In Berlin this weekend, (apart from our own “The Editors Invite” event), there is also a trade show all about renewable energy. It’s called Solar Energy 2008 but includes everything from solar mobility to electric Go-Cart racing. Representatives from all sectors of the mobility area are included, including The Trike, Jetcar, The Eco Compact Car and of course the electric Go-Carts!
For a blast from the past, there is even the Electric VW from 1972!Need to work on the move? Or even better, do you want to work outside in the open air? The Greener Grass brought us this snazzy idea of a desk that can power you laptop using the sun’s rays. The Suntable stores the solar energy in a battery , which is then accessible with a power outlet on the side of the table itself.Image from The Greener Grass
London is going even further in trying to prove its green credentials. Ken Livingstone has proposed that owners of vehicles emitting 225 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre will have to pay £25 per day to drive through London. More at Treehugger.
On the other hand, I actually prefer Livingstone's plan to introduce shared urban biking. Although some have described their design as “grannyish”, I always like a sturdy basket on when I ride!
In other cities, where there is just not enough space for more cars, they are starting to build downwards. Dutch engineers have unveiled plans for a £1bn underground city beneath the canals of Amsterdam. The $1.5bn project, called AMFORA was proposed to address the lack of space and the high price of land in the city. It is being discussed with Amsterdam’s council, but construction work is unlikely to begin before 2018.

Image from Zwarts & Jansma
The results of the Greener Gadgets Conference has come out. The winner was the Enerjar , “an easy-to-build, DIY device that accurately measures the power draw of electrical appliances”. The designers were Matt Meshulam and Zach Dwiel. You can see more on Core 77.

After visiting London two weeks ago for a Conference on Climate Change organized by the Guardian I found it interesting that a lot is talked about sustainabile lifestyle in the London, especially about urban environmentalism.We already met Sir Norman Foster in February in Munich where he gave a splendid speech about his vision of living in the cities in the 21st century. When I read the article of our Pioneer Bart on mingledingle I found the link to a text about a zero emissions home which I would like to share with you:The UK has unveiled its first zero emission home that will set the environmental standard for all new homes in the future.The two-bedroom house is insulated to lose 60% less heat than a normal home.It also features solar panels, a biomass boiler and water efficiency devices such as rainwater harvesting.The design, unveiled at the Offsite 2007 exhibition in Watford, meets rules to be applied in 2016 that aim to make UK homes more energy-efficient.The Kingspan Off-Site's Lighthouse design is the first to achieve level six of the Code for Sustainable Homes - which means the house is carbon neutral.About a quarter of UK carbon emissions come from homes. You find the whole story here

The ground-breaking BMW Hydrogen 7 has been presented to Deputy Mayor of London and London Hydrogen Partnership Chair, Nicky Gavron, at City Hall to raise awareness of hydrogen as an alternative energy source for tomorrow's consumers.

John Hollis and Nicky Gavron in LondonBMW UK's Head of Government and Industrial Affairs, John Hollis, handed over the BMW Hydrogen 7 for the use of the Deputy Mayor. Hydrogen is an efficient and clean form of power supply resulting in only water vapour exiting the exhaust. The car is part of BMW's initiative to encourage debate around the role of hydrogen in the economy. For the next two months, cars will be evaluated in the UK by business leaders and opinion formers.John Hollis said: "BMW is a pioneer in the development and use of hydrogen as a fuel source and shares the vision of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor that London should be one of the world centres for Hydrogen. In recognition of the work the Mayor's Office has done in this field, BMW would like it to be the first public organisation in the country to have the use of a Hydrogen 7 car.” Find the whole story

Making Getting Around Easier
Singapore and London have implemented congestion pricing schemes and now possibly soon New York will follow as first steps in programs to clean the air, reduce congestion & pollution costs and improve the quality of life and public transport. Fossil fueled vehicles are likely to become cost-ineffective dinosaurs in cities first, hopefully precipitating a trend that will spread outward from urban cores. Congestion pricing has as much to due with changing traffic & transportation patterns as is does with behavior modification of both the people who plan and use them. It is a first step on the road to planned obsolescence of petroleum fueled vehicles and their replacement both by less destructive fuel systems and more efficient public transportation in urban areas where air quality really suffers and residents pay an additional carbon based lung tax with every breath.
Hard to Break AddictionsLess traffic and more efficient transportation may eventually lead to the development of cost effective 'people mover' type technologies, ZipCars being a first iteration of this in the US and the personalized people movers planned in the UAE a second. It also offers a significant opportunity to begin replacing roadbeds with pervious surfaces better for both walking and run-off control and ultimately leading to a reduction in the pavement area needed to support traffic. Nicky Gavron, the Deputy Mayor of London makes clear, well thought out points that are based on the practical experience of the large scale implementation of congestion pricing in a big city. The system in London works even though the US Embassy, for example, has gained local notoriety for its refusal to pay its congestion charges.
Central LondonOne of the most important points Deputy Mayor Gavron made was the importance of 'doing your homework so as to have answers ready for the questions your constituents will inevitably ask about how it will affect them.' One of her main goals was to make the last mile home a safe and enjoyable commute for everyone. When you change the pattern of transportation you make the look and feel of the streets better which causes a boom in people outside on the streets and leads to a general improvement in sidewalk amenities across the board. "Right now we are feeling the effects of oil burned in the 1950's. Today we use the same amount of oil in 6 weeks we used in a year back then. The consensus is we have 10 years to stop runaway climate change. One of the principle ways we can do this is to reduce fossil fueled car & truck use which accounts for 60-70% of CO2 (and other) greenhouse gasemissions," Nicky Gavron."London introduced congestion pricing as a first step. It was done against hysterical and sustained press opposition and after a London City Government was re-instated after having been abolished 14 years previously by PM Margaret Thatcher. "At that time London had the worst air quality, in terms of nitrous oxides and particulate matter at street level of any city in Europe. At baby carriage level this meant children were getting advanced placement in Asthma from the cradle on."As part of congestion pricing, London decided that buses were the most cost effective and immediate way to get people moving quickly. Using established techniques such as dedicated lanes, express buses and developing a reliable schedule TfL started overhauling the bus system.
The JamAfter congestion pricing was implemented, all bus schedules had to be changed because all the buses started running ahead of schedule for the first time in memory. There was a strong bias against using buses due to Margaret Thatchers famous remark 'if you are seen on a bus after 30, you are a loser in life.' A perception that took some effort to change so that the bus system is now perceived as classless.' Modern, convenient and on time scheduled transportation have done a lot to change that previous view. Doing the advance research and groundwork is really important to get congestion pricing implementation right. In addition to dedicated bus and bicycle lanes you need:-reliable number (license) plate recognition technology
-reliable comfortable and timely bus service
-resident discounts
-free weekends
-local resident parking permits
-vouchers for visitors
-exceptions for alternatively fueled vehicles, hybrids & handicapped
-and multiple payment technology optionsIn London's case one can be billed, pay online, pay by text message or just about any other variation you can think of. Also London has worked out schemes to keep neighborhoods on the periphery of the central zone from becoming in Nicky Gavron's phrase : 'Rat Runs' places where drivers descend en masse upon to avoid the central zone charges passing through or leaving their vehicles to clog these border or peripheral areas with traffic, parked vehicles and noxious fumes. The system works in London. Councilman Goia from LIC District in New York states that we already have a pricing regime that encourages rat running in NYC and helps put asthma inhalers in kid's pockets. So implementing an actual charge that can be put into the transportation coffers is not such a big step since commuters are already paying the costs but getting no benefits.
A Google ViewNumbers:
Some features and statistics. Residents of London's central zone receive a discount of upto 90%, alternatively fueled vehicles go free, wherever they come from. The number of cars in the central zone is down 30%, traffic in general is down 25%, 60% switched the means of their commutes while there was no overall change in the number of commutes. Like in London over 40% of New Yorkers do not have cars so the majority of people already use public transport. The system costed about 190 million sterling to setup and costs about 95 million sterling to run annually in Central London. It generates about 212 million in revenue of which 120 million is reinvested back into the system. Particularly into freight transfer centers which act as joint depots for the delivery of materials, goods and cargo. It seems to have had a neutral impact on businesses, some business have benefitted other niche businesses have been forced to relocate to different parts of London indirectly stimulating those neighborhoods with unexpected new development. There have been increases in average speed and people feel much better about their streets.
Lagos Rush HourThe program affected about 15% of Londoners, 10% of car commuters but the 10% of shoppers who journey by car stayed the same. Tourists, commuters in general and cyclists seem to have benefited. Their successful implementation shows the importance of getting your technology and monitoring right and take into account the public. Congestion pricing leads to and can encourage emissions influenced charges effectively a system of differential charges based on tailpipe outfalls. It will encourage the use of alternatively fueled vehicles and help create the market infrastructure to produce, fuel and maintain them. Effectively stimulating growth from the center out. Vehicles, especially commercial ones, are often replaced in a 6-10 year cycle as they live out their appointed lifespans. This can lead to a significant change in vehicle composition in only a space of 10 years. Congestion pricing is a tool to get there. Effectively an aging, congested transportation system already levies a time and a gas tax on business. Who if they change their vehicle types go free or at a reduced rates of 33% which would give them and advantage over their competition and result in more available loans for vehicle change-over, lower cost insurance and other benefits such as cutting down on vehicular emissions which affect the public health because as a recent USC study has shown 50% children who grow up withing 500 meters of a expressways have lung damage by the age of 10.Things that can be done now with little or now capital outlay:
-Intermodal Hubs
-Express Bus service
-Commuter Rail access
-Light Rail Expansion is necessary but more expensive so comes later. Congestion pricing also effectively changes the pattern of real estate and business development by feeing up resources and giving people a different route for the last mile home. For example New York's transportation system was mostly designed 100 years ago to bring workers from the Boros to industry in Manhattan. The city has changed a lot since then and so has the demand for better interboro, interregional, intermodal passenger & freight connexions.
New York, Same ProblemsMaking the right economic choices for the future helps. Congestion pricing is a tool that Singapore & London have used to get on that road to regional transportation systems that work better and ecourage the purchase and use of fossil fuel free personal and commercial vehicles. Planned implementations, are likely to be criticized in the press as some kind of social engineering from the top down whether the result is ultimately good or bad. Sometimes it takes the carrot and the stick to get a slow moving beast on the right road. For More information:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/

Nicky Gavron, the City of London's Deputy Mayor speaks out on the politics of implementing congestion pricing there. Mayors from 40 of the World's Largest Cities were in New York this week for the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit. Here they and their aides spent 4 days comparing notes on policies and their implementation to deal with the challenges of climate change, sustainability, jobs & population. The majority of the World's Population now lives in Cities and they consume 75% of the world's energy and produce 85% of its greenhouse gas emissions. Mayor's of the World's largest cities now find themselves at the forefront of designing and implementing policies that may set the standard for the rest of their respective nations.

Who Came

Remember the movie „The Truman Show“? The ideal suburb, ideal neighbours and the ideal life – everything too good to be true. Watching the movie I constantly thought: how can he not see or feel or both that all of this is just too perfect, hence can not be real? Well, I experienced my own Truman Moment when I first read about BedZed (short for Beddington Zero Energy Development) – just the other way around!
This one and only carbon-neutral eco-community in the UK is located in the south of London and is a “dream come true” for all environmentalists. Developed and built in 2002 by the Peabody Trust in cooperation with the BioRegional Development Group, it is designed to produce at least as much energy as it consumes. Only energy from renewable sources is used to meet the energy needs of the community, literally not emitting any single carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (therefore being called carbon-neutral). Not to say that the buildings have been constructed from natural, recycled or reclaimed materials.But this is by far not all: in order to support the residents living in the community to achieve a sustainable lifestyle, they address topics like transportation, food and waste management. All community members have access to the carsharing service at the community based car club. BedZed also offers several charging points for electric vehicles – making running such a car a practical option. Farmers markets for fresh food supply are in walking distance. And the list goes on.
Unless your name is Truman, you might now ask: there must be a downside - like: The buildings might be carbon-neutral but ugly. The apartments might be sustainable but too expensive to buy.The monitoring charts will prove you wrong on the last point: the price for a sustainable residential home might be up to 20% higher than what you would pay for a conventional house, but the savings in space heating, hot water and electricity will make more than up for it in the long run. And to dispel the worries about the looks: In 2003 BedZED did not only win the Stirling Prize, a national architecture award, but also the Housing Design Award for their ‘Completed Scheme’. Eco- Celebrity-Designers like Oliver Heath use BedZED and its surroundings as their showroom.

But the best proof that the concept works are the residents being proud of where they live and considering that they are living somewhere special. The lesson we learned from the Truman Show seems not to apply to this community: for now it is the closest version of a perfect green community – so good it better be true!
BioRegional also offers seminars/educational program about the lessons learned from BedZED:Fotos: www.sustainability.com