San Fransisco is installing a network of wireless sensors in the asphalt based on the "smart dust" technology to come out of UC Berkeley. Once in place, battery-operated "bumps" will not only relay information about open parking spots to drivers via street signs and smart phones, they'll also convey real-time information about congestion and traffic and flow to city planners.
Parking policy might seem like a minor matter, but the numbers tell a different story. Professor Donald Shoup, the godfather of parking reform, has conducted research showing that drivers cruising for parking are responsible for up to 30% of traffic in central business districts. In one small area studied, cruising burned an additional 47,000 gallons of gasoline per year.
Price increases inevitably encounter resistance from consumers. But if the promises of variable-price parking live up to the hype - reduced traffic, improved city services, and less time spent hunting for spots - this could end up being a change that residents demand.
April 2008 saw another sharp drop in vehicle miles traveled according to the Federal Highway Administration's monthly report on "Traffic Volume Trends." This follows "the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history" in March.
This is not surprising at all I am sure. As far as I am concerned it is only a matter of time before businesses begin adopting more telecommuting opportunities just to be able to retain and hire new employees.
Congratulations to those reporters who clearly received their journalism degrees from the University of the Obvious!
Anyway, the specific stats are as follows: "U.S. driving went down 4.5 billion miles in April."
And in other far more interesting news we have the new nightclub in the UK which is powered by dance floor energy!
Mr Charalambous, the head of a new climate change organisation called Club4Climate, said he hoped to use clubbing to inspire young people to tackle global warming.
"This is a new way to draw in the young generation," he said.
"It's a sexy and fresh approach as opposed to the way young people feel they are preached to by other more 'grown-up' charities.
"Our aim in opening the country's first ecological club is to get as many people as possible involved in saving their world.
"There is no greater platform than clubbing to reach out to young people. Having an energy-generating dance floor is a very exciting and interesting-idea that we have been talking to people in Rotterdam about. Such a dance floor could generate about 60 per cent of the building's energy."
There are batteries in the dance floor and they are constantly recharged by the movement from people dancing. Personally, I think, this is the most awesome contribution to storing energy ever!
This morning I was scanning the headlines on EcoMoto.org and was interested to see one about orange peels.
A group of University of Guadalajara students were researching essential oils when they discovered that orange peels could be used to make ethanol. Ethanol is used to dilute gasoline in car engines so that less gas is used.
News like this is rather exciting because the more natural resources we find to help make gas greener means the less prices will go up for each item. It also means there will be more ways to create ethanol and dilute gas...therefore minimizing the amount of mass drilling needed!
