Advocacy

Eva Hakansson gave a short presentation at TEDxDU in May about her motorcycle, her husbands motorcycle, and a motorcycle they're getting ready to take to the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Her husband is Bill Dube, the designer of the KillaCycle. The motorcycle they're building, the KillaJoule, is a stretched out streamliner motorcycle that's purpose built for salt flats time trials. I see on the KillaCycle Racing page on Facebook that they're in crunch mode to get it ready to take on the salt. The update from sometime today was that they decided to arrive on the salt on Wednesday because Tuesday is "just technical inspections".

They plan to break 200 miles/hr with the thing and hope eventually to break 400 miles/hr.

FWIW Richard Hatfield (Lightning Motors) told me the organizer of the BUB Motorcycle Time Trials (where his team set the land speed record for electric motorcycles two weeks ago - 173 miles/hr - see: Lightning Motors strikes with new electric motorcycle land speed record at BUB Speed Trials) told Richard that he believes it will be an electric motorcycle that's most likely going to break 400 miles/hr. This has to do with handling characteristics.

In any case the video is online at the TEDxDU website and it's a nice video.

Google lists it as a top 5 search right up there with Tropical Storm Danielle and threatening to make people forget Tiger Woods' exwife making a statement about all his affairs. If you're going to drive to Peking, you better take the motorhome.

Just think of all the fumes they WOULDN't have if it was electrics idling in all this congestion.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-as-china-traffic-jam,0,5318072.story

http://thekneeslider.com/

That microengine post resurfacing reminded me, that's really a neat site. If it's kinda sorta motorcycle more or less and more or less unusual, it gets a write up. Once the electric version was around for awhile, it would become a public information office.

Some of my favoritesLACE Cycle Car from Liberty Motors:

Charles Taylor’s One Wheel Vehicles

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Misplaced concerns over Quantyaparx, an off-road electric dirt bike park in rural England
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-14333-Green-Transportation-Examiner~y2010m8d5-Misplaced-concerns-over-Quantyaparx-an-offroad-...

Maybe I should have posted this as "Cartman." Then there's also singing 'My green's better than your green, my green's better than yours. . . .'

Battle Pits Solar Energy Against Trees

This interesting interview of James Woolsey was played on NPR's Weekend Edition this morning. It goes over the need to do for oil what was done for salt nearly 100 years ago. Salt used to be a resource with strategic importance enough to cause wars over salt mines, but refrigeration made Salt irrelevant and now salt is just a seasoning.

James Woolsey is a Washington insider with decades of experience. FWIW. His contention is that oil is a national security risk. The figure is that the U.S. is essentially borrowing $1 billion/yr due to oil imports because we import 70% of our oil needs. He doesn't discuss the peak oil issue behind why we import 70% of our oil (the U.S. is way past it's peak of production which occurred in 1971).

Another point he makes is that renewable energy resources like Wind or Solar provides electricity. Since the transportation system is largely oil based, creating electricity does not power oil driven vehicles. As good as it is to installing renewable energy systems it doesn't do anything to reduce dependence on oil. BTW I made the exact same argument in a podcast from last year: Offshore drilling on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, an Interior Department hearing, held in San Francisco, April 16, 2009

I wonder if y'all have suggestions on some movies. One of the things I'm involved with is launching Transition Silicon Valley, which is the local branch of the international Transition Towns Initiatives. One of our activities is a recurring movie series titled "Films of Vision and Hope" where the overall goal is using movies to encourage discussion and community building. To be a "Movie of Vision and Hope" is not to be pollyannaish about the problems our society is facing, but rather to focus on the ones that acknowledge the issues AND offer positive constructive solutions.

I'm sitting on my front porch, laptop on the lap and across the street this guy with a gasoline powered leaf blower is doing his thing.

My complaints:

Fully Charged pilot

(FWIW the sharp eyed might recognize Kryten)