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Commuting in the liquid lane
Susan Gilmore, Seattle Times
Nat Hong and Bob Barrett commute on Puget Sound by bike – water bike, that is – to their jobs in Bremerton and Steilacoom.
“This is pretty hard to beat in terms of a pleasant commute,” said Hong, who lives on Bainbridge Island and teaches at Olympic College in Bremerton.
The drive would be 80 miles round trip. But with his water bike, the trip to work is just 12 miles – including one mile on the water.
Hong said he used to be irked because he could look across the water and see the place he worked.
…”I don’t buy gas. I’m putting no pollutants in the water,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for a long time and it feels quite natural. I don’t have a death wish. I’m not here to drown and I’m not risking my life.”
The 125-pound, $1,400 HydroBike has two pontoons, adding stability. The pedals drive a propeller. Hong and Barrett figure they can cruise at 5 mph.
…For his local commute, Hong had considered kayaking to work, but “I’m just intrigued by biking.”
“I see a lot of wildlife. A baby seal pup came up right next to me. Winter birds on a calm day look like confetti strewn across the water. I have a wonderful view of Mount Rainier.”
Hong admits his wife worries about him and thinks he’s a little crazy. But he, like Barrett, wears a life jacket. And neither has fallen in the water.
(22 January 2008)
Go to the original article for a photo of the water bike.
Fuel hikes won’t spur public transit
John Semmens, Dallas Daily News
People’s time is too precious to give up cars
—
With world crude oil prices hovering near $100 per barrel and cost at the gas pump exceeding $3 per gallon, all the ingredients would seem to be in place for dramatic changes in our daily commuting patterns, with millions of Americans shifting from private cars to public transit.
That’s the way markets are supposed to work: Higher prices encourage consumers to seek less-costly alternatives.
In fact, even before oil prices reached their current record levels, many were suggesting that the government push consumer costs higher by increasing gas taxes. The assumption is that higher prices would result in less gas being used.
However, the American people – known for their fierce independence as well as their common-sense frugality – don’t always act the way academic theorists and computer models (even free-market computer models) say they should.
Indeed, the dramatic rise in gasoline prices over the past several years seems to have had almost no impact on U.S. driving habits.
… The hope that rising gasoline prices or increased gasoline taxes will substantially increase public transportation use is unrealistic. Far from being disparaged as an “energy waster,” the automobile should be hailed for its ability to save our most precious resource: time.
John Semmens is a research fellow at the Independent Institute.
(22 January 2008)
Contributor Jeffrey Brown (westexas) writes:
Meanwhile, most people believe in an infinite rate of increase in our energy consumption…
Shipping’s impact on the air
Rachel Oliver, CNN
Up until very recently, conventional wisdom held that shipping was a minor player in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. That all changed in October last year. Leaked details of a report by the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko) got into the press, and revealed an uncomfortable truth about the shipping industry — its emissions could be double the amount everyone previously believed.
Ships emit twice as much greenhouse gases as planes, according to at least one report.
And that would make it’s carbon footprint double that of the aviation industry.
The aviation industry emits around 650 million tons of greenhouse gases every year, representing around 3 percent of the global total.
If the leaked documents from research submitted for the Interanko report are to be believed, the shipping industry’s contribution is more than twice the amount previously believed (600 million tons) — which would mean ships emit as much as 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases a year.
That would mean ships contribute between 5 percent and 6 percent of all the world’s greenhouse gases.
(20 January 2008)
