Inspirational and good news.
Portland, Oregon is trying some groovy bike lanes that other cities around the world have implement. It’s always good to see sustainable infrastructure being built, but the really good thing about what Portland is doing is how they communicate their plans to their citizens. Check it out:
On the Right Track from Mayor Sam Adams on Vimeo.
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.
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 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.
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.
There is still a chance, albeit quite slim, that the Hummer brand could live on.
Thanks to Dan!