Transportation

July is smart-car-sighting month.

ellen — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:21:00 -0400

The Smart Car finally made its debut in the U.S. this past January and they're all over the place!

We've been starting to see them Brooklyn (we love when we see them parked perpendicular to the curb!) Although it took a little while to reach the US, they have been more than commonplace in Europe for years. Its great to see this compact, highly efficient and eco-friendly transportation buggy here, brought to you by the inventor of the Swatch watch, Nicolas Hayek.

Some of the future-friendly features of the smart car include: 41 miles to the gallon, use of only water-soluble paints for its three basic colors – black, white and yellow, and its molded-in color body panels are fully recyclable. I know it looks like it would be smashed like a tin can in an accident but it actually has a 4-star crash rating in the US.

If you're in Japan, you may even see a Smart Car in one of these vending machines. No, unfortunately a quarter won't buy you one of these from the dispenser, but you can get information about the car, and where you can purchase one.

Let us know if you see a smart car! Send us your photo, and we'll add it to our list of Smart Car sightings in the month of July.

Ready ... smart.... go!

Green Before its Time: The Brooklyn Bridge Celebrates 125 years

ellen — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:05:12 -0400

This weekend, the Brooklyn Bridge Celebrates 125 years since its opening in 1883.

Although the concept of "green" didn't exist 125 years ago, this bridge was certainly built to last! The integration of a bridge made for cars, while being very pedestrian and bike friendly sends a strong message about design and exhibits a true understanding of the city environment. Although the bridge has been refurbished several times, the original elements of the bridge are still standing strong (and beautiful).

The bridge is also undergoing some major lighting upgrades. This past December, Mayor Bloomberg included as part of his efforts to cut greenhouse emissions and lower energy, replacement of all of existing 100-watt lights, with new 24-watt LED lights. An estimated 24 tons of carbon dioxide is expected to be saved from being released into the atmosphere each year from these improvements (link). Although the string of lights that elegantly mark the bridge at night will be slightly dimmer, this change is significant.

As part of this weekend's celebration to mark the historical significance of one of our nations oldest and longest suspension bridges, a series of events have been planned. The festivities began yesterday evening with a fireworks display, and will continue through the weekend with a Navy flyover, a tribute song, and more. Whats also exciting locally here in DUMBO - are the new images, art and way finding graphics that the NYC DOT has installed [DUMBO NYC link]. The installation is a permanent display, with new LED and fiber optic lights highlighting the foot of the bridge path, for easy access for pedestrians who may have previously had difficulty finding the path from the underpass (it's the #1 question tourists ask us in DUMBO - "how do we get onto the bridge"? A series of metal frame panels display graphics describing the significance of the bridge, even showing a photo of its original opening in 1883.

www.ehapc.com

[brooklyn green] www.ehapc.wordpress.com

Shuttle the Students

akronheim — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:43:37 -0400

Since Ithaca College signed on to The Presidents Climate Commitment Committee, part of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, everyone in the campus community has to figure out how to get our carbon emissions down in order to be carbon neutral. The Student Government Association (SGA) has proposed using a shuttle to take students from the Circle apartments to the campus for class. It's a 20-30 minute walk, so a shuttle would be very useful.

This would definitely benefit the traffic congrestion and reduce the college's carbon emissions. The shuttle might even use biodiesel instead of regular gasoline. In fact, current personal transport numbers would be cut in half if 100% of circles residents used it everyday instead of driving. University of Maryland has a free shuttle in that if you show your student I.D. you can ride the public bus for free. Penn State provides a free shuttle that travels all around campus. Penn State also facilitates carpooling to campus in making available interested parties and their schedules in the Student Affairs Office for students to check out. Even nearby Cornell has a shuttle and an online resource for carpooling students to connect.

If all of these schools can get a shuttle and/or a carpool parking option, IC can do the same. SGA sent out a survey to gauge how valuable a shuttle from the Circles would be and with these results we'll see if they can persuade the powers that be. If you read my previous blog entitled "Generation Quiet?" you'd know that I was working on a proposal for a carpool lot on campus as well. And just so you know, Parking Services is looking into the carpool lot due to our call-in day, and two school newspapers have opinion peices about it. Thanks a bunch if you called! SGA was responsive to the carpool lot idea as well, but more keen on a shuttle because it would service so many people concretely. Either way works for me! But both the carpool lot and shuttle would be best. That way on and off campus students could participate in reduce the IC carbon footprint. And if all of those other schools can do it, we definitely can.