-honest-add-for-oil-ever/ http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/06/most-honest-add-for-oil-ever/#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:10:07 +0000 Aaron Midgett http://thegreenertruth.com/?p=1080 With all of the greenwashed adds for oil companies like BP, it is nice for a change to look at and add that really speaks the truth.  This ad by Humble Oil (now part of Exxon) from 1962 is possibly the most honest straight forward add I have ever seen.  

Maybe BP needs to take [...]]]> With all of the greenwashed adds for oil companies like BP, it is nice for a change to look at and add that really speaks the truth.  This ad by Humble Oil (now part of Exxon) from 1962 is possibly the most honest straight forward add I have ever seen.  Oil Add

Maybe BP needs to take lesson from Humble and start putting out a little more honest ads too instead of hogwash like this.

]]> http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/06/most-honest-add-for-oil-ever/feed/ 0 Bike to Work Day Denver http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/06/bike-to-work-day-denver/ http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/06/bike-to-work-day-denver/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:55:51 +0000 Aaron Midgett http://thegreenertruth.com/?p=1076 In many cities around the country, the official bike to work day has already passed, but here in Denver and many other mountainous cities, the weather is a little less predictable in May and so Bike to work Day is moved to late June.  Here in Denver, I will be participating in Bike to work Day on [...]]]> bike-to-work-dayIn many cities around the country, the official bike to work day has already passed, but here in Denver and many other mountainous cities, the weather is a little less predictable in May and so Bike to work Day is moved to late June.  Here in Denver, I will be participating in Bike to work Day on June 23rd.  As I have written before, I have a decent commute to work on the bike that takes about an hour each way, but I really enjoy it and on days where I bike, that is often the favorite part of my day.  I actually biked to work today, and am looking forward to the ride home.  Bike to work day, is just a normal day for many commuters, but if you choose to ride to work, there are some nice benefits like free breakfast and bike aid stations. If you are luck enough to live in the Denver area, go sign up for bike to work day right now, but if you aren’t, try biking to work anyway.  I think you will like the nice change of pace to start your day.

More information on Commuting by Bike

-How to bike to work, from the Greener Truth

-Wikipedia: Bike to work day

-Denver Bike to work Day

-San Francisco Bike Coalition

-Commute by Bike

-Bike Commuters

]]> http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/06/bike-to-work-day-denver/feed/ 1 Mentos and Coke for Transportation? http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/06/mentos-and-coke-for-transportation/ http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/06/mentos-and-coke-for-transportation/#comments Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:15:43 +0000 Aaron Midgett http://thegreenertruth.com/?p=1071 Well this certainly is not going to be the transportation of the future, and it certainly is not good for the environment with all those plastic bottles and carbon dioxide released, but I like the creativity and the out of the box thinking. You have seen the original mentos and diet coke synphony, but [...]]]> Well this certainly is not going to be the transportation of the future, and it certainly is not good for the environment with all those plastic bottles and carbon dioxide released, but I like the creativity and the out of the box thinking. You have seen the original mentos and diet coke synphony, but check out what Eepy Bird Productions can do with Coke Zero.
I am in no way suggesting that we look into mentos and coke as a form of travel, but I don’t know that I will be eating the two together either.  Sort of a cool idea, and the kind of ingenious thinking that we need more of.  If you are interested in how this works, take a look at the MythBusters explanation about how this reaction happens.

More information on Coke and Mentos

-Eepy Bird Productions

-MythBusters

-Wikipedia

]]> http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/06/mentos-and-coke-for-transportation/feed/ 0 Peddle Powered Porsche http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/06/peddle-powered-porsche/ http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/06/peddle-powered-porsche/#comments Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:01:24 +0000 Aaron Midgett http://thegreenertruth.com/?p=1058 Thanks to Johannes Ferdinand

Check out this awesome new Porsche.  And why, you ask are we at the greener truth interested in a sports car?  The Ferdinand GT3 RS is not just another sporty 911, it is the slowest and most efficient Porsche on the road. It also happens to be peddle powered with a body [...]]]> Thanks to Johannes Ferdinand

Thanks to Johannes Ferdinand

Check out this awesome new Porsche.  And why, you ask are we at the greener truth interested in a sports car?  The Ferdinand GT3 RS is not just another sporty 911, it is the slowest and most efficient Porsche on the road. It also happens to be peddle powered with a body made out of cardboard and foil.  By the way, it is completely off the WAVE scale as far as efficiency goes.  When you watch the video, make sure that you check out the velcro emergency brake when he gets in the car to drive away.  That is German engineering at it’s finest.  The video is in German, but Johannes Ferdinand makes to totally worth while with his deadpan face and fantastic mustache.

Here is a picture of the construction, but for more on how this was built, here is Ferdinand’s website (Be warned it is in German though).

]]> http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/06/peddle-powered-porsche/feed/ 1 Cost of Transportation http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/05/cost-of-transportation/ http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/05/cost-of-transportation/#comments Thu, 20 May 2010 23:06:21 +0000 Aaron Midgett http://thegreenertruth.com/?p=1017 When we talk about forms of transportation, we are often interested in fuel economy because that is what we are used to, but what really matters is the amount of energy it takes to move a certain amount of weight a certain distance.  We have tried to represent this in the WAVE scale in our [...]]]> When we talk about forms of transportation, we are often interested in fuel economy because that is what we are used to, but what really matters is the amount of energy it takes to move a certain amount of weight a certain distance.  We have tried to represent this in the WAVE scale in our automotive section, but here is an old graphic that I found that explain this idea a little better.  Efficiency of TransportationYou can tell how old it is by the fact that it was scanned from a journal article in order to digitize it.  You can see the obvious diagonal where most of the methods fall.  Lighter and smaller animals use more energy to move one gram a kilometer as would be expected, but it is the outliers in this plot that are the most interesting.  If we look at a helicopter for example, its cost spawning-atlantic-salmon-738342-xl-300x240of transport is similar to that of a hummingbird and obviously wastes a large amount of energy.  Salmon and humans on a bicycle on the other hand, are far more efficient than other forms of transportation .  The salmon is a particularly interesting case, because it actually uses the flow of current downstream to help it swim upstream, similar to the way that a sailboat can sail into the wind.

More information on Fuel Economy and the WAVE scale

-The Wave Scale

-Weight Friend or Foe

-FuelEconomy.gov

-EPA

-Wikipedia

]]> http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/05/cost-of-transportation/feed/ 0 Bruce Maynard has Started Walking http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/04/bruce-maynard-has-started-walking/ http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/04/bruce-maynard-has-started-walking/#comments Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:41:09 +0000 Aaron Midgett http://thegreenertruth.com/?p=902 I promised to keep you all updated with Bruce Maynard and his walk across America with his solar powered stroller.  Bruce’s journey began wednesday (just in time for Earth Day) and as of last night he was 26 miles in.  If you haven’t heard about Bruce, here is an article I wrote about him a [...]]]> Chariot Cougar 1.1 MaynardI promised to keep you all updated with Bruce Maynard and his walk across America with his solar powered stroller.  Bruce’s journey began wednesday (just in time for Earth Day) and as of last night he was 26 miles in.  If you haven’t heard about Bruce, here is an article I wrote about him a few months ago, but the gist of the story is that he has decided to walk from Washington St. to Florida using his solar powered stroller S.A.M. to carry his gear at the ripe old age of 74.  He is not pushing for a cause, but just because he wants to stay in shape and see the country at a slower pace.  If you are interested in keeping up with Bruce’s progress, take a look at his blog.  He is just getting going with it, but he is a great writer and it is fascinating stuff.  Go bruce, go.  We here at the Greener Truth will be keeping an eye on your progress.

-Bruce Maynard’s Blog

-The Greener Truth’s Article

]]> http://thegreenertruth.com/2010/04/bruce-maynard-has-started-walking/feed/ 5