cycling innovations

Transportation challenges seem intractable for all but a few cities that try hard to create an appropriate balance in the emphasis placed on the various modes of transport. In most cases the most maligned and ignored are cyclists,waiting in the shadows for an improved system to unleash their pedal power. And in most cases it will probably take bold initiatives to put things right. Like Copenhagen's superhighways that not only are direct, allow high speeds and overtaking, and give cyclists priority as they approach cross streets; they even borrow the traffic engineering concept of "green waves" so that if cyclists travel at the intended speed, they will approach signalised intersections when the signals are green for them. Bold, indeed.

And a bit more on the quirky side, here's an idea that may or may not be a good one but gets full points for innovation: a bike lane that isn't really a bike lane, but a temporary image of one, created by a bicycle-mounted laser system that projects a lane on the road surface that follows the cyclist wherever she goes, alerting other road users that they should leave a safe space around the cyclist.

While we're talking quirky, here's something that is neither practical nor green, but interesting if you're the kind of person who likes to soup up your wheels by strapping on a genuine jet engine and seeing where two wheels can take you.

But that might not be the whackiest design out there. Here are 15 futuristic designs for concept bikes. There may be one for you. Or perhaps you want to look back in time for a historic perspective.

Kraftwerk: "We are liberated from holidays."

As we wait in anticipation (or not) to see if Lance Armstrong can pull off another win, it's time for a little trivia. Ever wondered what Lance has in common with South African author JM Coetzee and German band Kraftwerk? Read Mahala to find out. You won't learn a whole lot from this particular article, but you will read this:

“The Ventoux, thrusting abundantly skywards, is a god of Evil to whom sacrifice must be paid. A true Moloch, a despot of cyclists, it never pardons the weak and exacts an unjust tribute of suffering.”

Yes? And you will also discover, if you haven't already, a wonderfully irreverant, independent magazine on music, culture and reality, "picking at the frayed edges of the South African psyche." For free.

above or below?

Wouldn't it be interesting to see where the high water mark would be if the Greenland ice sheet were to melt? Where will your house be?

visual data

Just for fun.

redneck mansion

At the great caravan park in the sky.

green speed bumps and other insanities

The debate around traffic calming is a difficult one, and communities get emotionally charged about the pros and cons of speed humps, four-way stops and other mechanisms to reduce traffic speeds and volumes. In many cases, the need to retrofit calming devices is a result of design failure. The focus on efficient vehicular movement tends to dominate road planning decisions, so that municipalities can get the most out of their investment in road infrastructure and drivers can get where they want to go as smoothly as possible; and this results in more cars and higher speeds, resulting in calls for speed reduction measures.

There is a case to be made for efficient movement to reduce emissions - if you assume that cars are going to be on the roads anyway. Slowing cars down with speed humps increases emissions and noise pollution and vehicle wear and tear. But there are other ways. Driver behaviour is influenced by the width of lanes, the road alignment, whether there are trees and bushes at the side, and other cues that make high speeds comfortable or uncomfortable. It's not just about the pavement; it's an urban design issue. Smooth flow at a reasonable speed is actually best for emissions AND efficiency, and with a bit of design effort this can be achieved.

The bigger picture is that we should be providing more viable alternatives to driving, but if we leave that aside for a moment, and assume that there are places where speed bumps are the only viable solution to resolve existing traffic problems, here's an interesting twist: speed bumps that use the energy from cars to generate electricity.

The speed bump in a large shopping mall can potentially generate 1 megawatt of electricity per day, which in turn can supply electricity to many stores and residential homes. In then near future, shopping malls can generate millions of dollars in clean, free energy.

Actually, there's a flaw in this argument. The energy is not clean - it comes from the car's kinetic energy, which (generally) comes from fossil fuels. So what's really happening here is that we are using petroleum to generate electricity. The cars that contribute to this effort have to use extra energy to recover the momentum lost at the speed bump, so the drivers are paying for the energy that powers the stores or homes through the speed bump. Free energy? I don't think so.

Imagine this on a bigger scale. What if the highways authorities installed devices to harness the gravitational potential energy of cars as they rolled down hills? You pay for the gas to drive up one side of a hill, and give that energy back to the authority by pushing a boom on the way down. The opposite of a ski lift. Just hook yourself in and enjoy the ride. This could be a financial alternative to the toll road, and we might not even complain, since we have to pay for the fuel anyway. And what if our cars are pure electric vehicles, recharged from renewable energy sources? Welcome to the carbon neutral highway.

if you want to get somewhere - slowly

I'm not sure how this would work, but here's a post claiming that you can sail across the ocean on a wave powered boat: not wind power, wave power.

Hey, I'm back :-) no thanks to Telkom, the "dis"utility I have now ditched for leaving me without Internet access for a month :-( and blaming everyone but themselves ("Have you checked that the cable is plugged in?").

will that be for here, or to go?

This mobile solar cooker is on display at the MTN Sciencentre in Cape Town. According to the display panel,

The Sustainable Energy Society of South Africa, in collaboration with the Soweto Information Centre in Johannesburg, has initiated a project to promote the use of solar cookers in urban and rural environments of South Africa.

Mathias Weber decided to make a solar cooker more mobile by mounting it onto a tricycle, which is used by the Greenhouse Project for Recycling Programme. His 'Solar Tricycle Pilot Project' has been active in Newtown, Johannesburg, since May 2005 and has created a huge awareness of alternative cooking methods.

The tricycle-mounted solar cooker can cook porridge, pop popcorn and heat up a variety of dishes, using only the energy of the sun.

Currently, street food vendors in South Africa use hazardous, unhealthy and costly methods of cooking, such as paraffin stoves, Primus stoves and Imbaulas (perforated paraffin tins with a fire inside). These cooking methods release harmful gases and ashes into the atmosphere and contribute to the development of respiratory diseases.

Solar cookers are clean, non-polluting, efficient and cost-effective and offer a very viable alternative for street food vendors.

For photos of the cooker out in the community, and a description of Mathias' work, have a look at the Solar Energy Project. The site also describes other solar food projects in a number of countries.

think globally, bake locally

It's got skylights, natural ventilation, a grey water system, a car that runs on biodiesel... and it's a gingerbread house. That's right, the folks at bakeforachange held a competition to see who could come up with the most sustainable gingerbread house design. It's too late to enter, but you can view the results on Flickr. [via SCQ]

seed bombs for fun and non-profit

Somehow, this recipe feels just right for Easter weekend:

• Combine 2 parts mixed seeds (indigenous flowers, herbs or vegetables) with 3 parts compost.
• Stir in 5 parts powdered red or brown clay.
• Moisten with water until mixture is damp enough to mold into balls.
• Pinch off a penny-sized piece of the clay mixture and roll it between the palms of your hands until it forms a tight ball (1 inch in diameter).
• Set the balls on newspaper and allow to dry for 24 - 48 hours. Store in a cool, dry place until ready to sow.

Throw the balls into vacant lots, pavement cracks, long-standing rubbish piles, or anywhere that would benefit from a bit of random greenery. [Source: The Guerilla Art Kit, by Keri Smith]

Update on 4 Oct 2008: Mother City Living asks "Would you make use of an organic vegetable garden allotment?". There are a few initiatives springing up in Cape Town that are starting to look at urban gardening. There's the Permanent Edible Garden Service set up by Ben Getz and partners, that will help you set up and maintain a garden using permaculture principles. Other South African organic services are listed on Urban Sprout.

I read recently that the "Victory Gardens" in America that were promoted to address the food shortage in World War II resulted in 40% of all fresh vegetables consumed in that country being produced in small urban gardens in 1942 and 1943. So small-scale urban gardening could be a really significant contribution to fresh, healthy food.

Update on 10 February 2009: Here's another take on protest gardening.

Update on 5 June 2009: And a high-tech seedbomb - literally a (non-military) bomb that is dropped from an aircraft, dispensing large numbers of seeds in biodegradable capsules. Soil in the capsule provides the initial nutrients for the seeds to sprout within the protective casing, then the moisture inside causes the capsule to break down so that the plant can continue growing.