NASA loves researching and their newest aviation project is no exception. The X-57 plane is an all-electric propeller driven design to test and demonstrate that such a plane can exist. They also went a step further by testing new engines and arrangement of them on the wing to try and
Continue readingTag: Transportation
Things Are Good: Next Step: Intermodal Bicycles
Every delivery person knows that driving a truck through a city is stressful and dangerous. Our current delivery logistics tend to rely heaveily on trucks to transport goods to their ultimate destination, which clogs up roads and pollutes our cities. DB Schenker, one of the largest delivery companies, has decide
Continue readingThings Are Good: Ships Enhanced by Wind Power Improve Shipping
Sails on ships aren’t anything new. Heck, we’ve been following this “new” technology on cargo ships since 2005. It’s time for our almost annual check-in on how modern ships are using an old tech solution to improve their efficiency. Here’s some additional context for you: 2006 – Wind Powered Boats
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Ed Broadbent and Andrew Jackson highlight how among its other advantages, a national pharmacare program would prevent workers from being tied to jobs by a need to preserve coverage through work: On top of the unnecessarily high and rising cost of private
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Scott Gilmore writes about the glaring need for Canada’s politicians to show more capacity for shame – through it’s worth noting both a global pattern to the same effect, and the dangers of trying to draw “both-sides” equivalency (as Gilmore does) in
Continue readingThings Are Good: Let’s Use Airships Instead of Airplanes
Travelling via airplane is safe for you as an individual, but collectively all of using planes is unsafe. At ground level the emissions from airplanes are bad and are even more damaging when released high in the atmosphere (where you know, planes fly). If we’re going to survive the climate
Continue readingThings Are Good: Let’s do Better than Bike Lanes
In North America bike lanes are afterthoughts slapped on infrastructure meant for heavy metal objects that kill people and the planet. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can change the conversation from supporting large single occupant vehicles to supporting solutions to move large groups of people safely through
Continue readingThings Are Good: London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone Cuts Toxic Air Pollution by a Third
London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) can be considered a roaring success. The ULEZ was created by London mayor Sadiq Khan to combat the health crisis created from too many cars being in a small geographic area (and to improve the ability of people to get around the city). The
Continue readingThings Are Good: It’s Time for Less Speed and More Efficency
A regularly seen warning on roads is that “speed kills” and cities have been slowing traffic around the world to protect pedestrians. However, have you thought about how speed as a concept kills? Over at the tech-worshipping magazine, Wired, they’re running an article that explores the idea that reaching for
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – David Leonhardt discusses how the U.S.’ tax system has become definitively regressive, featuring this chart as to how the wealthiest few now pay a smaller share of their income than anybody else. – Ann Pettifor highlights how society suffers when rentier capitalism is
Continue readingThings Are Good: We All Benefit When We Build Safe Streets
The climate crisis requires solutions at all levels and that includes the streets. Safe streets for pedestrians and cyclists ensures that more people will use sustainable transit (and not drive polluting cars). New York City has earned a reputation for redesigning their streetscape to be for people instead of cars,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Free Transit In Dunkirk a Success
The French city of Dunkirk recently made a major decision to make all their public transit free to anyone. It’s worked really well and now people are hoping the idea spreads to other places in France. It’s noteworthy that the climate crisis wasn’t the driving factor behind the plan it
Continue readingIn-Sights: Not on time, not on budget
Since actual payments are almost 3x the contractual obligation, it looks like the Sea to Sky Highway improvement project will eventually cost $1.5 billion. And remember, the province financed one third of the project’s construction cost while the P3 financed two thirds…
Continue readingThings Are Good: Toronto’s Bloor Bike Lanes Boost Local Businesses
Despite being only 2.4 kilometres long the bike lane on Bloor street in Toronto was heavily contested. It was debated in local politics for decades and was only declared permanent recently. During the debate car drivers demanded the “right” to occupy land at the expense of others while maintaining an
Continue readingIn-Sights: Politics outranks good policy
After banking large contributions from taxi owners, governing BC Liberals had declined to change provincial rules to allow ride hailing. They also failed to ensure adequate expansion of fleet sizes. Decades of government protection of the taxi industry resulted in value of a Vancouver taxi license being worth up to
Continue readingThings Are Good: Boost Local Shopping Streets by Going Car Free
Berlin wants to support its local businesses by banning cars, and historically this has worked well for other cities. Cities the world over are converting streets built for cars into places that people can enjoy to help their local economies. Berlin joins in on this people-friendly trend and the results
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Robert Reich points out that the most significant political divide is the one between the wealthiest few and the rest of the population: In reality, the biggest divide in America today runs between oligarchy and democracy. When oligarchs fill the coffers of
Continue readingThings Are Good: Cities Collect Big Bucks from Bike Lanes
Regular readers know that bike lanes are good for people, cities, transportation, and the economy. Yet another article has been written about the greatness of bicycle transportation in case you needed even more evidence of how good bike lanes are. The CBC is running an article that provides a great
Continue readingIn-Sights: Vaughn Palmer, noted engineer and road-builder
Today, a poll from Mario Canseco’s Research Co. reported, “The governing New Democratic Party (NDP) is the top choice in British Columbia’s current political landscape…” This might explain why some scribblers in the Press Gallery are focused on rebuilding the BC Liberal brand.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Christiana Figueres: The Climate Risk Reward Ratio has Changed
The architect of the Paris Agreement, Christiana Figueres, is optimistic about the future of the planet and she sees the technology sector key in moving our economy to a carbon neutral system. She sees the exponential growth in the technology sector and argues that we need that sector’s help to
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