Celebrity [1THING]

Featured Event

Jun
6th
10:00am

New England Aquarium Beach Clean Up

Saturday, June 6, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Gather your family and friends to volunteer at one of three regional beach cleanups Designed to educate the public.

In a major speech on energy at the University of Miami, President Obama said rising gasoline prices are a “painful reminder” of the need for alternatives.

A plan for our nation’s energy future was rolled out today by Sen. Jeff Bingaman. The Clean Energy Standard Act, focuses on reducing carbon emissions, but falls short of moving America away from fossil fuel based sources.

Get out your bikes and start doing your body and the earth some good because this Month is National Bike Month! Support bicycle programs in your area like the Bikes Belong Foundation.

[1THING] Blog

[ Boston #1 Most Bikeable City on the East Coast ]

A website that ranks ranks cities by how walkable they are has come out with a rating for most bikeable cities. And Boston makes the top 5 list in the US coming in at #4 behind Minneapolis, Portland, and San Francisco! That puts us in the #1 spot for East Coast cities!

The rankings were based on bike infrastructure within the cities such as bike paths and lanes, the number of bike commuters, and destinations and road connectivity. All the more reason for us Bostonians to get out our bikes and pedal our way to work.…

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[ Tiles May Help Shrink Carbon Footprint by Harnessing Pedestrian Power ]

In areas with high foot traffic, installations of special flooring may prove that the answer to meeting energy demand lies right beneath our feet.

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[ Coming Together on Energy Efficiency ]

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Many wild places The Wilderness Society is working the hardest to protect are areas near towns and cities that are ahead of the curve on the energy efficiency front. Take Pitkin, Gunnison and Eagle counties near the Mount Massive Wilderness Area in Colorado. By working with organizations like the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE), thousands of businesses and residents in these counties have taken action to reduce energy use through innovative programs implemented at a local scale.…

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[ Oxford: Improvising and Building Experience ]

Nicole Miranda, a first-year doctoral student at the University of Oxford, practices her vehicle exit technique and timing at Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2012 in Rotterdam. She is assisted by fellow student and driver, Lucy Mahoney. (Often female students serve as drivers in the fuel efficiency competition because they weigh less than the men on the team.)

This is the first year of competition for the United Kingdom’s storied school, and the team has had to improvise, says manager Justin Bishop. They used the shell of a vehicle that already had been built by another student team in 2006, modifying it and including the needed safety equipment.…

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[ Polytechnique: Aiming for Lighter Weight ]

Romain Lejas, ofPhoto by Marianne Lavelle Ecole Polytechnique in Palaiseau, France, works on InfinitiX, the team’s entry in Shell Eco-marathon 2012 this week in Rotterdam. Last year, the team achieved 454 kilometers per liter (1,067 miles per gallon), and this year sought to reduce weight more.

The car is entered in the “prototype” category—these don’t have to be street-legal. Typically the students seek extremes in aerodynamics and light weight to reduce mileage in the race for the most fuel-efficient vehicle.

Lejas is in one of the student team “paddocks” at the huge Ahoy convention center.…

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[ Torino: Proving New Concepts for Cars ]

The drive for a new and better way of doing things is built into the car designed by students from Italy’s Italy’s Politecnico di Torino, and entered in Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2012 this week in Rotterdam.

Most students in the fuel efficiency competition choose ultra-lightweight material like carbon fiber to shave mileage. But for their urban concept vehicle, XAM, the Torino students chose a soft natural fiber, covered with a resin to make it hard enough to serve as a chassis.…

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Green Tip of the Month:

Now that the weather is getting nicer, consider walking or biking to work if you are within a reasonable distance. It’s a great way to get some exercise and enjoy the nice weather especially since you’ll likely be locked up in an office all day. If your trip is a bit longer, consider taking public transportation. You could save so much on gas, maintenance and repairs on your car plus there’s so much you can do when you’re not driving like read a book or catch up on some extra sleep. And the best part is, you’ll be reducing your carbon footprint!

Poll

How do you commute to work?

Drive
Public Transit
Bike/Skate
Carpool
Walk