Faster Horses

Transportation.  This is the part of my personal carbon footprint that haunts me every day.  I grew up in smallish towns with little-to-no public transit options but enough sprawl and extreme weather to make walking or biking everywhere unfeasible, so I’ve been reliant on four-wheeled gas guzzlers for as long as I can remember.  And it’s a hard habit to break.  As I read through Roseland’s suggestions for tools and initiatives, including programs to promote cycling and carpooling, pedestrian-only areas, bike-sharing programs, road pricing, and charges for parking, my first thought was “good ideas”, immediately followed by “but I wouldn’t want that to make driving for me more expensive or difficult”, and shortly thereafter “I’m exactly the reason Americans are consuming 134 billion gallons of fuel each year”.  In fact, each time I visit my parents armed with new information about something they should be doing differently to reduce their impact, the immediate retort is “we’ll do that when you start taking the bus to school.”  Point taken.  But if someone like me who has a strong desire to make the right choices for a more sustainable future is having trouble putting down the keys and picking up the walking shoes, what are the chances that disbelievers are going to be swayed by a few extra speed bumps or a few less parking spaces?

While I don’t mean to discount any efforts to change the pattern of fuel over-consumption, I am interested in what other options we might have in the near future.  Sure there are hybrids and electric vehicles, developments in biofuel, and increased fuel efficiency with the roll-out of the industry’s new line of cars each year; but each of these options suffers from trade-offs that make them less than ideal solutions.  When is the next revolution in personal transportation going to start really solving some problems?

Where better to start my search for the sustainable vehicle of the future than with a TED Talk:

I know it’s 15 minutes long, but watch it.  The speaker, Mark Frohnmayer, gives a good overview of our transportation history and where we are today (the first 7 minutes), as well as his view of some solutions for the future (the next 5 minutes), plus Google’s self-driving car (the following 1.5 minutes).  He wraps up his presentation by combining the most promising technologies to create a sustainable vehicle vision for the future:  “a fleet of ultra-efficient, electric, self-driving vehicles cruising around the city, available at the touch of a button on your phone”.  Pretty cool.

Of course, I had to delve deeper into Google’s technology.  According to a Wall Street Journal blog, a spinning laser device is mounted to the top of the car (either a Prius or a Lexus RX450h hybrid) and shoots 1.5 million beams per second up to 230 feet in all directions.  “’Adaptive cruise control’ radar, which senses movement more than 650 feet around the car, sits on the front grille.  A camera on the windshield looks for traffic lights, signs, and traffic cones.”  All of that data is collected and combined with information from external sources, including GPS and Google Maps, to autonomously control the vehicle.  Sound super-cool but super-scary?  I thought so too.  Check out this video to see what it’s like from the driver’s seat:

Self-driving electric autos sound like a good start to the next vehicle revolution.  And with “10.8 million motor vehicle accidents in 2009 resulting in 36,000 deaths,” I might be willing to take the chance that a computer could do a better job than a lot of drivers out there on the roads today.  Read more on this and Google’s 300,000 mile self-driving milestone here.

Frohnmayer’s holistic vision for the future of personal transportation also reminded me of another holistic sustainability initiative, Masdar City.  Located in Abu Dhabi, Masdar City is designed to be a sustainable, zero-carbon, zero-waste community and a hub for cleantech companies.  (For a video overview, click here.)  And while I could go on about a lot of the innovative technologies the World’s Sustainable City is implementing, I’ll stick to the transportation theme for the time being.  The city’s original plans included the development of a Personal Rapid Transit system that would eliminate the use of fossil-fueled vehicles.  The driver-less pods would carry 2 to 6 passengers, run along tracks connecting between 85 and 100 stations, and be powered by electricity generated by solar power arrays.  Unfortunately, Masdar City planners abandoned these plans due to budget constraints, but the prototypes are still in place.

My search for the future of sustainable personal transportation resulted in some interesting and exciting new technology that is clearly not going to be available for widespread use anytime in the very near future.  So until then, I’m stuck with either the guilt of driving my Volkswagen or the option to get out of the driver’s seat and onto a bicycle seat.  But the race for the next personal transportation revolution is on, and I can’t wait to see who wins.

The War on Plastic Bags

This week, I had the opportunity to serve as a judge for undergraduate students in Meriem Chida’s Product Development class.  A lecturer from the College of Arts and Sciences, Chida has researched sustainability and continues to incorporate it in the classroom experience.  Last Spring, her class focused on upcycled sustainable merchandise.  This year, they were given the task of rethinking the plastic bag used at checkout by vendors and retailers to come up with innovative, more sustainable alternatives.

In a landfill, plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to degrade.

Between my two student groups, there were many different and interesting ideas:

• A recycling center where consumers can deposit plastic bags they have accumulated in order to be recycled.  As an incentive for using the service, a loyalty card would be used to track bag deposits and accrue credits which could then be used to make purchases or receive discounts at participating retail or grocery stores.  Although this solution doesn’t eliminate the evil bags, it does provide a relatively simple method of safer disposal while incenting the public to make the effort to do so in a more sustainable way.
• Reusable shopping bags made from old clothing.  The students even had a prototype – a tank top they converted to a bag using a shoe string.  While I doubt that this idea would scale up in the retail market, I think it would be a great item to add to Pinterest and has the potential to generate a trend following.  Plus, it serves the dual purpose of recycling clothing that is no longer wanted or wearable.
• Ingeo Plastic shopping baskets.  Developed by NatureWorks LLC, this bio-based plastic is a more sustainable option than the types of plastic widely used today, both in its production and its end-of-life options.
• Biodegradable bags attached to shopping carts.  This idea was derived from the biodegradable dog waste bags already available.  In conjunction with this option, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology would be used so that shoppers could scan and bag their items as they shop.  The personal scanner is an idea that has been around for a while and, as far as I can tell, is not currently in use because of a variety of foreseen complications (including a higher frequency of theft and a belief that if shoppers watch their total dollars increase as they shop, they may buy less).  However, I imagine as the technology improves, this could become a shopping option in the future.
• Roll-up and elastic-band bags for customizable bag sizing.  One complaint the students found in regards to current bagging options, especially in the context of reusable bags, is that they come in one generic size which doesn’t always fit the customer's needs.  This solution allows the customer to adjust the bag size to accommodate different items.
• Divided crates that move from trunk to shopping cart and back again.  Customers place items in compartments according to food type and can then easily transport them to the register, to the car, and ultimately into the kitchen (the compartments can be removed one at a time or as an entire unit).
• Fold-up weatherproof keychain bags.  This option is intended to be affixed to a customer’s keychain and used for quick trips when only a few items are needed.

While there are still some project iterations to complete, it was incredibly interesting to be involved in the design process with these students as they searched for a more sustainable way to shop.  The project also reminded me of one of my new favorite terms – slacktivism.  A combination of the words ‘slacker’ and ‘activism’, this refers to a generation of consumers who have a desire to “do good” but only if it is easy and convenient for them.  A recurring theme among all of the new ideas was that there needed to be a simple solution to the plastic bag problem that would not require consumers to significantly change their current shopping habits.

Above all, this experience motivated me to think critically about possible solutions to some of the unsustainable practices that are commonplace today…and to find the reusable bags I have strewn throughout my apartment and put them in my trunk for my next trip to the grocery store!

The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary

In Pursuit of Green Flight

The modern airplane creates a new geographical dimension.  A navigable ocean of air blankets the whole surface of the globe.  There are no distant places any longer:  the world is small and the world is one.

-Wendell Willkie

Flight is a magical thing, but it also has arguably the single largest impact of any international travel-related activity on the environment via greenhouse gas emissions.  Finding a flight is also the first unavoidable step in preparing for my study abroad trip to India.  And so Googling various combinations of the words “airline”, “emissions”, and “sustainability” has consumed my Personal Project time for the past few weeks.  After all of that research, I am finally prepared to book this day-long flight in the most eco-friendly way possible (read:  this is a “least bad” endeavor as there are currently no “good” options).

Step 1:  Choose an Airline

While the lowest price listed on Travelocity is usually my go-to flight plan, my flight-booking activities this time around have been anything but quick and one-dimensional.  There is a plethora of information available regarding advances in the aviation industry and particular activities and endeavors being undertaken by specific airlines.  All of this research, along with some input from a few friends, has led me to choose Etihad Airways for my transportation needs. 

Based in Abu Dhabi, Etihad has played an important role in the advancement of fuel efficiency and the search for an alternative to oil-based fuel.  On January 25^th of this year, Etihad became the first airline to fly on biofuel.  A new Boeing 777-300ER flew from Seattle to Abu Dhabi International Airport on a mix of traditional fuel and plant-based biofuel that was created using recycled vegetable cooking oil.  The airline has also formed a partnership with Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s multi-faceted future energy initiative, to develop carbon and waste reduction initiatives and establish a carbon credit purchasing for offset program.  You can also read some of President and CEO James Hogan’s thoughts on Etihad’s role in sustainability in Green Growth and Travelism.  But what it all boils down to for decision-making purposes is that Etihad seems to be doing its part to contribute to the sustainability movement and to create a future where green flight is possible.

Step 2:  Purchase Carbon Offsets

Having chosen an airline based on involvement in sustainability initiatives as opposed to price, I still felt that I wasn’t doing enough to combat the environmental impact of my flight, and thus began my search to learn more about carbon offsets.  The basic gist is summed up pretty well in Carbonfund.org’s tag line:  Reduce what you can, offset what you can’t.  As society exists today, there are some activities that produce unavoidable GHG emissions, air travel being one of them.  So a marketplace has formed for the environmentally-conscious to purchase carbon offsets to “counteract” the effect of the emissions their activities are producing in an attempt to reduce carbon footprints and further the development of alternatives.  Watch the video posted below for more detail about how carbon offsets work.

Of course, this practice does not get by without some harsh criticism.  An article in the Associated Press sums up many of the issues, including the concern that, by purchasing carbon offsets, consumers assuage their guilt and don’t feel pressure to reduce their impact to begin with.  There is also debate over the calculations used to determine the amount of emissions to offset for a given activity and over the price of carbon offsets (how do you put a price on environmentally damaging actions?).  An issue of New Internationalist magazine entitled “CO2nned:  Carbon offsets stripped bare” poses some serious accusations of programs that claim carbon neutrality.  A response posted on Treehugger counters many of the claims made and offers regulation as a possible suggestion for getting a better handle on the offset marketplace.

After all that I’ve read, I still have mixed feelings regarding carbon offsets.  I don’t think that by purchasing them I am making up for the impact of my carbon-fueled flight; however, if by purchasing offsets I can contribute to the renewable energy revolution, then I could get on board.  And so I went to Carbonfund.org’s flight calculator to find out how many carbon emissions I was responsible for and to contribute to renewable energy projects to counterbalance that amount.  A round trip flight for one from Nashville, TN to Hyderabad, India covers 17,320 miles, producing 3.20 tons of CO2, and costing $32.04 to offset.  The site also gives you the option to choose the type of offset you would like:  renewable energy and methane, energy efficiency and carbon credits, or reforestation and avoided deforestation (I went with option one).  A trivial amount to contribute to renewable energy?  Absolutely.  The path to carbon neutral flight has a long way to go.

Step 3:  Consider the Alternatives…and Get Psyched to Go to India!

A promising alternative to international travel?:

While I could eliminate the impact of this trip by not taking it, I somehow don’t feel that Sharing the Air (see video above) would have quite the same experiential effect on my life.  And despite all the criticisms and my own reservations regarding the less bad options I’ve listed, I hope that by taking the time to select an airline that is involved in making the industry more sustainable and by investing in renewable energy research and production via carbon offsets (however trivial the amount may be), taking this trip will in some small way help us move further down the path towards sustainable air travel and will reduce, or at the very least partially counteract, my own personal emissions impact.