Underground Bicycle Parking

Source : YouTube

How green is that iPhone?

At the end of June Apple will launch its first major product since Steve Jobs 'A Greener Apple' statement. So how green will the iPhone be?

Like everyone else we don't know what's in the iPhone yet. It debuts June 29th. But we already know how green a phone can be. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola have both removed some of the worst chemicals from their phones and identified extra toxic chemicals they intend to remove in the future -- even beyond the minimal legal requirements.

Nokia and Sony Ericsson have a global take-back policy for their phones and accept their responsibility to reuse and recycle the phones they manufacture. That saves resources and helps prevent old phones ending up as e-waste dumped in Asia.

To read more, click here www.greenpeace.org

Source: Greenpeace.org

Cycling headphone

Just riding a bike in a busy city is dangerous enough but riding while not being able to hear the cars, buses, people and hundreds of other obstacles is downright suicidal. But I still see plenty of people on their bikes wearing the standard white iPod earbuds which are basically designed to effectively block out the noises around them.

The Slipstreamz let you enjoy your music when riding while still allowing you to hear the traffic around you by positioning the earbuds outside your ear which allows ambient noises to be easily heard. The Slipstreamz are designed to be attached to the straps on a cycling helmet which is what holds them in place over your ears and also allows them to block the wind both reducing noise and preventing your ears from freezing on a cold winter morning.

Source: OhGizmo

What is GPS?

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense. GPS was originally intended for military applications, but in the 1980s, the government made the system available for civilian use. GPS works in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day. There are no subscription fees or setup charges to use GPS.

How it works

GPS satellites circle the earth twice a day in a very precise orbit and transmit signal information to earth. GPS receivers take this information and use triangulation to calculate the user's exact location. Essentially, the GPS receiver compares the time a signal was transmitted by a satellite with the time it was received. The time difference tells the GPS receiver how far away the satellite is. Now, with distance measurements from a few more satellites, the receiver can determine the user's position and display it on the unit's electronic map.

A GPS receiver must be locked on to the signal of at least three satellites to calculate a 2D position (latitude and longitude) and track movement. With four or more satellites in view, the receiver can determine the user's 3D position (latitude, longitude and altitude). Once the user's position has been determined, the GPS unit can calculate other information, such as speed, bearing, track, trip distance, distance to destination, sunrise and sunset time and more.

Source: Garmin website.

Bicycle Lift in Trodheim, Norway

MIT on Aero

In the latest Bicycling mag they have a small article on aerodynamic testing as done at the wind tunnel at MIT, Cervelo being one of the chief consumers of this data.

The highlights:

-Wearing a non-aero helmet vs. an aero helmet is worth 4x the drag as non-aero wheels vs aero wheels;

-Wearing gloves causes as much extra drag as a non-aero front wheel over an aero front wheel;

-Water bottle on the seat tube is more aero than no water bottle on the seat tube;

-WB on the down tube is worse than no water bottle;

-rider contribution to drag about 75-85%, bicycle roughly 15-25%. Not much to work with for the bicycle.

Source: Bicycling Magazine

Cooled Cycling Infrastructure

A cycling project which Qatars sovereign Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani has proposed to promote the health of his people. After all, a large proportion of the population suffers from problems brought on by prosperity: they do not get enough exercise, cardiovascular diseases are prevalent and children are obese. This is a prestigious project with Qatar as an example to the countries in similar conditions!

For people in Qatar cycling is not at all the obvious thing to do. This needs to be changed as the 30 kilometre cycle path - now designed - is to be completed within a year after the signing of the contract. An attendant problem is the fact that Qatars climate is intensely hot and humid. The project group therefore came up with the idea of cooling the entire cycle path using cold ground water.

The American consultancy firm the Rand Corporation has been leading in advising the Emir on the realisation of his goal of getting Qatars population to cycle. Velo Mondial played a major role in the realisation of the cycle path and proposed to involve the Dutch firm Goudappel Coffeng for the technical aspects. Another Dutch firm Akertech was involved in preparing the technical drawings.

Velo Mondial was leading in preparing the report: ’Developing Bicycle Paths in Doha, Qatar; A Plan to Promote Use of the Planned Bicycle Path in Doha’. As part of the work to develop this plan, and with particular reference to the training and promotion of cycling to Muslim women, we have discussed existing best practise with projects working in these fields in Tilburg (NL) and in the London Cycling Campaign. We would like to express our thanks to Lucy Davis of the Community Cycling Project, London Cycling Campaign, UK, Angela van der Kloof of ‘Stap op de Fiets & Fietsvriendinnen’, Tilburg, The Netherlands, and Aziz Bekkaoui, Amsterdam.

Source: Velo Mondial