Phil Bridge, a 21 year old Product Design student at Sheffield Hallam University, came up with the design, noting that a bicycle is stolen every 71 seconds in the UK, and wondered if anyone would be interested in running off with a cardboard bike.
Using Hexacomb board, he’s fashioned a vehicle that will never make it to the Tour de France, but figures it would last for about six [...]
In what some called a crazy stint, this April the LA crew of riders who call themselves the Crimanimalz hit the highway to make a statement in a city renowned for its hours and hours of commuter traffic. The ride through the city’s Friday commuter traffic jam, also dubbed the “If You Rode a Bike You’d be Home by Now Ride,” is now a monthly event. Check out images of [...]
Since the start of the Iraq War in 2003, oil prices have jumped from $28 per barrel to over $130, with most of that rise occurring in the last year. This fact is made even more stark considering that for all of the last century prior to the current meteoric rise, crude oil prices have averaged about $20 per barrel (adjusted for inflation).
I’ve heard of making fuel from wood before, but rarely does using wood as fuel come up. However, just today I was pointed to this site, hosted by a local radio station, with a real-life example of someone burning wood as a fuel in his truck.
I can’t say for sure how the system works, whether it’s dual fuel or the wood-burning supplies all the fuel the engine needs, but it doesn’t appear to be a hoax and is certainly interesting. Evidently, during WWII, there was some experimenting with alternative fuels (due to shortages caused by the war), and one of the results was the wood burning automobile.
The inventor says riding this bike is easy, you just have to learn to trust it.
18 year old Canadian Ben Gulak has spent a lot of time developing this motorbike, which resembles a unicycle in every way, except that it has two wheels, side by side.
How is it balanced? Ben uses gyroscopic technology to keep the bike upright, and it responds only to body movements. Lean forward, the faster you go, lean backwards and you slow down, and to either side, you get the idea.
It isn’t the speediest bike around, reaching 25 mph on a full charge, which lasts about 2.5 hours. A larger motor, however, would increase the speed, but how fast would you want to go on a unicycle?
Top international environmental news for during the week of April 6 - 13:
Europe — World’s first commercial tidal turbine installed (EcoGeek)
“The world’s first commercial tidal turbine has been installed in its home in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough.
Though it has yet to be turned on, it will be the first commercial power-producing tidal generator when it is (sometime later this year). The turbine has two 16 meter-wide rotors and will be able to run for 18-20 hours a day. The turbine was installed off the coast in an area known for fast moving waters, and because the rotors will only spin 10-20 times in a minute, it is unlikely to disturb marine life.”
Source: EcoGeek. Hot in media: Digg EcoGeek, Digg TimesOnline.
Africa — Tree-Nation (Tree-Nation)
“Tree-Nation is an ecological project with a focused objective: To plant 8 million trees in Niger, Africa to fight desertification! Large-scale plantation of trees will increase the land’s productivity and re-generate the soil.
How about riding a tandem bike, and being able to look your companion straight in the eye? This might be dangerous, but a Taiwanese inventor has created a face-to-face tandem bicycle.
Chen Yugang seems to think it will be a big hit, and is courting manufacturers. He says,
“On a traditional two-person bicycle, the rider in the rear seat can only see the back of the one in front. So I started wondering how I could get them sitting face-to-face”.
Officials in Turin, Italy have decided to replace city lawnmowers with 700 sheep, saving thousands of dollars in fuel costs and equipment repairs. The sheep graze in city parks, fatten up and then are sold at the end of the season.
Drivers aren’t happy as sheep are herded across roads to new grazing lands, and locals who enjoyed sitting on the grass are finding it nearly impossible, since no one is cleaning up after the [...]
With an eye to making it in the record books, Mr. Tan of Songyuan city in China, spent the last six months creating an exact, 48 lb, fully functional replica of his cell phone with camera and internet access included.
He did, however, leave out the vibrate function, which was probably a good idea, and he couldn’t find a battery big enough to power the phone, so he has to plug it into a wall outlet.
What every boy needs, a full-size, remote-controlled Hummer H3, crafted by engineers from Cranfield University in the UK.
Capable of climbing a 407mm vertical wally, operate in up to 610mm of water and traverse a 40% slope, it won’t be available commercially. Sorry boys.
Of course, one of the reasons that the UK’s public transport grid is in disarray is because the ministers are clueless….
This clip is from the much-missed comedy show Big Train but I thought it rather apposite. Enjoy.
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