Filed under: maps | Tags: block group level, california, census block, Chinatown, climate, electricity consumption, energy, energy consumption, energy use, kilowatt hours, Los Angeles, sustainable communities, unsustainable communities, urban
Here: http://sustainablecommunities.environment.ucla.edu/map/
This map displays average monthly energy consumption in kilowatt hours (kWh) at the Census block group level between January 2011 and June 2012.
Goes nicely with the NYC report “NYC Energy Benchmarking Report for Non-Residential Properties”.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: does this make sense, FHWA, say huh, vehicle miles traveled, Vmt, x axis
Notice anything weird about this VMT chart (other than its unusual downward trend that is)? I never noticed it before..
via http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/travel_monitoring/13jantvt/index.cfm
[Mexico vs. USA en vivo ahora..]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: california, car culture, FHA, Gloria, Hecox, mode share, National Household Travel Survey, patterns of use, San Diego, transportation, trip distance, vehicle trips, Vmt, Voice of San Diego
Saw this first at http://www.cyclelicio.us
The new definition of 40%.
The 2009 study [National Household Travel Survey] showed 40 percent of trips recorded by more than 300,000 participants were two miles or less.
The statistic incorporated all forms of transportation — cars, bicycles, subways and more, said Doug Hecox, a spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration.
[…]
If one simply focuses on car trips, the percentage of short trips increases significantly.
According to the research, 69.1 percent of trips were two miles or less, Hecox said.
via Driving When You Could Bike: Fact Check – Voice of San Diego: San Diego Fact Check.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: electricity, energy, Paul Dastoor, renewable energy, solar, solar cells, solar energy
Professor Paul Dastoor and his team have been working to create solar cells that can be printed directly onto surfaces like metal sheets, and they are aiming to eventually develop solar cells that can simply be painted directly onto surfaces.
via Solar Tribune: Australian team developing low-cost solar paint – Solar Tribune.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: carbon dioxide emissions, China, Chindia, climate, CO2, Econbrowser, James Hamilton, natural gas liquids, NGLs, oil consumption, Peak Demand, peak oil, total liquids, transportation
And it’s worth remembering why that happened– we didn’t have a choice. Global field production of crude oil (excluding natural gas liquids, which are not used as transportation fuel) stagnated at about 74 million barrels/day between 2005 and 2008. It is up a couple of million barrels since then, but more than 100% of this increase has been consumed by China alone, forcing the U.S. and other countries to reduce our oil consumption.
via James Hamilton: Econbrowser: Declining U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bailout, Brussels, CH4, Cyprus, ECB, energy, EU, euro, Gazprom, Israel, Lebanon, Levant, Levant Basin, Leviathan, Natural gas, Russia, Syria
Cyprus has known from the beginning that its bailout is tied to its potential petrol dollars, while the EU has attempted to couch this in all manner of moral-high-ground rhetoric.
What will the EU do now? Will it bail Cyprus out on kinder terms to keep Russia from getting hold of the island’s gas? Monday is D-Day: This is the deadline the European Central Bank has set for Cyprus to come up with $6 billion in order to “qualify” for a bailout package.
Cyprus is playing Russia and the EU offer each other right now, hoping to bring the specter of a deal with Russia close enough to make Brussels blink and give Cyprus more negotiating power.
Watch the deals in progress with this in mind: Not only is Cyprus’ financial collapse at stake here. Also at stake is Russia’s monopoly on the European gas market and the Europe’s entire gas future.
via Oilprice.com: EU Caught Playing Dirty and it’s all about Russian Gas.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 1%, 100%, 99%, advertising, fake recycling, fakery, greenwashing, marketing, paper towels, recycled paper, recycling, safeway, snake oil salesmen, unsafeway
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: auto traffic, auto-pedestrian, bicycle, bicycling, bike, car-pedestrian, collisions, denver, Denver-Boulder, hit and run, traffic accidents, transportation, urban cycling
Denver’s traffic not following national trends.
Denver’s auto-pedestrian accidents were up 46 percent for the first eight weeks of 2013 over the previous two years. Another grim statistic also stands out: Last year, the city had 13 hit-and-run fatalities, more than the previous three years combined.
[…]
After two years of averaging about 31 auto-pedestrian incidents a month, the average jumped to 44 a month in January and February, according to Denver police statistics.
Hit-and-run cases averaged 8.5 a month in January and February — after 4.8 per month in 2011 and 6.1 in 2012.
[…]
Over the past decade, about 1,600 accidents involving pedestrians or cyclists were reported every year, according to a study by the Denver Regional Council of Governments.
In the 10-county region, 17 percent of all fatalities were pedestrians, and 3 percent were cyclists.
via Spike in Denver's auto-pedestrian cases has officials seeking answers – The Denver Post.
These “jumps” are based on a mere two months’ of accidents. Gotta keep an eye out to see if it continues.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: CH4, China, Chindia, CO2, coal, electricity, energy, India, Peak Smart, power plants
Forgetting to start our renewable energy project.
Global demand for coal is expected to grow to 8.9 billion tons by 2016 from 7.9 billion tons this year. China is expected to add about 160 new coal-fired plants to the 620 operating now, within four years. During that period, India will add more than 46 plants.
Oh well.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Fat Man, Fukushima, Hiroshima, Little Boy, Nagasaki, Potsdam, radiation, Stalin, Stimson, Tepco, Truman
WASHINGTON: US service members are suing the Tokyo Electric Power Co. for more than $2 billion on grounds the utility lied about the dangers of helping clean up the nuclear disaster that struck two years ago, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The case was first filed by nine plaintiffs in December but has now expanded to 26, and another 100 are in the process of joining the suit, said Stars and Stripes newspaper.
[…]
The plaintiffs says the have suffered a number of ailments that they say are linked to their exposure, including headaches, difficulty concentrating, rectal bleeding, thyroid problems, cancer, tumors and gynecological bleeding.
via http://www.brecorder.com/world/southeast-asia/110808.html
So they say, things that go around come around and all that.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Belgium, CDC, distracted driving, EuroPNStyles, France, HeathStyles, little screens, mobile device use while driving, Portugal, Spain, texting while driving, twiddlin your screen, UK, urban cycling, watch the road
USA! USA!
click to enlarge
To assess the prevalence of mobile device use while driving in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States, CDC analyzed data from the 2011 EuroPNStyles and HealthStyles surveys. Prevalence estimates for self-reported talking on a cell phone while driving and reading or sending text or e-mail messages while driving were calculated. This report describes the results of that analysis, which indicated that, among drivers ages 18–64 years, the prevalence of talking on a cell phone while driving at least once in the past 30 days ranged from 21% in the UK to 69% in the United States, and the prevalence of drivers who had read or sent text or e-mail messages while driving at least once in the past 30 days ranged from 15% in Spain to 31% in Portugal and the United States.
via Mobile Device Use While Driving — United States and Seven European Countries, 2011.
DO NOT LOOK AT THIS POST WHILE DRIVING
Filed under: maps | Tags: bone cancer, cesium, Cesium-137, contamination, Fukushima, HYSPLIT, hysplit model, Iodine-131, meltdown, multiple meltdown, NOAA, radiation, radioactive cesium, thyroid cancer
NOAA’s HYSPLIT model shows clouds of highly radioactive Cesium wafting over the US after Fuku blew sky high. Only one month’s worth shown.
To see animation:
http://www.sos.noaa.gov/Datasets/dataset.php?id=332
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycle helmet laws, bicycle injuries, bicycle safety, bicycling injuries, Bike accidents, bike helmets, child cyclists, children and cycling, cycling, cycling injuries, helmet laws, helmets, mandatory helmet laws, transportation, urban cycling
Pinka Chatterji and Sara Markowitz, “Effects of Bicycle Helmet Laws on Children’s Injuries.” NBER Working Paper No. 18773. February 2013. JEL No. I0,K0
ABSTRACT
Cycling is popular among children, but results in thousands of injuries annually. In recent years, many states and localities have enacted bicycle helmet laws. We examine direct and indirect effects of these laws on injuries. Using hospital-level panel data and triple difference models, we find helmet laws are associated with reductions in bicycle-related head injuries among children. However, laws also are associated with decreases in non-head cycling injuries, as well as increases in head injuries from other wheeled sports. Thus, the observed reduction in bicycle-related head injuries may be due to reductions in bicycle riding induced by the laws.Pinka Chatterji
State University of New York at Albany Economics DepartmentSara Markowitz
Department of Economics Emory University
The auto industry loves mandatory helmet laws.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: amnasty, amnesty, Amnesty shamnesty, blood doping, Boogerd, Dekker, doping, EPO, pro cycling, psychling, Rabobank
This is what those ‘amnesty’ deals will look like for pro riders:
Under the pact, Dutch riders and staffers have until April 1 to come clean on their respective pasts [but not completely clean, of course]. Riders or staffers who confess to doping practices prior to 2008 will be issued six-month bans and fined two months’ wages. More severe bans of up to four years would be imposed for those who don’t confess during the amnesty window, but are later exposed.
And if anybody confesses to doping after 2008, the entire world will explode. So don’t do that, riders.
This whole thing is completely ridiculous. Stick a fork in it.
via Velonews: Boogerd’s confession causes stir in Dutch teams.
Filed under: maps | Tags: CH2M Hill, Cold War, FBI, Great Western Reservoir, Indiana Street, Jefferson County Parkway, Krey and Hardy, nuclear weapons, Plutonium, radioactive contamination, radioactive particles, Rockwell International, Rocky Flats, Standley Lake
…is about more than spreading the cancer of suburban development. It is also the latest installment in a long project to cover up history and erase responsibility.
click to enlarge
Distribution of plutonium contamination from Rocky Flats in becquerels per square meter (one becquerel equals one disintegration or burst of radiation per second). The original version of this map was prepared by P. W. Krey and E. P. Hardy of the Atomic Energy Commission’s Health and Safety Laboratory, New York City, and published in their 1970 report, “Plutonium in Soil Around the Rocky Flats Plant,” HASL 235. Sampling done in September 2011 along Indiana St. by independent scientist Marco Kaltofen showed that present deposits of plutonium are roughly equivalent to the levels measured by Krey and Hardy in 1970. The dotted red line shows the route of the proposed Jefferson Parkway.
via Leroy Moore: Rocky Flats and the Risk Society | LeRoyMoore's Blog.
Industrialized Cyclist Notepad 