If a picture is worth a thousand words, this series of photo tours is going to be worth about a hundred thousand.
You have probably heard before that the cities on this list are great bicycle cities, but the following photo tours will give you a better and more entertaining visual explanation of why they are considered to be so great.
From public art to art on bikes, seas of bicycles to bicycles that could carry a swimming pool, high heels to naked bicyclists, check out these upcoming photo tours of some of the world’s greatest bicycle cities.
Switzerland has historically been a tax haven for Americans (and citizens of other nationalities) however this is about to come to an end as UBS, the largest bank in Switzerland, has agreed “to divulge the names of well-heeled Americans whom the authorities suspect of using offshore accounts at the bank to evade taxes. The bank admitted conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and agreed to pay $780 million to settle a sweeping federal investigation into its activities.” (New York [...]
Swiss company BKW has revealed that it plans to launch a 20-30 meter long solar-powered submarine. The vessel, to be used as a tourist attraction, will feature a huge ‘living-room’ style passenger area, as well as 60-70cm viewing portholes.
Under the plan, called Project Goldfish, a team of engineers will build a submarine, capable of carrying 20-30 passengers and two crew, at a depth of up to 300 meters across Lake Thun. Since it operates underwater, the team has figured that it’s pointless to attach solar panels on the sub itself. Instead, the vessel will fully recharge at a floating solar platform on the surface of the lake, decked out with 300m2 of solar collectors capable of supplying up to 30kW of renewable energy.
Professor Hansjürg Leibundgut, a professor at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, has just been given permission to begin construction of a model apartment block that will make use of new CO2-free technologies. According to Leibundgut, the apartments contain heating, cooling, and solar energy systems that have never before been seen in private homes.
FedEx’s New Solar System Is Enough To Power 370 homes
FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp, broke ground on its first - and largest - international solar energy facility on Monday. The facility near the Cologne, Germany airport will house over 16,000 square meters of solar panels.
The new solar panel installation is slated for completion by 2010; a 1.4-megawatt (MW) solar power system that will generate 1.3 GWhs of electricity/year. That is equivalent to the annual consumption of 370 homes!
After revising estimates, Cuba now claims it has double the amount of oil in its offshore reserves than previously thought. If the estimates are accurate, Cuba would have just as much oil as the U.S.
This discovery, coupled with initiatives to develop alternative energy projects, such a brand new biogas factory, will put Cuba on the fast track to achieving energy independence.
A new amended law in Switzerland protects the dignity of vegetation.
A law protecting the dignity of plants? Laugh if you will. I’m down on my knees in respect and awe. At last the Western World is realizing the dire importance of taking other species into account.
Recently, the Swiss Parliament asked a panel of philosophers, lawyers, geneticists and theologians to determine the meaning of dignity when it pertains to plants.
Lo and Behold, the team published a treatise on “the moral consideration of plants for their own sake.” The treatise established that vegetation has innate value and that it is morally wrong to partake in activities such as the “decapitation of wildflowers at the roadside without rational reason.”
Over a decade ago, an amendment was added to the Swiss constitution in order to defend the dignity of all creatures — including vegetation — against unwanted repercussions of genetic engineering. The amendment was turned into law and is known as the Gene Technology Act. However the law itself didn’t say anything specific about plants, until recently, when the law was amended to include them.
During a recent sea expedition the team successfully used the bacteria, which contains a protein that glows blue when viewed though a simple light-detecting device, to detect oil.
I don’t know if this is truly a step forward in clean car technology, or just something for James Bond and Aquaman fans, but Swiss car maker Rinspeed will debut the sQuba, a fully submersible electric car, at next month’s Geneva Auto Show.
