 |
|
This Week's Items of Interest
December 2, 2015
|
|
People - Mode - Bicycle
UC Davis expert to take pro-cycling message to Paris climate conference
(11.29.2015)
UC Davis transportation expert Lewis Fulton gave up his car years ago. He commutes on a red Trek hybrid bike from his Davis home to a West Village office where he's on the faculty at the Institute of Transportation Studies. When it's grocery time, he and his wife grab bikes with paniers.
The 54-year-old academic may bike locally, but he'll be promoting the activity as a global climate change solution when he heads to Paris this week for a crucial U.N.-sponsored climate change conference known by its acronym COPS 21. That conference seeks to meet a daunting challenge - to forge an agreement by 190 countries to cut back on carbon emissions and prevent catastrophic climate change.
|
|
Prosperity - Travel - Energy
Most Of World's Transportation Energy Use Is For Passenger Travel
(11.30.2015)
The transportation of people and goods accounts for about 25% of all energy consumption in the world. Passenger transportation, in particular light-duty vehicles, accounts for most transportation energy consumption-light-duty vehicles alone consume more than all freight modes of transportation, such as heavy trucks, marine, and rail.
|
|
Prosperity - Freight - Drones
Amazon's Drones May Be a Marketing Stunt, But We Kinda Need Them
(11.30.2015)
THE SUNDAY AFTER Thanksgiving is now better known as Cyber Monday Eve, and Amazon celebrated this year by buzzing the Internet with an update on "Prime Air," its plan to deliver packages in 30 minutes or less via drones (eventually).
According to Amazon, its drones will weigh about 50 pounds, fly under 400 feet, and carry packages weighing up to five pounds. They'll use "sense and avoid" technology, including vehicle-to-vehicle communication, GPS, and Wi-Fi, to detect hazards in flight as well as no-fly zones and other alerts.
|
|
People - Bicycle - Safety
The Varia Rearview Radar is helping alert cyclists' to the threat of approaching vehicles
(11.23.2015)
CYCLING without bike paths is a scary task, but it is a harsh reality many of us face on a daily basis.
The ever-present fear a collision with an approaching car is sometimes enough to make people stay off the bike all together.
But now there is an amazing solution and it doesn't involve fitting your bike with daggy rear vision mirrors.
Innovative GPS technology developer Garmin has created a simple, but effective method to keep cyclists safe on the road.
The
Varia Rearview Radar
does just as the name suggests and alerts riders to vehicles approaching them from behind.
|
|
People - Transportation - Health
What is the Transportation and Health Tool?
(10.27.2015)
The Transportation and Health Tool (THT) was developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide easy access to data that practitioners can use to examine the health impacts of transportation systems.
The tool provides data on a set of transportation and public health indicators for each U.S. state and metropolitan area that describe how the transportation environment affects safety, active transportation, air quality, and connectivity to destinations.
|
|
People - Mode - Alternative Fuel
U.S Army to test hydrogen-powered Chevrolet Colorado pickup
(11.19.2015)
General Motors is building a hydrogen-powered pickup for the U.S. Army.
The automaker has teamed up with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development & Engineering Center (TARDEC,) to develop a military-spec electric Chevrolet Colorado pickup that uses a commercial hydrogen fuel cell to generate electricity in lieu of a battery pack.
|
Planet - Climate Change - Quiz
Do you have what it takes to prevent disastrous climate change? Take the quiz!
(11.24.2015)
|
|
Prosperity - Recycled Material - Roads
Researchers in Quebec to study recycled glass in roads
(11.30.2015)
The École de technologie supérieure,
City of Montréal, Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ), Éco Entreprises Québec, and Recyc-Québec have released the details of a major partnership to support research on innovative applications that integrate recycled glass in road construction.
|
|
People - Mode - Walking
"The most requested neighborhood characteristic of all buyers is walkability," real estate broker Andrea Evers recently told a reporter for The Washington Post. But, inan article written by the Post's Michele Lerner, Evers went on to say that "very few areas" in the greater DC market meet the desired criterion, particularly if the prospective buyer wants to be within walking distance of a Metro transit station. And that, in a nutshell, is the good and bad news of walkability.
|
|
Prosperity - The White House - Innovation
FACT SHEET: Mission Innovation
(11.29.2015)
On Monday in Paris, President Obama, President Hollande, and other world leaders will launch Mission Innovation, a landmark commitment to dramatically accelerate public and private global clean energy innovation. Through the initiative, 20 countries representing 80 percent of global clean energy research and development (R&D) budgets are committing to double their respective R&D investments over five years.
|
|
People - Mode - Hyperloop
Electric cars and the coal that runs them (11.30.2015)
Since the 2013 publication of Elon Musk's
whitepaper on Hyperloop
, development of the proposed new technology for high-speed transportation has quickly moved from science fiction into reality. Two major startups are already working to make low pressure tubes capable of shuffling commuter pods back and forth at several hundred miles per hour the future of transportation. And the way these companies and others are going about it could make Hyperloop a kind of subway system for the entire country.
|
|
Prosperity - Freight - Rail
America's freight trains are first class
(11.29.2015)
THE UNITED STATES' freight rail network is the finest and safest in the world, crisscrossing North America to connect the largest ports up and down the East and West coasts, as well as the Gulf of Mexico. All at an unbeatable cost to taxpayers - nothing. The railroads own, maintain, and pay taxes on their infrastructure.
This system, the envy of the world, moves everything from coal to corn to cars at incredible speeds and carries invaluable benefits to both commerce and the environment for the nation. It does, however, come at one striking cost to the public - the quality of passenger rail. For all of our prowess at transporting goods, America has fallen dramatically behind in moving people. But that trade-off could well be worth it.
|
|
People - Mode - Traffic Fatalities
WASHINGTON - The nation saw a slight decline in traffic deaths during 2014. However, an increase in estimated fatalities during the first six months of this year reveals a need to reinvigorate the fight against deadly behavior on America's roads, the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced today.
|
Prosperity - Renewable Fuel Standards
In Washington, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced final volume requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard program today for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016, and final volume requirements for biomass-based diesel for 2014 to 2017. This rule finalizes higher volumes of renewable fuel than the levels EPA proposed in June, boosting renewable production and providing support for robust, achievable growth of the biofuels industry.
|
|
|
|
People - Mode - Traffic Congestion
This document represents the final report of the national evaluation of congestion reduction strategies at six sites that received federal funding under the Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA) and Congestion Reduction Demonstration (CRD) programs. The six sites, or "urban partners," were Atlanta, Georgia; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Francisco, California; and Seattle, Washington. Each site implemented a comprehensive policy response to urban congestion that included four essential components known as the "4 Ts": 1) tolling (or congestion pricing), 2) enhanced transit services, 3) telecommuting and other transportation demand management (TDM) strategies, and 4) advanced technology.
|
|
|
Previous Editions: Sustainability Items of Interest
|
|
|
|
Any reference, information, articles,or photos contained in this email to a specific product, process, or service does not constitute or imply an endorsement by Caltrans, State of California or its' employees.
|
|
|
|
|
