(Source: Going Global & BMW Motorrad Blog via AutoblogGreen)

Two enterprising Swiss citizens are riding home along the Silk Route from Beijing to Istanbul, to generate awareness of climate change, promote sustainable motor travel and raise funds to benefit SCCF, a new international foundation focused on finding solutions to combat global warming.

Using BMW F 650 GS bikes, Mark Dembitz and Clarisse Von Wunschheim will journey across eight countries in 80 days, covering almost 17,000 kilometres. Their route will see them leave Beijing on 4 May and journey back to Europe via Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, before ending in Istanbul, Turkey on 25 July.

With a career in carbon finance and a keen interest in the environment, Mark is planning to make their ‘Going Global’ journey carbon-neutral, as well as use the opportunity to show others in cities and towns along the route how to help fight climate change.

“We will be keeping an accurate log of daily time and distance travelled as well as fuel usage, and the quantity and quality of petrol,” he said. “Based on this data, we will be able to approximate the quantity of carbon dioxide we emit along the ride. We will then secure credits (one credit is equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide) to offset our carbon emissions.

Along the way, the duo will stop at schools and universities to “teach children and students about global warming, motivating them to join us in being aware of their impact on the environment and in making small changes to their lives that will contribute towards a better and cleaner world for everyone.” 

The Project P.U.M.A. prototype on 18th Street in Manhattan.

 (Source: Wheels Blog – New York Times)

When General Motors unveiled Project P.U.M.A. in New York on Tuesday (with partner Segway), it was showing not so much a vehicle as a vision for a new transportation system. And that’s high risk, high reward, because as much as new concepts are needed, they’re excruciatingly hard to actually put in place. Our highways are haunted with unfulfilled visions, from electric station-cars to statewide hydrogen-refueling networks.

 

For David J. Friedman, research director for the clean vehicles program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, the P.U.M.A. has possibilities, though what he called “the massive monitoring and managing of traffic to minimize congestion and maximize road usage” has been tried before; the general category is called Intelligent Transportation Systems. G.M. experimented with hands-free Buicks on automated highways in 1997, but the efforts were thwarted by high costs and driver confusion.

“We need to design our cities around something other than two- or three-ton vehicles,” said Mr. Friedman. “The data suggests that by 2030 half of the built environment in the U.S. will be new. What if we designed new suburban towns with integrated shopping so you could walk, bike or use a P.U.M.A. to get around, with conventional vehicles only for longer trips?”

 

(Source: Jalopnik)

P.U.M.A delivers 35 mile range, 35 MPH top speed, all on 35 cents of electricity 

GM and Segway have teamed up before the New York Auto Show on what they’re calling the PUMA project. The prototype vehicle was exclusively unveiled today on the Today Show. It’s no April Fool’s joke.  PUMA stands for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility and the prototype running around outside NBC’s Today Show this morning is an experimental prototype of a vehicle Larry Burns, GM’s vice president of research and development, and strategic planning, claims we’ll see a roadable version by January.

Jalopnik’s review of the PUMA after taking it for a spin goes like this:  

The first impression is of how small and simple the PUMA is. There’s barely room for two full-sized adults to sit side-by-side within its roll cage and inside, under the rough plexi windshield there’s only one control: the aircraft-like yoke.

This image below has been going around the internet for quite a while and is quite popular in teh urban planning circles.  Treehugger had a post today and I captured it for you all.  Here is that striking picture from Muenster, Germany.   I am sure you will think twice before you start the car tomorrow..

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(Source: TreeHugger)

Image: Press-Office City of Müenster, Germany

And That’s Just Space…
They say an image is worth a thousand words. In this case, it really is. You can write about urban planning and air pollution and traffic congestion, but the three photos above show you at a glance the difference between these three means of transportation. And space isn’t everything: Cars also cost more money, pollute more, increase risks of obesity and all kinds of diseases, etc.

Click here to read more.

(Source: Autobloggreen)

Do you live in Paris and want to buy a two-wheeled EV? If so, you are eligible to receive €400 (or up to 25 percent of the purchase price) for an all-electric scooter. You might wonder which electric scooter models are currently available in France. There’s the neo-retro eSolex, a few EVTs and many more that qualify for the money, as long as they don’t go faster than 50 km/h (30 mph). The city has proudly announced that your new ride can be recharged at any of the 40 charging stations distributed around Paris, and the recharge is free!

Click here to read more.

California may soon require smog checks for motorcycles

(Source:  AutoBlogGreen)

Back on February 26th, California State Senator Fran Pavley introduced legislation that would “amend Section 44011 of, and to add Section 44012.5 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to air pollution.” All right, what’s that mean? Basically, this legislation would require motorcycle owners in California to get smog checks for their motorcycles once every two years. The law would cover all motorcycles model year 2000 or newer and, if passed, would go into effect on January 1st, 2012. 

(Source: Gizmodo.com)

(Source: TreeHugger)

Photo: Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, president of Argentina, holds a bike while presenting a plan to boost sales of these vehicles. Credit: Argentine presidency press service.

The Argentine government launched yesterday a plan to boost bicycles sales that expects to sell 200 thousand bikes.

Aimed at people with low resources, it will allow them to get a bike for a monthly payment of just 16 pesos, which is about 5 US dollars. In exchange, they will have to turn their old bikes in as part of payment.

Click here to read the full article.

 (via Jalopnik.com)