Personal greenhouse impact calculator

The below link is a calculator that you can use to find out how much CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions you release when travelling. The calculator is for travel by aircraft, train, tram, bus or vaious cars. You simply enter the distance you travelled (A) in kilomtres and the Emission rate (B) in kg of CO2/person km. This rate is obviously a bit tricky to figure out so there is a list of figures that you can put in, from private jet, emissions rate at 0.183; to trains or tram, emission rate 0.027; and various size cars with varying numbers of passengers, emission rates 0.3- 0.06.
I am lucky and live close to university so I can walk to class, and public transport so I often catch the bus and train to work, which is not very far from my home. I will figure out my emission rates for when I catch public transport and when I drive to work.
The distance from home to work is 4.9 kilometres. When I catch the bus I put the emission rate at .04. The resulting carbon dioxide produced when I catch the bus to work is 0.196 kg.
When I drive the same distance to work I am in the car by myself and I have a medium size car. The resulting carbon dioxide produced when I catch the bus to work is 1.47 kg.
A difference of 0.474 in such a short distance. These calculated figures show why it is so important to be mindful of our fuel consumption, it builds up quickly.
Use the calculator to calculate your emissions. Remember, if you walk or ride you don't produce any carbon dioxide. A very clean alternative. Our excursion on the city cycle produced zero carbon dioxide emissions!
http://ramblingsdc.net/GhouseImpact.html

The fuel that goes into cars, trucks and buses is extracted from crude oil reserves deep below the surface of the Earth. The oil occurs naturally from the remains of plants and animals that died millions of years ago (fossils) and remain in the pores of the rocks and Earth's surface. This oil has been made over hundreds of millions years. Jack Edwards, professor of geology at the University of Colorado, speaks about the modern world's use of oil:

"Our children and grandchildren are going to be mad at us for burning all this oil. It took the Earth 500 million years to create the stuff we're burning in 200 years. Renewable energy sources are where we need to be headed".

When the oil is extracted from the ground it is made up of many substances which have to be separated into fractions at an oil refinery. This is done through distillation and the resulting compounds are petrol, diesel, kerosene, gas oil, lubricating oils and fuels in varying thickness. These fossil fuels contain carbon which when they burn release gases which pollute the environment. Petrol and diesel are used in vehicle engine. The fuel is burnt and transformed into movement energy then the exhaust gases, primarily carbon dioxide and condensation, are released from the cylinder and enter the atmosphere.

Transport all around the World

Amsterdam

The narrow, winding streets of Amsterdam is not suited to those who travel by car. Amsterdam has 400kms of bike lanes and paths, and It is estimated in Amsterdam that there is almost a resident for every bicycle!

Cycling is faster and cheaper than other forms of transport such as driving and public transport in Amsterdam.

Bike rental is available all through the city, from short term to full day hire.

www.iamsterdam.com/en/visiting/things-to-do/cycling

Transport all around the World

Countries all over the world use different forms of Sustainable transport

Bus Rapid Transit- Bogotá

This bus system travels the speed almost three times the speed of the typical New York City Bus at 17.4mph (28 kph).

This form of transport is inexpensive, efficient, reduces traffic congestion and modern.

On average the bus service moves 1.3 million people per day!

For a video that shows how the BRT works: http://www.streetfilms.org/bus-rapid-transit-bogota/

The Average Running Cost of Australian Vehicles vs Price of Public Transport

The annual NRMA vehicle survey has found that costs around $260 a week to run an average Australian Family car. Those driving the likes of a Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore (and V8s) were most affected with a 10% increase in running costs due mostly to rising petrol prices.

The survey took into account

1. fuel consumption
2. insurance and registration
3. depreciation.

The Average cars are spending on over $55 per week on fuel – due to the near 30 cent per litre increase in fuel over one year

Go Cards

When you buy a Go Card, you will be deducted the fare from your Co Card balance. Here’s the current Go Card fares

Zones travelled	Adult			Concession
	Single paper ticket	go card	go card off-peak	Single paper ticket	go card	go card off-peak
1	$3.90	$2.65	$2.26	$2.00	$1.33	$1.13
2	$4.60	$3.11	$2.65	$2.30	$1.56	$1.33
3	$5.40	$3.68	$3.13	$2.70	$1.84	$1.57
4	$6.10	$4.14	$3.52	$3.10	$2.07	$1.76
5	$6.90	$4.72	$4.02	$3.50	$2.36	$2.01
6	$7.70	$5.29	$4.50	$3.90	$2.65	$2.25
7	$8.40	$5.75	$4.89	$4.20	$2.88	$2.45
8	$9.10	$6.21	$5.28	$4.60	$3.11	$2.64
9	$9.70	$6.67	$5.67	$4.90	$3.34	$2.84
10	$11.20	$7.71	$6.56	$5.60	$3.86	$3.28
11	$11.90	$8.17	$6.95	$6.00	$4.09	$3.48
12	$12.40	$8.51	$7.24	$6.20	$4.26	$3.62
13	$12.90	$8.86	$7.54	$6.50	$4.43	$3.77
14	$13.90	$9.55	$8.12	$7.00	$4.78	$4.06
15	$15.10	$10.35	$8.80	$7.60	$5.18	$4.40
16	$16.20	$11.16	$9.49	$8.10	$5.58	$4.75
17	$17.70	$12.19	$10.37	$8.90	$6.10	$5.19
18	$18.70	$12.88	$10.95	$9.40	$6.44	$5.48
19	$19.70	$13.57	$11.54	$9.90	$6.79	$5.77
20	$21.20	$14.61	$12.42	$10.60	$7.31	$6.21
21	$22.20	$15.30	$13.01	$11.10	$7.65	$6.51
22	$23.40	$16.10	$13.69	$11.70	$8.05	$6.85
23	$24.60	$16.91	$14.38	$12.30	$8.46	$7.19

http://translink.com.au/tickets-and-fares/fares/current-fares

Helmet Laws in Australia

One survey says 68% of Doctors don't believe that helmet laws should be mandatory while another survey says that Doctors say that cycling injuries are up while serious injuries are down due to helmets.

There is so much conflicting research available concerning the effectiveness or non-effectiveness of helmets that it is hard for an average cyclist to take it all in.  
One cyclist in ABC radio's helmet law special says 
'I'm just a simple bike rider so for me to look at the breadth of research and try and understand whether one set of research is done in a better way than another set of research is really difficult.'

Click here to listen to ABC Radio's special about Australian helmet laws


Who can we believe?  
Who should be making the decision for us?  
Should we be able to make our own choices about helmets?

Tower of Pedal

What can you do with 340 bicycles and one tricycle? Ride them till the end of time? Or in Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector’s artistic fashion, build a giant obelisk sculpture, named it the “Cyclisk”, and plop it right next to car dealerships. Despite what the strategic positioning may seem, according to Grieve, this is not a reminder about how riding bicycles is more environmentally friendly than driving. However, this project did receive a hefty funding of $37,000 from Nissan, who is building a $3.7 million car dealership in Santa Rosa, California. And according to Santa Rosa’s “1% for art” law, 1% of any major construction projects will have to be donated towards public art, hence, the Cyclisk.

After our ride on the City Cycles I started thinking about the other benefits of riding as an alternative means of transport, particularly health related benefits. As part of their Get Active health promotion campaign the Queensland Government suggests doing 30 minutes of moderate exercise per day. Using the City Cycles would be a convenient, effective and fun way of reaching this goal. On the ride I definitely got puffed, especially up the hills, phew, and raised a sweat. The hills were hard work but I imagine if I was riding every day I would get used to it pretty quickly.

Keeping active is a crucial part of maintaining good health and a healthy bodyweight. Regular physical activity can help prevent heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure; reduce the risk of developing type II diabetes and some cancers; help build and maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints, reducing the risk of injury; and promote psyhological well-being. Having access to City Cycles in this community is such a fantastic opportunity to stay active and take care of our bodies from the inside out

No Info from JCDecaux

Here is correspondence between myself and CityCycle when trying to find out some basic statistics about the program (ie. number of bikes in circulation, daily usage, etc.)

Hi there my name is Christen McGarry and I am a Education student currently studying at QUT.  I am doing an assignment on transport in Brisbane and was wondering if there was any way I could find out some detailed information on the Citycycle program, ie number of bikes in circulation, daily usage, etc.

Regards

Christen McGarry

REPLY

Dear Christen,

Thank you for your enquiry.

The CityCycle System is a proprietary system owned and operated by JCDecaux on behalf of Brisbane City Council.

Unfortunately JCDecaux is unable to provide any information on the financial information relating to the systems infrastructure or its operation as this information is considered to be commercially sensitive.

We apologise that we unfortunately cannot assist you further with your enquiry, however we wish you all the best with your project.

Kind regards,

CityCycle Customer Support Team

Brisbane

www.citycycle.com.au

1300 229 253

CityCycle Experience

To try and improve peoples knowledge of bike-sharing in Brisbane we decided to produce a documentary of our experience testing out Brisbane's CityCycle with a trip from King George Square to the GOMA in South Brisbane.  We only brought one helmet and intended to use the new helmets provided by CityCycle (which we assumed would be easy to find).  See how we went!

Have you tried the CityCycle?  Was your experience similar or different?

Robert Rauschenberg's Riding Bikes

This sculpture can be found in the Potsdamer Platz square in Berlin, Germany.  It went up in 1998 and contains two recycled bikes lit with neon lighting.  Rauschenberg pioneered a style of art called 'combines' as long ago as the early 50's through which he desired the transformation of reality into art with the least wastage possible.

“I think a painting is more like the real world if it’s made out of the real world.” Robert Rauschenberg.

A short history of bike-sharing

1st Generation, 1964 - A revolutionary group in Amsterdam started the first bike-sharing scheme.  'White Bikes' were ordinary bikes painted white intended for public use, the idea was that someone would ride the bike to their destination and simply leave it for the next person to use.  It took about three days before all of the bikes were either appropriated for private use or found floating in the cities canals.

2nd Generation, 1995 - Almost 30 years later Copenhagen introduced City Bikes, with utilitarian designed bikes featuring solid rubber tires that could be picked up or dropped off at stations around the central city area with a coin deposit.  Although far more organized and structured than its predecessors it was still plagued by theft due to the anonymity of its customers.

3rd Generation, 1996 - A year later Portsmouth University took the blueprint offered in Copenhagen and added a magnetic swipe card to the system to prevent bike theft.  As technology improved so too did variations on this idea have been seen in different bike-share projects since.  Bike-share continued to grow slowly until the launch of Velo'V in Lyon changed everything.  Since the introduction of the bike-share system cycling has increased by 500% with one quarter of this from bike sharing itself.  The introduction of facilities and cycling infrastructure caused the public to feel more confident and safe in riding bicycles.  This in turn led to Paris incorporating a similar and even more successful program.