Sustainable transport

Global bike sharing news

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I have been blogging here many times over on how biking and bike sharing are great sustainable solutions to fossil fuels depletion, high oil prices, air pollution and traffic congestion. While browsing Cleantechnica in search of great articles to share with you all, I found a blog solely dedicated to bike sharing and the many … Read more

Hiriko, the folding electric car

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Here is a new article I wrote for Cleantechies : ” Cities are facing many problems, including the lack of parking spaces and air pollution. Regular electric vehicles would solve the air pollution issue, but not the parking one.” ” This is probably why the (MIT worked on a folding electric car codenamed CityCar. The … Read more

Electric cars batteries’ prices to drop by 2015

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Now having to commute by car to get to my new job I can’t wait for having an electric car. But current prices are way to high for me to afford one. Luckily, this might change quite quickly. To AutoBlog Green : ” U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu estimates that plug-in vehicle battery costs will … Read more

An electric car goes 1,600 km on a single charge

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Is this the car of tomorrow ? Gas 2.0 published an article on an electric car that did more than 1,600 kilometers (a thousand miles) with a single charge. The top speed was less than 50 kilometers per hour. As they note : ” The record for longest drive ever in a battery-powered vehicle (no … Read more

Two luminous ideas for bikes (Video)

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With the incoming energy scarcity crisis, we are all due to rediscover one way or another the many advantages of biking as fueling our cars will get more and more expansive. Bikes are great, but a tad dangerous when the night comes.

Luckily for all the bikers of the night, Treehugger have been publishing an article on not one but two great ideas : Revolights – which is currently looking for funds – and AURA, a project by two students of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Both systems put lights into the wheels themselves. I don’t know about you but these projects make me think of the movies Tron. Below you will find the videos of the projects.

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Grist : How bicycling will save the economy

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While I am a huge supporter of electric cars and mass transportation, I also believe bikes should play a more important role in our lives and cities.  And so does Grist with its great Bikenomics series of three articles. Indeed, cycling allows people to stop buying foreign oil and thus spend their money in local … Read more

USA unveil $53 billion high speed rail investments

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American high speed rail supporters, rejoice ! To Ecogeek : ” Vice President Joe Biden announced that the Obama administration is investing $53 billion in high speed rail development over the next six years.”

Yes, you read it right : President Obama is really willing to invest nearly 40 billion euros in high speed rail to enable 80 percent of Americans to have access to this great alternative to both private cars and planes.

As a long time supporter of public transportation, I am absolutely thrilled by this announcement. This should enable the country to start catching up with European countries, Japan and China…

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Famous people who rode bikes

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I believe bikes should play a more important role in our daily lives. So when TreeHugger blogs – again as they already wrote a post on a great photo of Albert Einstein riding a bicycle too – I have to share it. On this awesome Tumblr website, you will find photos of people including The … Read more

SNCF, à nous de vous faire préférer le train ?

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The French National Railways want us to believe their service is so good you will ditch your car and take only trains. At first I thought so as the SNCF indeed enabled me to avoid a tonne of CO2 emissions in 2008.

But between their often prohibitive tariffs and their repetitive and long-lasting strikes I am tired. I am also fed up of waiting between two trains, sick of the time it takes to just to just get there…

I am not the only in thinking that the service proposed by the SNCF could improve dramatically and that a little competition would do wonders.

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Bikes are as important as cars

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In terms of sustainable transportation, there is nothing better than bikes. Indeed besides being the most energy efficient transport mean it is also good for our environment and health (exercise, reduced air pollution…)

Now acknowledging these facts US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is urging states and transportation agencies to treat “walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes.”

All this is fantastic news and I hope this will help a bit America end her love affair with cars. This will benefit the country – and our planet – in many ways.

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Can America end her love affair with cars ?

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This was the question I had on my mind as I read that for the first time in 60 years, the US car fleet decreased by four million in 2009. Is this a limited phenomenon or will it continue ?

The Earth Policy Insitute believes this trend could last until at least 2020. This makes sense to me as with the economic crisis and relatively high oil prices, people are looking for other options.

From public transportation to carpooling and from carsharing to bikes (traditional or electric), there are many alternatives to cars. But will it be enough to change the American way of life ?

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E-bikes : a growing sustainable alternative to cars

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We have seen previously that electric cars and vehicles are an interesting alternative to traditional cars with internal combustion engines. But another solution exist : electric bicycles.

There are already 65 million e-bikes on Chinese roads and the market size is fastly increasing Such bicycles compete with cars in large cities like Shanghai as they are cheaper and often more convenient (think about traffic congestions…)

The demand for electric bikes is growing worldwide in both developped and developping nations and the global market is worth $11 billion (8 billion euros).

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