Transportation

The Future of Airships

- Adam Clare

We’ve looked at airships before and they just keep getting more interesting. New uses of this old technology keep popping up, and the BBC has a short interview with Sir David King looking at using airships to do some heavy lifting.

Airships have never quite taken off as a means of transport. Somehow planes got the better of them, and anyway they kept crashing.
But we’re more eco-conscious than we were in the days of the famous blimps: the Hindenburg, or the R101. Could the airship provide a low-energy means of carrying freight around the world?
Former chief scientific advisor to the government Sir David King discusses why he believes airships could be used for transporting cargo in a more environmentally efficient way.

Listen to the interview on the BBC

Google Adds Bike Directions to Google Maps

- Dan Harrison

The League of American Bicyclists has announced that Google has added bicycling directions to their US maps! Unveiled at the National Bike Summit, the bike feature will have cycling directions (in addition to driving, walking, and in some cities, public transit) as an option to plan a route between point A and point B.

This new feature includes: step-by-step bicycling directions; bike trails outlined directly on the map; and a new “Bicycling” layer that indicates bike trails, bike lanes, and bike-friendly roads. The directions feature provides step-by-step, bike-specific routing suggestions – similar to the directions provided by our driving, walking, or public transit modes. Simply enter a start point and destination and select “Bicycling” from the drop-down menu. You will receive a route that is optimized for cycling, taking advantage of bike trails, bike lanes, and bike-friendly streets and avoiding hilly terrain whenever possible.

Google has said that the inclusion of cycling directions has been the most requested addition to Google maps. Here’s hoping that additional pressure from cities around the world will soon lead to cycling directions becoming available in your city!

Read more at the League of American Bicyclists blog.

EDIT (March 12)

It appears at least one Canadian city won’t have to wait long for something similar! Ride the City has gone live with Toronto bike directions! Ride the City Toronto is based on the open source maps system, OpenStreetMap.org and offers much the same functionality as the Google map version in the States. Check it out here and start planning your route by bike!

Porsche 918 Hybrid is Fast and Friendly

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Porsche has created a new car called the 918 that gets 78 MPG and goes from 0-60 MPH in 3.2 seconds. Sorry those numbers aren’t in metric. The car is relatively kind on the environment producing only 70 grams of CO2 per kilometer.

How does a supercar have such range? Well, the 918 Spyder concept is a parallel hybrid just like your mom’s Prius (well not just like). That means the two powertrains, gas and electric, can operate together or separately to motivate the wheels into motion. There are no less than four modes that configure the powertrains for anything from maximum efficiency to maximum performance and everything in between. The E-Drive mode means pure electric power, and the car can reportedly last up to 16 miles on electrons alone. Next up is Hybrid mode, which is just what it sounds like and would probably be the mode for everyday around town driving. The Sport Hybrid mode again uses both powertrains, but tips the needle a bit more towards performance with most power reaching the rear wheels. Finally, the Race Hybrid mode means all systems are go for the lowest lap times possible (Porsche says it can do the Nordschleife in less than 7:30 minutes). There’s an even a push-to-pass button (if only it were that easy) that adds a bit of E-boost on the straights and, of course, regenerative braking is present and accounted for.

Autoblog has the details.

Hummer Fades Away

- Adam Clare

Back in 2008 we wrote here that the SUV is dying and now in 2010 the Hummer has met its doom. You ready for this?

General Motors has stopped making Hummers and selling the brand is really hard.

Now that’s good news!

General Motors Co. failed to win approval from Chinese regulators to sell its Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., said two people briefed on the deal.

A government agency indicated that it won’t provide approval for Chengdu, China-based Tengzhong to purchase the Hummer line of sport-utility vehicles from GM in China, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the decision hasn’t been made public.

Keep reading at Bloomberg.

There is still a chance, albeit quite slim, that the Hummer brand could live on.

Thanks to Dan!

Cyclists Can Raise Property Values

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Providing a safe place to lock up bicycles can increase the rental and property value of a home or apartment complex.

To a cyclist like myself this seems painfully obvious, but to people living in the world of the car I guess, well, they don’t understand and need to be told this be a real estate company.

While car parking has long been a factor considered by potential landlords, Ludlow Thompson argue, it’s important now that they also think about where would-be tenants can keep their bikes. Decent bike provision could even increase the property’s price or rental value, it effectively says.

The chain operates only in London, but the advice of the eponymous Stephen Ludlow would seem relevant to anyone thinking of letting a property in an urban area:

Cyclists are increasingly important if you intend to let or sell to the 20-35 year old post-university market. Cyclists prefer not to leave their bike chained up on the street.
When renting a flat in converted houses, cyclists often ask if they can leave their bicycle in the shared hallway. Most contracts explicitly prevent this because if often leads to damage and can upset the other tenants. By agreeing, a landlord might have the edge if a tenant is weighing up two options.
Landlords of ex-local authority and new build housing can often offer the best solution, as those properties frequently provide storage sheds which are perfect for bicycles. But landlords in other housing types can make their properties more attractive to cyclists by installing safe storage, such as a secure shed unit which will fit in even a small front garden. Landlords that are leaseholders – either in a converted house or in a more modern block – can be proactive and negotiate with other leaseholders and the freeholder to provide shared storage. There will often be a net benefit as the desirability of the property is improved.

Read the rest at the Guardian.

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