Echo

“Neighborhood electric vehicles” get ready for life in the fast lane

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(IL) Chicago Tribune – Move over hybrids; modified golf carts are headed from the fairways to the roadways in Illinois, offering an incongruous yet eco-friendly alternative for those satisfied with more leisurely travel.Dubbed “neighborhood electric vehicles” and retrofitted with safety features, the new category of mini-cars will be street-legal beginning Jan. 1. Operating for pennies per mile, limited to 25 m.p.h. and restricted to local roads, the battery-powered buggies are quietly generating buzz. More

Echo

Railing against conventional transportation

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(ON) The Globe and Mail – Imagine a train car suspended high above traffic that could reach speeds of 250 kilometres per hour and get you from Quebec City to Montreal in less than an hour. Each car in the inverted monorail system could transport 60 to 75 passengers and would be powered by 16 in-wheel electric engine motors. No need for expensive fuel – just clean, affordable electricity, its promoters say. More

Land

Great Lakes cities not so walkable; rate your own community with this widget

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Find out your home’s Walk Score:

By Sarah Coefield, coefield@msu.edu
August 19, 2009
Great Lakes Echo

Despite rising gas prices and growing concern over greenhouse gases, many Great Lakes residents find it difficult to leave their cars at home. The Web site www.walkscore.com ranked the walkability of 40 large cities across the United States. Of the five Great Lakes cities that were examined, only Chicago made the top ten. So what makes a city walkable? Dan Burden says a walkable community is “built around the human foot.”  He founded Walkable Communities Inc. and has worked with cities nationwide to identify trouble and encourage pedestrian-oriented development.  Burden is also on the board of advisers for Walkscore.com.

Echo

Buses May Aid Climate Battle in Poor Cities

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(NY) The New York Times – Rapid transit systems may hold a key to combating climate change. Emissions from cars, trucks, buses and other vehicles in the booming cities of Asia, Africa and Latin America account for a rapidly growing component of heat-trapping gases linked to global warming. While emissions from industry are decreasing, those related to transportation are expected to rise more than 50 percent by 2030 in industrialized and poorer nations. And 80 percent of that growth will be in the developing world, according to data presented in May at an international conference in Bellagio, Italy, sponsored by the Asian Development Bank and the Clean Air Institute. More

Echo

Stimulus-backed high-speed rail could benefit Great Lakes region; environmental benefits uncertain

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By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
June 22, 2009

The prospect of traveling from Chicago to Detroit at 110 mph might be more feasible with the recent release of federal rules for obtaining a piece of the $8 billion in stimulus funds for the high-speed rail. The criteria looks good for the Great Lakes region as it favors multi-state proposals. Regional transportation officials have proposed a high-speed rail with a central hub in Chicago that travels to Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis and other cities. But will people give up their automobiles and make the shift? “The high-speed rail can look really good environmentally,” said Mikhail Chester, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

Echo

Building a new rail system is best, experts say

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(MI) Detroit Free Press – A proposed magnetic railway along I-96 to Lansing and Ann Arbor would be faster and safer for passengers than a high-speed rail that uses existing tracks, a legislative tatask force was told Monday. In fact, the federal government should focus more on building a technologically advanced high-speed passenger rail system along interstate highways, rather than upgrading tracks owned and used by freight rail companies, said Steve Purchase, a spokesman for H Inc., a Lansing urban development firm that is not affiliated with the proposed project. More

Echo

Rail business plan gains steam

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(MI) Detroit Free Press – A proposed railroad-centered development just over the Livingston County line and a similar plan for land in Howell will serve as catalysts to accelerate plans for a commuter rail line between Howell and Ann Arbor, a developer and rail officials said. Developer Earl LaFave plans to build a mixed commercial and residential development on roughly 25 acres adjacent to rails that would be part of the Washtenaw and Livingston Line, or WALLY, in Northfield Township. More

Energy

Fuel-efficiency competition is today in Marshall

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(MI) Jackson Citizen Patriot – Eaton Corp. is hosting the 30th annual Society of Automotive Engineers Supermileage competition today in Marshall, where college teams from around the world will race for the best fuel economy. About 40 teams, including Central Michigan University and Michigan Tech, are charged with building a one-person, fuel-efficient vehicle, and the highest miles per gallon wins. More

Energy

Toyota: hybrids best ‘green’ car for some time

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(MI) Booth Newspapers – A Toyota executive overseeing research said Thursday a battery breakthrough is needed for electric vehicles to become mainstream, and hybrids will remain the best “green” car choice for some time. His comments came just hours after the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Toyota’s Prius hybrid was the No. 1 selling vehicle in Japan for May, clinching the top spot for the first time-even though the latest model had been on sale for only half the month. More

Echo

City, port get $8.8M

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(PA) Erie Times-News – A 12th Street parking lot, transformed into a welcome center. Pedestrian-friendly sidewalks and safe intersections. And a port that serves as an international shipping center. It could become a reality, thanks to a combined $8.8 million in grant money the city of Erie and the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority received from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for “smart transportation” More