Riding bicycles: A life on two-wheels is a life well lived, not only for personal health reasons, but for your community and the environment.

With longer and warmer days, you have no excuse not to get on a bike. Need some inspiration? Here are 17 reasons riding bicycles is oh so good for you.

1. You don’t need a bicycle

Ok, so this one isn’t true for everyone, but if you live in a city with a bike share program than it is.

2. If you do need a bicycle, you get the joy of choosing a beautiful one

From vintage to new, there are a whole lot of gorgeous bikes out there. Consider this your excuse to do some good window bike shopping.

3. You get to work out without actually having to go work out

Cycling is essentially a daily dose of exercise for lazy people. Bored with the gym? Just start biking to work everyday. That daily action of pedaling is quite good for you, and you’re going somewhere in the process.

4. Bicycles make you look good

Seriously, is there anything more attractive than someone on a bicycle?

5. The government will pay you

Commute to work? You can get up to $20 a month for your bike-related expenses.

6. Riding bicycles will save you money

A daily round-trip commute of 10 miles saves you about $10… per day. And trading your car for a bicycle can save you up to $8,000 a year. Think of all the organic smoothies you could buy.

7. You actually inhale more bad air in your car than on your bike

So forget the “I don’t want to inhale exhaust” argument, because as it turns out drivers are more susceptible to all the bad things in the air than those on their bicycles.

8. You’ll immediately go up three levels in your “cool factor”

“I rode here” sounds so much better than “I sat in traffic for half an hour to get here.”

9. It gives you a new way to explore new places

Bikes and travel go hand in hand. In most major metropolises you can track down a bike tour; the perfect way to get to know a new city.

10. Cycling alleviates stress

Think of cycling as a daily form of meditation.

11. You don’t have to commit to biking far

40 percent of all trips by car are under 3 miles. That is totally bike-able.

12. Farmers market vegetables look better in a bike basket than in the trunk of your car

They were grown outside, don’t they at least deserve an invigorating ride home back to your kitchen? Consider yourself a culinary cyclist.

13. You lower your risk of breast cancer

It’s true, women who bike 30 minutes or more a day actually have a lower risk of breast cancer.

14. Cycling is an act of female empowerment

As Susan B. Anthony once said, “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”

15. Riding helps improve cycling infrastructure

If more people ride, more cities will be motivated to put in bike lanes and other infrastructure that helps support bike culture, so be a part of the solution.

16. Driving makes you fat

No really, it does. Cycling however, does not. But you will get stronger thighs and calves, and that’s nice.

17. It makes you smile

Get on a bicycle and see what I am talking about.

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Image: Anna Brones

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All over America, people are rediscovering the bicycle, and thanks to city-wide bike sharing programs, they don’t have to buy a bike to join in the fun.

The United States is overweight, suffocating in pollution, and mired in traffic jams. Civic leaders struggle with high-tech solutions for these problems, all the while, a simple, cheap solution is right under their noses: the bicycle.

Bike sharing, a popular type of collaborative consumption, aims to reintroduce urban residents to the beauty and convenience of the bicycle. These programs allow anyone, tourist or native, to borrow a bike for temporary use. Most city bike sharing programs  encourage people to join for a monthly membership fee, and then pay a certain hourly fee for trips longer than 30 or 60 minutes. The idea is to keep people out of their cars and cabs for short-distance trips, and all over America, it’s working.

1. Washington D.C.

One of the first city-wide bike sharing programs in the nation, Washington D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare launched in 2010 with 1,100 bikes and 110 stations. In just a few short years, response has been so positive that the program has expanded rapidly. Capital Bikeshare now makes more than 1,800 bicycles available to commuters via 200+ stations across Washington, D.C., Arlington, VA, and Alexandria, VA. The program reports more than 300,000 members and at least 250,000 trips by bicycle each month.

2. Minneapolis

Formed through the Twin Cities Bike Share Project, Nice Ride Minnesota has been permanently changing the way people experience and perceive Minneapolis for nearly three years. A yearly membership only costs $65 and gives members access to 1,550 bikes located at 170 stations spread around Minneapolis and Saint Paul. According to Nice Ride, local commuters have taken more than 700,000 rides on Nice Ride bikes in 2013 alone.

3. Denver

Also founded in 2010, Denver B-cycle was the first large-scale municipal bike sharing system in the United States. All rides under 3o minutes long are free, so long as you’re a B-cycle member. The program started with 500 bikes and 50 stations, but just this year, 31 new stations were added, nearly doubling the number of bikes available to Denver residents and visitors.

4. Chicago

The Windy City is the latest American metropolis to launch a bike sharing program. In late June, just as Chicagoans were celebrating the Stanley Cup win, Divvy Bikes became available for the first time. With nearly with 4,000 bikes and 400 stations spread out across the city, Chicago’s program is definitely one of the most ambitious. Divvy is available for use 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And by providing twice as many docking points as bicycles, the program ensures that an available dock is always available for returning bikes.

5. New York City

Also debuting in 2013 was the long-anticipated New York City bike sharing program. Called Citi Bike (thanks to corporate sponsor Citi Bank) the program boasts well over 4,000 bicycles and 300 stations, although plans call for a target number of 10,000 bikes across the city. The stations are solar-powered and modular to allow for easy installation. Each station consists of a variable number of docking ports for the bikes, plus a touchscreen kiosk for the purchase of Access Passes, and a map of local bike lanes, other Citi Bike stations, and places to buy a helmet.

Images: ejchang, Capital Bikeshare, Nice Ride Minnesota, denverjeffrey, Divvy Bikes, Citi Bike

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The Solar Impulse could be the plane of the future; powered purely by the sun’s energy, the machine, developed by a cadre of corporate partners (and two determined pilots) has completed several long-flight tests proving its technology. 

Imagine flying up the coast, the sun glistening on the deep blue ocean far below, and hearing…nothing. Instead of a jet-engine roar, you discern just the wind whistling by. The Solar Impulse plane gives just that experience for its pilot; like an almost-silent electric car, this plane runs on the power of the sun, no dirty fossil fuels required. It can fly for 26 straight hours (yes, even at night!) and just this week completed its first-ever flight across the United States, touching down at New York City’s JFK airport.

Ten years ago, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg launched a daunting project: to build a plane that would run on the power of the sun alone. Meant to carry a message about sustainability, challenge the orthodoxy of flying, and bring together technology and sustainability (not to mention some serious engineering) success has come with the vision of a few and the sweat of many.

The project cost over the past decade is, according to Piccard, “About half the cost of a Hollywood blockbuster movie,” a detail that’s both accurate (they’ve spent about $150 million so far) and a comment on what current society finds valuable enough to invest in. It’s also, all things considered, pretty cheap as far as world-changing experiments go.

So how does the plane actually work? Flying during the day when it’s sunny is simple; the plane’s giant wings (about the size of a 747 to carry the weight of a 3,500-pound plane body) are covered in solar panels; enough to get the electric engines up and running for takeoff. The plane is so light that it alights with just 500 feet of runway. And no matter how overcast the day, once it reaches 30,000 feet, above cloud cover, there’s solar power galore. While flying during the day, the plane continues to gather energy and store it in batteries; as the day fades, gliding comes into play. It takes about four hours to glide down to 5,00o feet, using no power (gravity is free). Then the plane can run on the stored solar energy in its batteries. Piccard explains, “There are two ways to store energy: there’s potential energy we can harvest at altitude and the other is chemical storage. Together, that gives us 12 hours of flying time, enough so you can fly through the night.” By the time you need more solar energy, the sun is rising. The Solar Impulse team has proven this experiment by flying for 26 straight hours.

One thing that’s not sustainable about this plane? “The pilot,” says Borschberg. “A person can fly a maximum of about 26 hours; but the plane is almost limitless,” he says, since it doesn’t have to stop to refuel (unlike a human being, who needs to rest, as well as eat—oh biology).

Putting together such a lightweight plane was a task that required all 79 corporate partners to dig deep into their R&D departments. Note that they aren’t sponsors; the companies identified on the plane, including Bayer, Swiss Re, Omega, and Schindler all contributed newly developed materials as well as cash. Since even regular glue was too heavy, Bayer MaterialScience developed one that has carbon tubes of nanofiber, and since temps at 30K feet are consistently -40C, extremely light insulating materials were developed (which will now be used in refrigerators and other more terrestrial applications). Due to the high degree of engineering (this is a Swiss project after all), the plane runs at 94 percent efficiency.

Next for the project is a second plane (this one will have a bathroom!) and be able to carry 3-4 people. When asked about the project’s next iteration Piccard said, “We’re going around the world; 500 hours of flying in April and June of 2015. [Let’s] get rid of limits and fly forever.”

Main Image courtesy Solar Impulse.

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The future is so bright, you might want to 3D-print yourself some shades.

Amid worries about what untraceable, printable firearms mean for the future of our society, don’t be fooled into thinking this is all the world of 3D printing has to offer. In fact, thanks to a community focused on open-source design, and the collaborative powers of the internet, 3D printers have already begun to change our world for the better.

Robohand

Richard van As is a carpenter who tragically lost two fingers in a woodworking accident. When he began searching for a prosthetic replacement that would restore the use of his hand, he was shocked to learn that the only market options started at $10,000. Determined to find a more affordable alternative, van As took to the internet, where he soon encountered Ivan Owen–a DIY enthusiast who posted a YouTube video about a mechanical hand he’d made for fun. A few Skype conversations later, the two became a team. The pair used their Makerbot 3D printers to send ideas back and forth. Within a year, they had a working protype they called “Robohand.” To celebrate the fruit of their collaboration, the pair donated the first 3D printed Robohand to Liam, a five year-old boy who was born without any fingers on his right hand. The design plans for Robohand are available on the internet for anyone to use, and many other disabled children have already benefited.

3D-Printed Food

If there’s one thing our culture loves, it’s customization. We want our name, face, and personality infused into everything–including food. A recent report from TechNewsDaily asserted that creating customized novelty food will be one of the main reasons for a crossover into 3D printed edibles. Last year, designer Ralf Holleis unveiled a 3D-printer that can be used to whip up a batch of intricately-designed, perfectly-shaped sweet snacks in a jiffy (pictured above). But not all 3D printed foods would be novelties. NASA recently invested $125,000 for the development of a 3D printer that could automate food creation in space, and eventually, here on Earth as well. The device will use cartridges of sugars, complex carbohydrates, and protein to assemble a nutritionally acceptable meals that never spoil.

Cleaner, More Self-Sufficient Cities

Transportation–of ourselves and the goods we need to survive–is a major source of planet-killing pollution. The interdependence caused by a global economy can backfire when a natural disaster or war interrupts the normal flow of things. In order for future cities to become more self-sufficient, we’ve got to restore the ability to make things around the corner from where they’re sold, something that 3D printing makes possible for just about anyone.

“3D printing creates its final product in one process – unlike conventional manufacturing which often demands extensive casting, forming and molding and assembling up to thousands of parts, some from distant locations,” writes Neal Pierce for the Washington Post Writers Group.

“This could spell big cutbacks in massive container ships and their ports, together with fuel-guzzling truck rigs crisscrossing continents,” Pierce adds. “The United States’ heavy reliance on overseas manufacturing, especially from China, could be cut back dramatically. The carbon footprint of today’s manufacturing and transport could be reduced substantially. 3D involves dramatically reduced waste and use of toxic materials in manufacturing and can ease the demand for such nonrenewable resources as rare earth minerals.”

Images: Watz, Robohand, Ralf Holleis, 666_is_money

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Because life is sexier when you’re not a gas guzzler.

1. You’re so stealthy in that Prius, I’ll show you how to make some noise.
2. I save so much energy with this car, I can put the leftover to good use.
3. Just because I don’t use crude oil doesn’t mean I don’t like things dirty.
4. This car is small, but we can make it work.
5. Do you like things battery operated?
6. Can I offer you a space to plugin and recharge?
7. I like things with more miles per gallon.
8. Don’t worry, my energy levels never get low.
9. Want to charge up with me?
10. You make me glow as bright as your dashboard.
11. Who needs oil when you’re naturally charged?
12. Want to drive for miles and stare at my dashboard?
13. Nothing is sexier than meeting CAFE standards.
14. You’re so energy efficient.
15. I’d love to use you as two types of fuel.
16. My batteries are designed for extended life.
17. How long is your lifecycle emission?
18. Would you like to buy me dinner with your tax credit?
19. That aerodynamic architecture sure makes you look good.
20. I can feel my energy security rising when I am with you.
21. I bet we could maximize on that kinetic energy.
22. I’ll make sure you idle less.
23. Is that an advanced piece of machinery or are you just happy to see me?
24. How many engines do you have under your hood?
25. If I were a hybrid car, I’d let you hand the control over to my electric engine.
26. I don’t need to keep my engine running when I am with you.
27. I bet your dual source of energy means you’re up for a good time.
28. Don’t let the compact size fool you.
29. Are you as efficient with your hands as you are with your energy?
30. Would you like to improve my fuel economy?
31. You should see MY Stop/Start capability.
32. Did you just say “propulsion power?”
33. What do you say we pull over and plug into the grid?
34. Hold on, let me put on my back up sensor before you say another word.
35. Convert this.
36. You make me want to become a cleaner-burning woman.
37. Did you get the chassis stiffener on your model?
38. What do you say we get some non-toxic cleaners and go wax your car?
39. I’d love to be your hydrogen fueling station.
40. With all the MPG you get, we can totally drive into the sunset like, twice.
41. With all these high gas prices, we should park somewhere and talk.
42. You have a hybrid? You’re so unconventional. I like that.
43. Oh, you have two motors? That’s hot.
44. Your car’s power and movement turns my wheels.
45. Petroleum is so 2000.
46. What’s your favorite cruising speed?
47. This car is roomier than I thought! Does that mean we can recline the seats?
48. Mmmmm… plug in sounds sexy.
49. You’re like your hybrid, so quiet but so powerful.
50. Let’s make sure your gasoline engine doesn’t engage.

ALSO CHECK OUT:

Pick Up Lines for Jetsetters

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Image: DaveOnFlickr

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10 reasons why you should be living life on two wheels.

We believe in the power of two wheels, which is why we’re celebrating National Bike to Work Day. Even for those working at home, it’s an excuse to get out and ride. Fresh air, low carbon footprint, velo couture – what’s not to love about a lifestyle that involves cycling? The bike is a vehicle for social change, and the more people we have in our army of riders, the more power we have to continue to build an infrastructure in all cities that promotes a two-wheeled lifestyle.

Looking for some reasons that biking is good for our communities and the planet? We pulled together 10 good reasons to get on a bike.

1. Women who bike 30 minutes a day have a lower risk of breast cancer.
2. Bike commuters report lower stress and greater feelings of freedom, relaxation, and excitement than car commuters.
3. 47% of Americans say they would like more bike facilities in their communities.
4. Traffic congestion wastes nearly 3 billion gallons of gas per year in the U.S.
5. For every 1 mile pedaled rather than driven, about 1 pound of CO² is saved.
6. On a round-trip commute of 10 miles, bicyclists save around $10 daily.
7. Adolescents who bicycle are 48% less likely to be overweight as adults.
8. According to a recent study, if people switched to bikes for half of their short trips, they’d create a net societal health benefit of $3.5 billion per year from the increase in air quality.
9. Of the 10 most common causes of death in the U.S., seven are affected by transportation.
10. After analyzing national statistics from between 1985 and 2007, researchers found that vehicle use correlated approximately 99% with annual obesity rates.

Statistics from Bikes Belong.

Image: People for Bikes

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Eight of our favorite cities with bike share programs.

There are now almost 300 bike share programs around the world, from France to China, providing inhabitants with smart, environmentally friendly ways to get around.

So just where can you take advantage of  bike share? Here are eight bike sharing cities that we love.

Paris, France

Paris has been on the front pages of bike share news since it launched its popular Vélib system in 2007. Parisians and tourists alike take advantage of the program, making for about 50 million unique rides per year.

Hangzhou, China

Bike share has been available in Hangzhou since 2008 and with more than 50,000 bikes it’s the largest bike share system in the world.

Boulder, Colorado

Boulder just launched its B-Cycle program this spring, but in a college town with an avid crowd of outdoor enthusiasts, it’s no surprise that it has already been successful.

London, Britain

London’s bike share program is relatively new compared to many other European capitals, but that doesn’t make it any less noteworthy. With an interactive map available to users, you can get real-time information on the bikes available and where they’re parked.

Barcelona, Spain

Since launching in 2007, Barcelona has seen 11% of its population sign up for its bike share system, Bicing. In fact, the British Medical Journal reported that the program itself prevents 12 deaths a year. That may seem like a small number, but it’s an encouraging statistic for cities looking for more than environmental and transportation reasons to install programs.

Washington D.C.

With access to over 1,000 bicycles in Capital Bikeshare, there’s no excuse to show up to that meeting on The Hill on anything besides two wheels.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Bike sharing and investment in bike infrastructure is leading to cycling in the Argentine capital. The system launched a year ago and riders get to take advantage of improved bike paths and bike parking throughout the city.

Dublin, Ireland

When Dublin’s bike share program launched, it quickly became so popular that the city voted to expand the program from 500 bikes to 5,000.

Images: Jon & Alison, Payton Chung, Mr. T in DC, drinksmachine, Jsome1, IDTP, Mr. T in DC, infomatique

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Must-know terms for switching gears from gas and emissions to alternative vehicles.

Don’t get left behind while the future charges forward. We’ve created a definitive list to charge your knowledge of electric as the auto industry gears up for a hybrid vehicle forecast filled with plug-in and battery options. Here’s a list to help you brush up on the lingo and fuel your thirsty intellect.

Battery Electric – a vehicle powered by a device that stores electrical energy. Unlike gas in the fuel tank which only powers the gas engine, an electric motor on a hybrid car can put energy into batteries as well as draw energy from them.

Bio-Diesel – A diesel fuel comprised of vegetable oil or animal fat base.

Biomaterials – Car seats made of soy-based foam or soundproofing using old denim is an alternative interior material used by Ford’s engineers and others to furnish their new fleets with sustainable sources found in nature.

Butterflies – Used to curb range anxiety, the feedback screen in the 2013 Ford Fusion displays butterflies as an indicator of the additional range beyond your selected charge point destination. The more efficiently you drive, the more butterflies you see and the greater your battery range.

Carbon Efficiency – The cost of driving a vehicle in terms of emissions generated.

Charging Station – Why is San Francisco rushing to set these up outside City Hall? To encourage use of plug-ins of course. The stations, like gas station counterparts, are publicly accessible terminals to recharge your EV.

Chevy Volt – The 2011 Motor Trend car of the year, GM released the Volt in U.S. in December of 2010 and is considered by the EPA to be the most fuel-efficient car in its class with an internal combustion engine sold domestically. The Volt can travel up to 50 miles on its lithium ion battery before needing a charge.

Clean Coal – Is there such a thing when it comes to the environmental impact of coal energy generation? This term implies coal can be made a viable fuel source low in carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants. Techniques include chemically cleaning the minerals and impurities, gasification, treating flue gases with steam to remove sulfur dioxide and other methods to aid the efficiency of the conversion into electricity.

CNG – Acronym for Compressed Natural Gas, also known as methane.

Diesel Electric – A transmission system with a diesel engine connected to an electrical generator. It creates electricity that powers electric traction motors. Considered as a class of hybrid electric vehicle when electrical energy is stored in rechargeable batteries for high efficiency applications.

Electric Motor – A hybrid’s electric motor lets it act as a motor and generator sot hat it can draw energy from batteries to accelerate the car. When serving as a generator it can slow down the car and restore battery energy.

Electro Pollution Smog – A new kind of pollution often associated with cell phones and high tension cables, e-smog derived from electricity + smog is a term for all artificially produced electrical and magnetic fields and electromagnetic radiation. According to Ford, the Middle East has among the highest restrictions to reduce any dangers.

EV – Electric Vehicle

Feedback Concepts – As with the Ford butterfly display, feedback provides vehicle data to help drivers with range, navigation, phone, radio or other information.

Fisker Automotive – An American automaker that plans to release its Karma in the summer of 2011. It’s billed as the the world’s first true EV with extended range of 300 miles. The first 50 miles are on tailpipe-emission-free-electric-only charge. After 50 miles, a gas range-extending engine turns the generator to add an additional 250 miles of range. The Karma debuted at the 2008 North American International Auto Show and established the premium green car segment, one most major companies have since pledged to follow.

Ford Fusion – the 2013 plug-in exemplifies Ford’s new commitment to convert to affordable electric.

GM Impact – New green car concept introduced by GM at the Los Angeles Auto Show in the early 1990’s. The EV was touted for a driving range above 80 miles, a top speed of more than 100 mph and acceleration from 0 to 60 in 8.0 seconds.

HEV – An acronym for Hybrid Electric Vehicles.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell – This electrochemical cell consumes hydrogen to generate electricity.

Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) – Hybrids have a dual system that uses a small internal combustion engine and an electric motor to power a vehicle. The ICE refers to an engine with intermittent combustion of a fuel (usually a fossil fuel), as occurring with an oxidizer such as air in a combustion chamber.The expansion of the high temperature and pressure gases from the combustion applies direct force to a component of the engine such as pistons and moves the component over a distance generating mechanical energy. 

Lithium ion Battery – A rechargeable battery accommodating the flow of electricity by the movement of lithium ions from the negative terminal to the positive terminal.

NiCad – a type of rechargeable nickel cadmium battery using metallic cadmium as a cathod (electrode or terminal by which a current leaves an electrolytic cell).

Nissan Leaf – The 100% electric Leaf has been reserved by 2,000 customers  in limited U.S. markets – nearly 7,000 getting dibs in the first 65 hours Nissan opened the reservations.  “People are ready” says Nissan about the vehicles that spare  some 700 gallons of gas per year.

Overhead lines –Wires used to transmit electric energy to trains, trams, or trolleybuses at a distance from the energy supply point.

Parallel Hybrid – Combining two power sources (fuel tank and batteries) this way means both the engine and electric motor can turn the transmission at the same time and the transmission turns the wheels.

Mercury Switches – Their use has become controversial recently in terms of environmental restrictions on safe recovery and disposal of heavy metals by manufacturers. Such metals are used in automotive batteries and fluorescent lights and are present in factory waste or contaminated waste sites. A mercury switch consists of a sealed glass tube with two unconnected electrodes and a small amount of liquid mercury. When the tube is moved past a certain angle the mercury will pool between two electrodes and a connection is made, allowing electricity to flow through a completed circuit. Mercury is hazardous so many manufacturers are replacing switches with other mechanical methods of disruption electrical current.

Range Anxiety – Some of the new plug-ins need charging every 50 miles and this can produce anxiety in drivers worrying about running out of power.

Series Hybrid – Unlike parallel, the gas engine turns the generator and the generator can charge the batteries or power the electric motor driving the transmission. The gas engine in this type of hybrid does not directly power the vehicle.

Shielding Radiation – Are hybrids dangerous to our health? Scientists continue to study the effects of surplus radiation generated by the electromagnetic field from the AC current flowing from batteries to the engine and back again. Known as ionizing radiation, it is widely used in industry and medicine and presents a health hazard to living tissue. Numbers of acceptable levels vary, according to experts.

Toyota Prius – Now in its third generation, the Toyota hybrid hatchback went on sale in Japan in 1997 as the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle – and is considered the real McCoy by purists. Available worldwide in 2001, sales reached 1 million in September 2010, spurred on by rebates to reduce gas consumption. The U.S continues to be the biggest market.

Wireless Energy Transfer – The process in any system where electrical energy is transmitted from a power source, most commonly devices that convert one form of electrical energy to another. Wires are used to bear mechanical loads and carry electricity to telecommunications systems. Wireless transmission is useful in cases where instantaneous or continuous energy transfer is needed but interconnecting wires are hazardous or impossible.

Images: Justin Pickard; avinc; Chevy; EMF, Futureatlas, TechShowNetwork, Dustin Reynolds

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And then there’s the environment: Getting around by Amtrak rail requires about a third fewer BTUs per mile than passenger cars, and half of what it takes to fly. Plug that draw into your handy times a million (people) times a billion (BTUs) calculator and, given the option, rail wins big for all of us – always.

And now Amtrak is getting even greener by ordering 70 new electric locomotives that will be more energy efficient than the “toasters” they’re replacing, boasting “regenerative braking systems” that automatically return electricity to the power grid. The new trains will cost $466 million and are earmarked to run in the rail system’s Northeast corridor between Washington and Boston and the Keystone Corridor between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Under the six-year contract, manufacturer Siemens will start delivering the Amtrak Cities Sprinter ACS-64 electric locomotive in 2013.  They’ll be built using “renewable energy and provide cleaner, more efficient movement of people on the most heavily traveled rail route in the country,” says the “thrilled” (almost half a billion? I bet) president of Siemens.

The regenerative braking system, says the NYT, is used in cars like the Prius. When a electric vehicle slows down, its motors function as a brake and coverts energy in an electric current. In a car “the current goes back into the battery, which has limited capacity and can only accept it relatively slowly. On the train, the energy goes back into the overhead power lines and the electric grid, which can accept all of the energy quickly.”

Here’s another good reason to be hot on the tracks, and while Amtrak’s announcement leads with “it’s the economy, traveler” – the purchase will create 250 good ol’ American jobs, primarily at a facility in Sacramento, California, but also at plants in Norwood, Ohio, and Alpharetta, Georgia – green is green. So here’s to the green economy. Ride on, baby.

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I was sitting in traffic recently, when I noticed that the license plate in front of me featured a majestic bald eagle, its wings spread in flight above a caption that instructed me to “Conserve Wildlife.” Clearly this is a worthwhile sentiment, although I was surprised to see it on a license plate from New Jersey (a state better known for grand-scale corporate polluting than for saving the wetland habitats of nesting ospreys). But the real surprise of the conservation license plate was that it was attached to the back of an enormous white stretch limousine – a vehicle one does not immediately associate with conservation, wildlife, or any other earth-friendly concern.

The fact is, limos are really only known for two things: one is for transporting totally hammered young adults to and from bars, clubs, and bachelorette parties –  the other is for crapping on the planet by using an obscene and unnecessary amount of gasoline. Either way, it’s hard to see the limousine as a friend to bog turtles, when it is more commonly associated with inebriated meatheads who insist on popping up through the moon roof, fist-pumping and woo-hooing their way through residential neighborhoods.

I have to admit to a certain prejudice against limos. For one thing, whenever you see a young man in a powder blue tuxedo, he is almost always coming out of a limousine – as far as I’m concerned, this alone should be grounds for outlawing them. Limos used to be the vehicle of choice for prime ministers, brides, and captains of industry – they evoked an image of class and gracious living. Now they are likely to come with a “vomit deposit,” in case the backseat mini bar leads to an unpleasant, yet not entirely unpredictable conclusion.

Of course, limos are not the only fuel-inefficient cars sporting conservation license plates – the state of New Jersey will issue one to anybody willing to fork over $50.00 (most of which does actually go towards protecting endangered wildlife).

Promoted with the tag line of “Drive Conservation Home” these plates are intended to “let everyone know you believe in conservation, and let them know you’re doing something about it.” A noble sentiment, but the message is somewhat diluted when it’s attached to a car that’s bigger than my first apartment”¦a car with disco lights and a plasma T.V. …a car that is charged a “gas guzzler” tax to compensate for the pollution it creates.

Perhaps 33-foot party-bus limos should be charged $100 for conservation plates – or even $1,000. The extra money would go a long way towards helping the smog-choked peregrine falcons of Jersey City.

You have to wonder if encouraging citizens to take public transportation might not be a better way to protect animal habitats. But then we’d have to live without the unintended hilarity of having wildlife conservation promoted on the back of Hummers, SUVs and stretch limousines. Those license plates should really read: New Jersey: The delicious irony state.

Image: Gene Hunt

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