Blogs & Ecology

Photo of the Ridgefield Fitness Club by Green Revolution.

It is now officially a trend. While human-generated energy has previously been mostly limited to one-off solutions rigged together by inventive tinkerers, at least four gyms globally have now gotten in on the act, using the power from their members pedaling to reduce their energy bills, and in one case, even give back a little bit of the savings to gym goers! Started last year at Hong Kong's California Fitness, the idea of saving energy through human power is spreading. Read on.

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Goodmorning got an honorable mention for a bike share program it designed for Brookyn for the Forum for Urban Design.

In New York City only 1% of the city's commuter trips are estimated to be by bicycle. But overall ridership in NYC has increased 344% since 1980.

photo soylentgreen23 @ flickr.

More cyclists. That's the unscientific conclusion of some quick on-the-spot reporting by Denmark's iByen newspaper after the city of Copenhagen decided on a three-month experiment starting October 1 to shut out car traffic on a main city thoroughfare called Nørrebrogade.

Green wave growing

Photo chad_k @ flickr

It only takes five minutes in the city of Copenhagen (especially when arriving by train) to wonder why all cities aren't developing in this same mold - plenty of open streets with wide pedestrian and bike lanes, bikes to easily rent at a number of venues, and a wealth of organic food at the corner stores.

Density defying?

The UN post-Kyoto Copenhagen Climate Conference summit meeting to take place next year is pushing Danes to build up a quick fleet of battery-driven hybrid fuel cell cars.

Based on the electric THINK

Portland is a cyclist's city with expanding bike paths (200 miles installed since 2000) and increasing numbers of riders, but also some pain and problems as more cyclists and motorists try to co-exist. On inner-city rides it is easy to feel that a majority of motorists are accustomed to cyclists and have shifted their habits accordingly, though big trucks still feel like a major hazard.

Portland loves green box biking

Inspired by the swirling currents of the ocean, a new state-of-the-art aquarium due to open in Copenhagen is modelled on a giant whirlpool, giving one the opportunity to view marine life in its element. But are we witnessing a new breed of environmental entertainment?

The Ecocab, that jazzy three-wheeled improvement on the older pedicab/rickshaw idea, debuted the first of May in Toronto and has been seen in cities such as Dublin and in Berlin for last year's World Cup. In Toronto, advertising is to be the main revenue for cab company owners, at least at first. But while the new Stockholm-based fleet of eight Ecocabs trolling the inner city are brightly emblazoned with ads, they also cost cold hard cash, in some cases more than a regular taxi.

Pictured is the Danish Kangaroo cargo bike

After a car-free 1.5 years in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, it had become time to reassess the bike set-up, because a wire basket, back rack and single pannier just didn't seem to be cutting for this rider anymore. When you have to carry every liter of milk, stick of butter and pot of paint either by foot or on your own pedal power, cargo bikes had started to look more and more enticing. That recent weekend in Copenhagen also again made it clear that the Danes are a light-year ahead of everyone (except, perhaps, the Dutch) when it comes to all things urban biking.

Spring has finally reached the northern reaches of the Northern Hemisphere, and that means amusement parks, and in Denmark's case, lots of beer drinking (it's legal to imbibe on the streets). In addition to amusing and not-so-amusing public drunkenness, the drinking policy also leads to mountains of street trash after a warm spring night.