cycling for health

In another example of moving closer to sustainable cities, health workers who used to visit patients on foot in Delft (Cape Town) were donated bicycles on Wednesday last week, enabling them to make twice as many house calls. BikeTown Africa, an international project started in 2006, donated 108 bikes to MaAfrika Tikkun healthcare workers to help them anti-retroviral medication for HIV patients and others who cannot get to clinics. Many of these workers haven't ridden bikes before, so they've been given some instruction and guidance about road safety.

What appeals to me about this initiative, apart from the improvement in productivity resulting from the use of a zero-emission transport mode, is that it's a great way to set an example that could start to transform perceptions of the lowly bicycle. Now we just need better cycling networks to make it easier, and a strong support network to make sure this isn't a shortlived success.

flying close to the sun

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's part of an F16 fighter jet that is now a solar car. I had a peek at the vehicles participating in the South African Solar Challenge, and this is one of them. Very sleek and very expensive, but it has technical problems and hasn't clocked any mileage on the journey from Johannesburg to Cape Town.

In contrast, the ugly duckling in the second picture is cheaper, and not so sexy - but it works. And it's made with parts you can buy (mostly) off the shelf in South Africa. Let's see who's left standing at the end of the South African tour.

Ultimately, despite appearances, this is not about powering cars directly from the sun; it's about squeezing efficiency out of solar panels and mechanical equipment. Nobody expects cars of the future to be kitted out with huge solar arrays, but exercises like this will help test components for more energy-efficient cars and other machinery. I'm rooting for the ugly duckling because it can show how to do more with less. And because I always cheer for the underdog.

SA's own electric car

Other South African bloggers have already picked this up here and here and here; but what the heck, when the South African Innovation Fund supports the development of a homegrown electric vehicle that could even make it to commercial production, I might as well join the hoopla. The Cape Times picked this up today because the "Joule", designed in SA by Optimal Energy in association with SA-born designer Keith Helfet, will be shown this week at the Paris Motor Show.

It's always great to see local initiative, but many of the factors that killed the electric car decades ago are still in play, so I wonder how far this will get. One can still hope. And there's a fascinating article in the latest edition of Wired magazine about an American who has suggested a new model for getting electric cars on the road. And he's starting to get noticed. I don't see the article on the website today, but it's in stores now.

Power storage is the biggest technical issue preventing rapid adoption of electric vehicles - primarily the weight of batteries, and the recharge time - and that's what this proposal addresses. The gist of it is that companies could be set up to sell electricity along with the cars. Buy yourself a contract that allows you to recharge your vehicle from a grid of power points, or simply by swapping batteries. The batteries are owned by the power supplier, making a battery swap an easy way to eliminate recharge time if you need to extend your travel range over one day, thereby eliminating the need for a costly backup internal combustion engine. And if you are not travelling far, you can keep fewer batteries on board to reduce weight. The car itself could even be free with a five-year contract for people who travel a lot, while others might buy the car and get electricity on a pay-as-you-go arrangement. Sound familiar? Yep, it's the cellphone contract model.

solar cars on show

If you are in Cape Town, you can see the solar-powered cars that are racing in the South African Solar Challenge. They will be at the MTN Sciencentre at Canal Walk on Wednesday 1st October. From the Sciencentre newsletter:

The South African Solar Challenge 2008 is an epic two-week race in solar-powered cars through the length and breadth of South Africa. Teams have had to build their own cars, design their own engineering systems and are now ready to race those same machines through the most demanding terrain that solar cars have ever known. Don't miss the opportunity to have a closer look at the solar cars and speak to the team members during their stop in Cape Town. Cars will be parked at the Vida court inside Canal Walk for the day on Wednesday 1 October

how we get to work makes all the difference

While we try to improve the energy performance of buildings through design, efficient technologies, water re-use and various strategies that are recognised through auditing tools like BREEAM, LEED and Green Star, we can't lose sight of how people get to these buildings. A recent study in the UK starts to put some numbers to the role of transport in the overall performance of office buildings.

As reported on BSRIA, an evaluation of a range of buildings shows that the gains made in making buildings energy-efficient can be completely wiped out: among the case studies, the most efficient building had 80% of employees driving to work, while some less efficient buildings were better located or used by more environmentally-conscious occupants and showed better overall performance if the emissions from transport were considered. Which is why the South African pilot version of the Green Star - Office tool gives credit for locating close to high density residential areas so that there is a greater possibility of office workers living close and walking to work.

ecocabs popping up everywhere

Pedal-powered EcoCabs (and variations on the theme) are operating in a number of cities around the world, but what I find really exciting is that in places like Toronto they are providing free door-to-door transport, paid for entirely by corporate sponsors whose brands adorn the vehicles.

Toronto City Council paved the way for other Canadian cities to welcome the EcoCab program by choosing to support the initiative and recognizing the value it brings to both Torontonians and the environment. In keeping with the city's commitment, Toronto licensing officials have allowed the EcoCab vehicles to operate without the standard licenses normally associated with taxis, pedicabs or rickshaws.

And for shifting your products around the city, here's the cargo bike, built to carry up to 180 kg in its 1,400-litre cargo space.

commute by bike

The annual Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour is now open for entries. Which means... time to get back on the road. The office where I work has just been renovated, with a new shower included, so I have no excuse not to cycle to work. Other than the bad patch of weather we're having. And just in time, Grist offers some tips on the cyclist's commute. Great for anyone who is thinking of taking the plunge for the first time.

hydrogen from biofuels, lithium from underground

I wrote in July that hydrogen as an energy storage medium uses more energy than you can get from it - using energy directly is more efficient than converting it to other forms. It took a commenter to remind me that this is a simple law of thermodynamics. Duh! The point of energy storage - whether in conventional batteries or hydrogen cells or fuel in your car tank - is to be able to use it when and where you want to. And that's key to most forms of transportation.

(One reason I like the suburban trains in South Africa and parts of Toronto's TTC public transit system is that they run on overhead electric cables, making it possible to use absolutely any energy source you care to pump into the grid. You can change the energy source without requiring an overhaul of the transport vehicles. But these are more the exception than the rule.)

So improving energy storage efficiency and cost is going to be important for transport, whether public or private. Last week it was reported at the American Chemical Society meeting in Philadelphia that a new, efficient catalyst has been discovered to convert biofuels into hydrogen with a 90% yield, at a lower cost than other methods being developed.

And for many vehicles, the obvious competitor to hydrogen is good ol' batteries. The Tesla Roadster, a high-performance electric sports car, uses lithium ion batteries, just like your cell phone. While car manufacturers are investing heavily in electric car technologies, AutoBlogGreen asks whether it's realistic to expect the price of lithium-based batteries to fall far enough to make them a viable storage medium for cars. As with nuclear energy, it's easy to forget that supplies of the mined raw material are sometimes limited. In the case of lithium, that doesn't appear to be the case, but with mining there are always other impacts to consider. We need to maintain a diversity of options.

is your car any better than the Airbus A380?

One of the challenges in meeting climate change objectives will be making changes without drastic economic cost. There will no doubt be some cost, and the longer we wait the worse it will be; but the Stern Report of October 2006 figured that meaningful change could be made at a cost of 1% of global GDP.

Without wanting to sound like the airline industry is a paragon of carbon virtuosity, one of the points to be made is that while aviation accounts for 2% of global CO2 emissions, it contributes 8% of the world's gross domestic product, according to an article in Engineering News (June 27 - July 3, 2008 edition). So while the impacts of high levels of air traffic growth will need to be mitigated, my question is: wouldn't it make sense to focus most strongly on industries that provide less economic benefit with higher carbon emissions?

Even within the transport industry itself, one can draw interesting comparisons. The fuel consumption of the new Airbus A380 is less than 3 litres per passenger per 100 km, while the average car currently marketed in Europe uses 6.5 litres per person per 10 100 km (9.6 litres in the US). The A380 produces less than 75 g of CO2 per passenger per km, while EU motor manufacturers are targeting 140 g this year. On the ground, airport infrastructure occupies only 1% of the land used for transport systems, while railways take 4% and roads 83%.

Wouldn't it make much more sense then to target automobile travel as the highest priority within the transport industry? Aircraft manufacturers are (and have been) working quite hard at improving fuel efficiency. Auto manufacturers are doing almost nothing of significance - the few hybrid cars on the roads achieve zilch benefit, and do nothing to address the bigger issues of travel impacts.

There is no real, economically viable, alternative to air travel for long-distance and intercontinental trips - ships take too long. One might argue that we should do less long-distance travel, thus reducing the need for air travel, but the impact on the economy would be enormous:

Airfreight carries 40% (by value) of interregional exports, while 25% of all companies' sales depend on airfreight, and 70% of all enterprises state the key benefit of using air transport is access to a larger market.

For surface transport, on the other hand, there are many alternatives to private vehicles, and the technical barriers to transformation of road-based vehicles to low- carbon technology are far fewer than for air transport.

And it's not only a question of "who killed the electric car?" but also of "who decided that cities should be such degrading, depressing and inhuman places for habitation and industry?" Cars are killing cities. Imagine a city where everyone didn't want to rush out to the cottage every weekend, but would be content to relax in an urban paradise. Imagine. Please.

having my cake and eating it too

We can't all have big private garderns and still expect walkable communities. This should be obvious, but one reason it isn't is demonstrated by the comments on this post from Eschaton [via kottke.org]: People give examples of how they have big plots of land and can still walk to the shops or schools or work. I could also point out that I walk to a train service that takes me to work every day, and I live in a low-density suburb. But that doesn't mean everyone else can walk and travel on safe, convenient public transport. I chose my house because it is near a station, but if everyone did that, then the prices of houses near stations would skyrocket, and eventually market forces would increase residential densities around stations.

So I consider myself fortunate in being able to make what I consider environmentally responsible travel choices; but if I am honest, I have to admit that while I am limiting my direct contribution to vehicle emissions, I am contributing to a city shape that forces others to drive. Something's got to give.