alternative transportation

It’s official - I’m buying one. After just a single ride on Zuumcraft’s new Zuumer Electric Scooter, I’ve just put my down payment for my very own unit. Why? Because the Zuumer is the single most innovative, most useful, and most fun VLEV (Very Light Electric Vehicle) that I’ve ever ridden, and I’ve tried a few. And I don’t impress easily. Check out the hands-on review.

This is the first commercially viable hybrid bus that should see the market place by 2010. It reduces particle and nitrous oxide emissions by 40-50%, carries more passengers, and runs quieter than its fully diesel counterpart.

Pedal-power, with class seating.

In addition to the video link, this post describes and provides additional links for electric cars that are available now. The article refers to explanations of how, by coupling solar panels for charging batteries and by adding power to the grid from distributed solar power stations, including homes, it is possible to run the grid without coal or nuclear power.

A friend invited me to join a site called GenGreen, which is basically a MySpace-esque site for the environmentally conscious. I was surprised to see some of the members who are using the site because I could never have guessed some of these people cared about the environment. What appears to make GenGreen different is that its focus is local and it has a somewhat separate section for each state in the U.S. You'll have to visit the site to see what I mean. It's a new-ish site, but their intentions are beyond anything I've seen. This is worth your attention!

Columbus is getting ready to start construction on a new streetcar line. This will be the first commuter rail line in Columbus in nearly 30 years. Downtown is lacking in alternative modes of transportation and the new streetcar will help to shuttle residents, visitors, students and workers all over the downtown area.

Randy Cohen, the man who sorts out readers' ethical dilemmas in his NY Times Magazine feature column The Ethicist , weighs in on the automobile's impact on urban life.

Iconoclastic car company founded by automotive entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin hopes to research and innovate green vehicles., out from under the long shadow of Detroit.

The Green Grandma feels challenged to consider what has been lost: cheap gas, green meadows, great places, and her innocence. She experiments with mass transit in a community not exactly noted for its rapid transit - in a metropolitan region tied with Los Angeles for sprawl and highway gridlock, she takes the bus and gives it mixed reviews.

The Brooklyn Paper's slogan (“Brooklyn’s Real Newspaper”) really rings true with what is a pretty remarkable coverage of issues that matter to our beloved borough. Here is a sampling of the compelling — and often green — stories in their August 18, 2007 edition.

Today’s post continues on this week’s transportation theme. A few days ago we posted an article about electric cars and it got us thinking - what about electric forms of mass transportation? So we started researching, and found some of the most interesting new developments we’ve come across in quite some time.

Most of us have been on at least one flight in our lives, boarding a massive jumbo jet that burns thousands of gallons of fuel to soar through the sky. What you might not know, is how quickly those jets, the companies who build them, and the companies who fly them, are changing industry standards to become more and more sustainable.

“Teach your children well.” No, we’re not talking about music today, we’re talking about “Back to School” week. As our children head back to school, we’ll take a look at some of the things that affect them most, and the sustainability trends in schools, libraries, and of course the buses that get them there. Most children spend between 5 – 8 hours a day in school. The largest problem with conventional schools is poorChildren at School indoor air quality and bad lighting.