Everyone knows that the greenest vehicle  you can buy is a bicycle, but two pronounced issues with transportation bicycling in Northeast Ohio are (1) a lack of a unified network of bicycle paths and lanes to faciliate bicycle commuting and (2) a lack of secure facilities to park and lock your bicycle.  Read more »

The 2010 Toyota Prius represents the 3rd generation of this 4-door 5-passenger hatchback introduced in 2001.  The Prius was the second mass produced hybrid-electric vehicle to be sold in the USA, with the first being the 2-passenger Honda Insight in 2000. Read more »

"With the deployment of the selected idle reduction technologies (APU's, battery powered/thermal storage air conditioning), main engine idling comprised from 5 to 22 percent of total engine operating time, representing a reduction in idling of 42 to 78 percent from baseline conditions...." Read more »

This graph, from the Atlantic Magazine, shows that as the number of cyclists on the road increases (the example given is NYC), the number of accidents with automobiles decreases. Read more »

In the month of June, 3 cities in Cuyahoga County passed Idle Reduction Ordinances (laws) that limit unnecessary engine idling from both light- and heavy-duty vehicles.  Our collaborative campaign (EDC, NOACA, CCACC, OEC) to reduce  emissions and concurrently save citizens & cities money, is beginning to gain steam!! Read more »

The City of Cleveland and a broad based coalition of organizations, including the Earth Day Coalition, are working to create an Idle Reduction Ordinance for our five county region. The City of Cleveland enacted an internal Idle Reduction Policy for city vehicles in April of 2006. Since that time, several other cities in the region have enacted similar policies. Read more »

What does a green port look like? The South Jersey Courier Post has examined this very question in looking at Camden's South Jersey Port Corporation and their bid to green their port operations. I've copied some highlights from the article which could apply to Cleveland's Port relocation project.: (article text in italics / commentary in plain text)

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"...the international maritime industry is rife with diesel engines on
ships, cranes and other dockside equipment spewing carbon emissions
around the clock.

South Jersey Port Corp. has received a
$550,000 grant from the federal and state governments to retrofit its
dockside equipment. While a good first step, it does not address
pollution from foreign ships.

The next generation of ships, docks and ancillary equipment could be more environmentally sensitive."

Retrofitting diesel equipment and vehicles encompasses a broad category of solutions including devices like Diesel Oxidation Catalysts (DOC's) and Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF's), both of which reduce fine particulate pollution (small enough to pass into the blood stream), nitrogen oxides (a precursor to ground level ozone), carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons. At the Port of Cleveland, Federal Marine Terminals, has been working over the past few years to retrofit their loading equipment with DOC's.

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"South Jersey Port Corp. eliminated 80,000 truck moves a year by
building a new $40 million pier for St. Lawrence Cement Co. at Broadway
with direct highway access. The new deepwater berth is also equipped
with a diesel-powered crane and a covered conveyor belt so particles
from the processed slag are not airborne while moving from one part of
the pier to the next."

The logic behind South Jersey Port Corp's new pier may be similar to a reason for moving Cleveland's Port to E. 55th - better access to other modes of transport. Like other heavy duty diesel equipment, a diesel powered crane could be retrofitted with either a DOC or a DPF to reduce fine particle pollution when the crane is in operation. A covered conveyor belt helps to reduce large particle pollution (greater than 10 microns)

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"With 2 million square feet of flat warehouse space, which could be
converted into solar panels, the agency (South Jersey Port Corp.) has the potential to be a
renewable energy powerhouse."

With First Solar manufacturing in Toledo and two European Solar companies considering moving headquarters and/or production to Cleveland, the possibility of PV panel covered warehouses at Cleveland's new port location seems to be high. If the bulk of stevedoring operations could be fueled by electricity, a solar powered port could be far less polluting as well as offer more efficient and lower cost operations in an energy starved future.

A comparison of transportation modes on energy usage. The use of fossil fuels directly correlates with the creation of carbon dioxide. In the attached chart, the units of energy are British Thermal Units (BTUs). The vehicular data was supplied by the US Deptartment of Transportation. The human powered data was assembled from various conversations with fitness experts on caloric outlay for bicycling, running, and walking at various speeds. The conversion rate between food calories and BTUs is 1 BTU = 252 Kilocalories.

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Ford Chairman William Clay Ford Jr. expressed some provactive thoughts at a speech at the University of Michigan, captured in a Nov 14 article in the NY Times. Namely, he stated that,

"...the world's automotive fleet, now about 880 million vehicles, would grow to 2 billion by midcentury.

"One of the things we absolutely know as we move forward is that congestion is going to be as big a problem as pollution," Mr. Ford said.

This reminds me of a statement made by the great American industrialist Henry Kaiser, regarding the acceptance and success of the personal automobile:

via May 1944, Steel Labor
"The highway program already announced by Federal government really holds the key to the advancement of the auto industry. The saturation point in automovitve production is a long way off, provided proper streets and highways are available."

Well, it seems the Ford Chairman has acknowledged the problem of too many cars and not enough roads/parking spaces and it's encouraging to hear him say that he wants to be part of the solution.

via November 14 NewYork Times:
"Pointing to efforts under way in India and South Africa to encourage consumers to use bicycles, mopeds and public transportation instead of automobiles, Mr. Ford said, “The idea of individual car ownership as we know it today will change, too.”

Ford wants “to be part of that — not to be frightened by it, but to participate in it,” he said."

I believe this to be a landmark statement in the evolution of personal transportation. By focusing on the development of alternative modes of transportation, such as walking, bicycling, and mass transit, and re-arranging automobile ownerhsip as a co-op or carshare, we not only reduce the destructive effects of a car dominated society, but we dramatically increase the livability of cities.

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The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) invite you to a briefing at which a new study will be released entitled Public Transportation's Contribution to U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reduction. The study, conducted by SAIC, examines the effect of public transportation on carbon dioxide emissions. It aims to answer the questions: how much net carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) is public transportation saving in the United States with the current level of transit services being offered? Read more »