Greening My Commute Electric Bike Style

Jonathan with his newly converted e-bike

As a parent of three active young kids, a blogger, leader at our church, tinkerer, volunteer and being employed full time, my life is too packed to add new things without dropping something else. However, getting more exercise is something I've needed to do for some time (I know it and so do my doctors and family members), but I've never been able to make it work.

Then it occurred to me, I should bike to work at least a couple times a week.  Work is 8 miles from home and with the amount of rush hour traffic here, it takes me 40-45 minutes by car during rush hour.  Public transportation from our home would take over an hour, but friends who bike said I could bike it in about 30-40 minutes.  I could save time and get exercise AND it would be good for the planet!

That was two years ago and I have finally achieved that goal. The first challenge came when I bruised my knee playing softball. Nothing so bad as to require surgery, but the Orthopedist said that it is going to hurt for a few months and that I shouldn't ride my bike. Then came the New England winter.
Spring rolled around and I got my bike tuned up (I hadn't ridden it much since my kids had been born and an annual tune-up is recommended for all bikes). I did a few rides with a friend who commutes on his bike regularly and even rode down and up the hill I live at the top of to make sure I could do it. The ride up was hard, but I managed. I staged clothes at work, got everything ready to be able to shower and change and finally rode my bike to work.

That ride was a lot harder than I had imagined. Part of the challenge came from carrying my backpack on my back since I didn't have a rack on my bike. Another part was that I was out of shape. And the biggest challenges were the two big hills on my way home. I had to walk up the shorter steeper hill and stopped and walked part of the mile climb (144 foot elevation change) before getting back on and pushing to the top. Clearly I needed to re-evaluate my plans as I wasn't ready for this on a regular basis.
Perhaps getting in regular bike rides would get me into shape for the hilly 8 mile ride to work, but finding time to bike just for exercise was not something that Alicia and I could imagine.

E-BikeKit 500W Direct Drive Rear Wheel in the box

Then I discovered an affordable electric-assist bike conversion kit. I purchased an E-BikeKit from Electric Bikes of New England in Derry, NH and am so glad I did.  Stay tuned for more of my adventure as e-bike commuter.



Happy Greening!
Jon

Do you bike to work/school?  If not, what's stopping you? If you do, what is the best thing about it?
Disclosure: We are an e-bikekit affiliate, so purchases made through links on this page and the ads in the sidebar earn us a small commission.

Why Pennies Per Pound Better Than Cap & Trade

Why Pennies Per Pound is better than previous Cap & Trade ideas?

Pennies Per Pound is simple and therefore significantly easier for people and business to understand and predict.  Pennies Per Pound would apply to everyone, not just major polluters, so everyone would be invested in saving energy and money.

Cap & Trade is a complicated system which might make sense to someone with a PhD in Economics, but for the rest of us is extremely complicated and hard to predict what it will mean to our expenses now and in the future. The WikiPedia entry for Emissions Trading has a good explanation of what it is and how it works, but it takes pages and pages to explain. Here is a brief excerpt:

A central authority (usually a governmental body) sets a limit or cap on the amount of a pollutant that can be emitted. The limit or cap is allocated or sold to firms in the form of emissions permits which represent the right to emit or discharge a specific volume of the specified pollutant. Firms are required to hold a number of permits (or carbon credits) equivalent to their emissions. The total number of permits cannot exceed the cap, limiting total emissions to that level. Firms that need to increase their emission permits must buy permits from those who require fewer permits.^[1]
The transfer of permits is referred to as a trade. In effect, the buyer is paying a charge for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions. Thus, in theory, those who can reduce emissions most cheaply will do so, achieving the pollution reduction at the lowest cost to society.

On the other hand, Pennies Per Pound is easy to understand and easy to predict.  Under Pennies Per Pound business and individuals will be able to project what the future impact of the straight forward energy tax will be.  Also, it empowers business and individuals to make choices today to save energy and money in the future.  The tax based on carbon emissions, instead of some complicated formula subject to pressure from lobbyists, will encourage power generators to move towards lower emissions of carbon without the government trying to pick which solutions or technologies are best. 

Act Now! Sign the petition supporting Pennies Per Pound!

Return to the Pennies Per Pound Overview

Review: My Experiences With the Plug-in Prius

My kids sitting in the back of the Toyota Plug-in Prius

On September 16, 2011, Toyota officially unveiled the Plug-in Prius, pricing, options and its availability.  This is particularly exciting to me, because we have been using one of the early prototypes from Toyota's test fleet at work.  I have had the opportunity to drive it several times and on September 17th, I took it to a festival for the second time.   Toyota is loaning the Prius to my City (I work for the City) for us to evaluate and to help us learn more about plug-in cars.

When I took the Plug-in Prius to a festival in August the main questions I got were:
 - How many miles per gallon does it get?
 - How far does it go?
 - When can I buy one?
 - How much will it cost?

With these two press releases, I am now able to answer these questions! 
Prius Pricing Press Release 
2012 Plug-in Prius

Plug-in Prius vs Regular Prius
The Plug-in Prius drives operates and drives very much like a late-model Prius.  If you have had the opportunity to drive or ride-in one, then you will find the experience very similar.   I usually drive a Toyota Camry Hybrid (mid-size sedan) and a Toyota Sienna (minivan), and my parents lease a Prius, so many of the features were very familiar to me.  Some notable differences are that on the dashboard there is an icon that tells you if you are running on electric mode "EV" or hybrid mode "ECO" or "Power".   From my Camry hybrid I know that "ECO" means it prioritizes fuel efficiency/range over the effectiveness of the air conditioner (but we rarely notice) and "Power" means it prioritizes the air conditioning (Even with a small baby we didn't find this necessary in New England).  Another notable difference is that the Plug-in Prius has a place to plug it in (obviously).  The location on the release models is different from on the prototype I drove, but the important part isn't changing - it uses a special cable to plug into any 3-prong outlet.  We were able to plug it into an existing outlet on the outside of where we work.

It takes about 3 hours for a full charge on a regular outlet, or you can get a special charger installed at home (a level 2 charger) for about $1000 that will charge it in under 2 hours. 

My Experience With the Plug-in Prius

When I drove the Plug-in Prius, the experience was actually very similar to driving my parents' Prius.  It had a smooth ride, sportier than riding in my Camry and lower to the ground than I'm used to (but not sports-car low).  The pickup seemed sufficient when entering the highway and the optional feedback about whether I was charging the battery or using electricity and how much was feedback that affected how I accelerated, braked, coasted and generally drove the vehicle.

I enjoyed it!  My seven-year-old rode in it recently and she said "it was fun!"  She was mostly excited to be in an electric car.

Why Should You Buy a Plug-in Prius?
Well, it depends on your driving needs.  The electric motor engages by default. When you go over 62 MPH or need lots of acceleration or when its battery is depleted, then it switches to the hybrid motor.  Both motors recharge the battery while you drive, such as when you brake.   The electric motor battery is designed to last for about 15 miles - but depending on how you drive, it could be more or less than that.  If you get in your car in the morning and then hop on the highway for a 30+ mile drive to work, then you will not benefit from the plug-in features of this car.  However, if you do mostly local driving, then you will benefit greatly from an electric car.  The nice thing about the Plug-in Hybrid is that it has the flexibility to do both when you need it.

How Expensive Is It To Charge?

Standard Plug-in Cable 3-prong to SAE-J1772

Where we live electricity costs about $0.15 kWh, a full charge on the electric car battery costs about $0.45 and will get you about 15 miles.   If you drive less than 15 miles a day, and plug in every night, then you would rarely have to put gas in the car.   Gas currently costs about $3.79/gallon here.  If you compare that to a 30MPG car the same 15 miles would cost you $1.89 and on a 20MPG car the 15 miles would cost you $2.84.  

Why Not Purely Electric? Why the Gas Motor?
Peace of Mind.  What if I forgot to plug it in? Or what if I had to go farther than expected? What if there wasn't an outlet when I needed one?   There are also technical issues around balancing the weight of the car with just batteries vs the efficiency of the motors and batteries.  I'll let you read a technical page for that information.

Would I Buy One?
We have three children.  You can fit three children in this car, if they are not in carseats.   If they made a plug-in Camry Hybrid, we'd consider trading up.  If they made a plug-in minivan, we'd be the first in line to switch.  Sure, it's a bit to remember to plug it in when you get home, but between the money savings on gas and the good feelings from not having to depend as much on gasoline and the reductions of noxious fumes our car puts out every day, it would be absolutely worth it to me.


What Are the Answers to the Questions You Get?

• How many miles per gallon does it get?  They say 87 MPGe - Miles Per Gallon Equivalent.  The one we have been using went just over 800 miles on the tank of gas it arrived with.  The tank is a little over 10 gallons.
• How far does it go?  About 15 miles on pure electric, but it really depends on your driving style.  However, it can go indefinitely on gas.  Just fill 'er up!
• When can I buy one?  You can order them now. They will be available for pickup in March 2012 on the East and West Coasts, and in 2013 everywhere.
• How much will it cost? $32,000 base price.  $39,525 "Prius Plug-in Hybrid Advanced"  plus you can always add stuff...

Happy Driving!
Alicia

What do you drive?  Tell us!

Social Media Enhancements to the GLC Blog

We've recently added some new social media features to the blog that you will hopefully appreciate.

Upper left sidebar

• New Facebook Like Button
  We've added a Facebook Like button to connect you to our Facebook Page.  Be sure to click "Like" and follow us on Facebook!  We share green living news that we find interesting or relevant and have fun discussions about green living on our Facebook Page.
• Easier Social Media Sharing Buttons
  

  

  End of each post

  From now on you will see some new buttons at the end of each post.  We've added StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, and Facebook to the end of each post to make it easier for you to share your favorite articles with your friends and to tell the rest of the world that this is an article worth reading.  When you find an article you really like, be sure to tag it with your preferred tool.  Are there tools we're missing here?
• Enhanced Facebook Box with Live Feed

  

  Lower right sidebar

  
  Down towards the end of the right sidebar, you'll find the new Facebook Box complete with a live feed of our most recent updates in Facebook.

We hope these enhancements will make reading our blog more fun and easier to share with friends.

Happy Greening!
Jon

Do you have a GLC post or two that are your favorites?  Go back to those and Stumble, Digg and Like them to increase the likelihood that other people will see them.  Then share a comment here with the url to your favorites.

Wordless Wednesday - Back to School Eco-Style

Here's are some snapshots from our Back to School shopping.  We tried where ever possible to get environmentally friendly school supplies for our twin second graders.

Crayons made with solar power

Markers made with recycled plastic

FSC Certified Notebook

Made with reforested wood

Composition notebooks made from sugar cane

Full view of the sugar cane composition books

100% recycled paper

100% recycled paper

Another view of 100% recycled paper

Two complete sets of school supplies that
are mostly green and eco-friendly.

Reason #1 to be Green

Reason #2 to be Green

Happy Greening!
Jon & Alicia


What did you do this year to make Back to School more eco-friendly?  Please share in the comments.

And the Winner of the Kill-A-Watt is Becky S.

Congratulations to Becky S. who won the a Kill-A-Watt electricity meter and we're throwing in a short extension cord which we've found makes using the Kill A Watt much easier.

We asked and you answered.  The top three responses for which appliance in your home used the most electricity were:

• Number 3 with 7 votes was your Dryer.
• Number 2 with 13 votes was your Air Conditioner.
• And Number 1 with 25 votes was your Refrigerator.

Actually, space heating is at the top of the list followed by water heating and then space cooling (air conditioning).  Refrigeration comes in 7th only using about 4% of a homes energy.  A lot of credit should be given to the energy efficiency standards for refrigerator passed over the last 20 years that are expected to save 6.64 quadrillion BTUs (quads) of electricity in the US by 2030.  For reference, the US consumed 12.08 quads of electricity in 2009, so efficiency standards can make a huge difference.

Buildings Energy Data Book - Residential Buildings

Thank you to everyone that entered.  If you didn't win, but still want a Kill A Watt meter, you can purchase them at many local hardware stores or online from places like Amazon.com or EFI.org.

A good summary of how much power various appliances in your home use is available in the US DOE's Energy Savers page on Estimating Energy Use.

You can get a lot more detailed information about how electricity is used in homes in the US in the EIA's U.S. Household Electricty Report.

Happy Greening!
Alicia & Jon

Cigarette Butts are NOT Biodegradable! Keep Them Out Of Our Parks!

There are many things to not like about smoking. Today I don't like the butts. 

Recently I was participating in a community park cleanup and I just couldn't get over how many cigarette butts there were to pick up!  In the sand by the slide, around the benches, scattered around and of course, behind the fence of the adjacent baseball field. It made me wonder, why aren't they biodegradable?  It seems like they never go away. Either that, or there are WAY too many people smoking around our parks!

It was so annoying, that I thought I'd do a little research on are cigarette butts biodegradable? The resounding answer is no.

Cigarette butts are not just ugly—they also present a threat to wildlife. Plastic pieces have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales and other marine creatures that mistake them for food. So ingestion of plastic cigarette filters is a threat to wildlife. - Clean Virginia Waterways

Most cigarette filters are composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic. The white fibers you see in a cigarette filter are NOT cotton, but a plastic that can persist in the environment as long as other forms of plastic. - Clean Virginia Waterways

TreeHugger wrote about two solutions for this problem.  One solution is that someone actually has invented a biodegradable cigarette butt.   The other is a pocket-sized ashtray designed to hold cigarette butts so that smokers can take the responsibilty of taking their butts with them.  The main concern with the first idea is that smokers might litter more because they think nature will take care of the problem. 

My suggestion is to implement both ideas.  Make the butts biodegradable but don't advertise it.  Then get these little ashtrays out there.  I know a very responsible person that won't quit, and I would buy one for her!

OK,  off my soapbox.  Smoking is bad,  but throwing your butts on the ground, into our oceans and waterways and where my children play is just despicable!

Stop Smoking and Stop Littering!
Alicia