Summer has arrived and it is time to get outside and play.

There are many great activities available to us in Fort Collins, but today let’s focus on biking. If you are new to the area, or just looking to find more ways to expand your biking experience, I want to share with you some unique ways we help cater to our biking community here.

An outstanding operation in town is the Fort Collins Bike Co-Op, 222 LaPorte Ave. Our bike co-op is a fantastic way during these tough times to help others while helping yourself at the same time. The way it works is this, no bikes or parts are sold through the co-op. Instead, people can earn bikes through volunteerism and donations.

The shop is an open facility where members can share the tools and even be taught ways to repair their bikes. If a bike can’t be repaired, the co-op will disassemble them and keep the parts for re-use and recycling. This program has been able to keep not only keep old bikes out of landfills but has given people who need bikes the ability to earn one by working for it. Go to www.FCBikeCoop.org for more info.

One of the recipients of some recycled bike parts from the co-op is the Fort Collins Bike Library, which can be found in Old Town Square. In April of 2008, the library opened to raving reviews. The bike library is a free service for residents, students and visitors to Fort Collins. Library members can borrow a bike for as short as one hour to as long as five days.

They have a variety of styles and sizes, and even tag-a-longs for children in tow. The bike library also offers a variety of self-guided tours ranging from brewery tours and historic tours to an environmental learning tour along the scenic Cache La Poudre River Bike Trail. Tour brochures are available at the checkout location.

The library also depends on volunteers to keep it running and is always looking for people wanting to help. Since its opening last spring, this hard-working group of people has handed out 1,843 free bike rides. Go to www.FCBikeLibrary.org to register and for more information.

Both of these organizations wouldn’t be possible without the support of Bike Fort Collins, our local 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to making Fort Collins a better place to ride a bicycle. They help run and promote events and races, are advocates for bike safety and help support and start programs like these to make the biking experience in Fort Collins a great one. Visit www.BikeFortCollins.org.

At the Bike Fort Collins Web site, you will be able to learn about all kinds of fun events that are planned this summer that focus on biking. My personal favorite is the New Belgium Bike-in-Cinema, which starts Aug. 13 and will run for six weeks at sundown at New Belgium Brewing Co., 500 Linden St.

Check www.newbelgium.com/bike-cinema for this summer’s lineup.

These are a few of the great things going on in Fort Collins cycling.  Do you have a story or some events to share happening in your area?  Please email us at content@gengreenlife.com to share your events and stories.

I recently traveled to San Francisco and like many other large cities in the US and in other parts of the world I used their brilliant public transit infrastructure. As I zoomed to the airport aboard the BART, avoiding traffic, admiring the landscape, and catching up on my email made possible with their free public rail wi-fi, I had to stop and think – why has Colorado not jumped on this high speed train?

I know that there are measures on the table to assess whether or not it is a feasible idea to get a light rail system up to the mountains for all of the ski enthusiasts, but how about the one missing from the middle of I-25? As long as there is snow, people will come here to ski, with or with out a traffic free ride to the lifts. But imagine how many more people would choose Fort Collins to start their business, or how many people that work in Denver would opt to live in Fort Collins if we just had a train that could take us from here to there.

There are the obvious benefits like less pollution and less road maintenance, but what about the little things like, being more productive by being able to work while in transit, saving significant money on gas, and less weather related travel delays. I could make a list 50 miles long of all of the benefits.
It makes me wonder how a country as advanced as the US is in so many ways is so far behind when it comes to our rail systems. In many train stations across Europe people have access to bike rental as soon as they depart the train. I long for the day that I could jump on a train headed to Boulder for a meeting during rush hour, make it there in 30 minutes, while working on my presentation along the way, get out at the station and onto a bike for a quick refreshing 10 minute ride to the location of my meeting, and still get home in time for dinner by 7pm. Sanity preserved, exercise accomplished, money and energy conserved, all in all a very well improved meeting process than the way they play out today.

With Colorado becoming more and more of a breading ground for innovative green companies, the more relevant it becomes that we find more ways to connect and support each other sustainably for continued growth. It was a blow when homegrown AVA Solar, now Abound Solar, chose Longmont over Fort Collins for their factory location. Who knows, had there been a train that went straight down the middle of I-25, maybe it could have played a roll in keeping them closer. I can understand why they chose to hang their hats there (aside from zoning and construction issues) as another company in the environmental space, I spend almost three days a week driving to Denver or Boulder for work meetings. When it comes to being able to reach a larger pool of well qualified employees and potential clients, and necessary service providers, (like lawyers and accountants) positioning themselves somewhere in the middle of the triangle of commerce we have here in Colorado makes perfect sense.

I’m convinced the only way a mass transit rail system will ever become a reality is if more people here in Northern Colorado ask for it, and loudly. The powers that be in Denver are not nearly as concerned about how to get to Fort Collins as we are to get to them to grow our businesses.

So whether you are a Northern Colorado resident without a car, but still needs to get to the airport, a business looking to expand your client base, or a simply an environmentalist that would like to see fewer cars on the road – it going to be up to us to speak up to help make rail a reality.

Charisse McAuliffe

I’ve wanted to divorce my car for a while now, and during the summer months, with less to do and more time and daylight to do it in- the temptation becomes even more intense. But then when the schizophrenic Colorado weather decides to dump a foot of snow in the middle of “spring,” I’m truly thankful I can bundle into my ancient Corolla, however rickety it may be. If only there were a way to have a car only when I needed it…

One solution to the on-again, off-again vehicle situation has come to the Denver metro area, and it’s name is Occasional Car.

Different from renting or car pooling, car sharing (as OccasionalCar.com explains) is a service that provides members with access to a fleet of vehicles in their neighborhood on an hourly basis. Once you become a member, you can reserve one of the cars via the Internet or telephone and drive it for as long as your reservation. It is not car pooling because it is your vehicle for the amount of time you reserve it. It is not like traditional car rentals because you pick up and drop off the vehicle at the same designated.

In a time when maintenance, repairs, and gas can be inconvenient expenses, Occasional Car offers a convenient and environmentally-friendly alternative owning cars, which, according to the Environmental Defense Fund emit more than 300 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year in the United States.

Dever Occasional Car rates are extremely reasonable as well, starting as low as $3.49 per hour and 24 cents per mile (gas, insurance and parking included) for cars like Toyota Prius or Honda Civic Hybrid.

- The Team at GenGreen

I had gone into town on my weekly trip to get some groceries and a newspaper. I shut off the ignition of my car and walked into the store. My first stop was the newsstand. I read the headline of the newspaper: “Scientists Sound Warning on Global Warming.” It was an ominous and sobering headline. I choked. While I reflected on the subject of climate change, I spotted the driver of an SUV pulling into the parking lot. He left his SUV running. I started the stopwatch. The driver, a young man in his late twenties, had left the engine idling, the vehicle unattended, and the radio blaring. Upon entering the store, he grabbed the newspaper with the headline about global warming. He gave the newspaper a quick glance and then turned his attention to food shopping. He leisurely strolled through the aisles searching for what I surmised was some kind of treat or surprise. The man had spent exactly 8 minutes and 10 seconds in the store before exiting with the newspaper, some cigarettes, a bag of chips and a large cola. He climbed into his car. However, he didn’t take off right away. Instead, he got on his cell phone and sat there with the car idling for another 4 minutes and 10 seconds. Finally, he ended his chat and took off. Total time: 12 minutes, 20 seconds.

Over 12 minutes of idling with not a care in the world, like it was his birthright.

I thought how ironic it was that the young man had just idled for some 12 minutes after reading the newspaper headline. He evidently made no connection with the stern headlines about global warming and the phenomenon of automobile idling. The newspaper headline should have read: “Reduce Global Warming: Stop Idling.” Perhaps he would have heeded the message. Yet, I have never read such a headline in any newspaper. Nor do we hear it on television or radio news programs.

So, here we are. Countless motorists continue to idle every day across America. Meanwhile, there are millions of Americans who want desperately to do something…to do their part to fight global warming. So I went to one of America’s foremost news sources: CNN.com. They ran a story on global warming and asked readers to send in their suggestions about what they thought they should do about the problem.  But what do the readers talk about? Everything, except idling. Everyone seems asleep at the wheel. I managed to have one of EPA’s staff admit that their information is not being disseminated to the general public. One of Gore’s think-tank advisors has not responded to my entreaty. I feel like I am a lone wolf out there.  Local environmental groups have seriously omitted the subject in their Smart Transportation Initiatives. So much empty rhetoric. So much denial.

I did some research and found out that in 2004 there were approximately 243 million automobiles in the U.S. I figured that right now (2007) there are about 250 million automobiles. Based on this figure and the fact that in the brief span of 5 minutes of idling a car produces .5 lb of greenhouse gases, then:

- If all the motorists (250 million) across the U.S. idled their cars for only 5 minutes a day, they would produce 125 million lbs. of greenhouse gases.

- If half the motorists (125 million) across the United States idled their cars for only 5 minutes a day, they would still produce 62.5 million lbs. of greenhouse gases.

- Realistically, 1 out of every 3 motorists (25 million) across the United States idle their cars for 5-10 minutes a day, producing a minimum of 37.5 million lbs. of greenhouse gases. This is no small number of car owners: 75 million Americans. This is no small amount of greenhouse gases.

Remember we are looking at only 5 minutes of idling. Motorists idle their vehicles an average of 5 to 10 minutes a day. We idle about 40% less in summer, but it still amounts to an enormous waste of fuel.
That’s a lot of people who haven’t made the connection between idling and global warming. Are you puzzled why in this information age we are still blind about this numbing fact? Yes, someone has to take the responsibility for keeping the motoring public in the dark about this. Our local and state governments and the EPA are doing virtually nothing about educating the public about idling. Yes, they have information, according to one of their staff–and he boasted about it–but they’re still failing to communicate this valuable information to the public, to those of us who need to realize that their behavior is threatening the planet.

Contrary to popular belief, idling is not an effective way to warm up your vehicle, even in cold weather. The best way to warm up your car or truck is to drive it. In fact, with today’s engines, you need no more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days before you start to drive.

The notion that idling is good for your vehicle is passé– in fact, it hasn’t been the right thing to do since the advent of electronic engines. The truth is that excessive idling can damage the engine. Why? An idling engine isn’t operating at its peak temperature, meaning that fuel doesn’t undergo complete combustion. Idling leaves fuel residues that can condense on cylinder walls and that can contaminate oil and damage engine parts. Fuel residues are often deposited on spark plugs.

As you spend more time idling, the average temperature of the spark plug drops. This makes the plug get dirty more quickly, which can, in turn, increase fuel consumption 5 percent. Excessive idling also lets water condense in the exhaust, leading to corrosion and reducing the life of the exhaust system. Idling warms only the engine – not the wheel bearings, steering, suspension, transmission, and tires. These parts also need to be warmed up, and the only way to do so is to drive the vehicle.

But isn’t restarting hard on the engine? Studies show that frequent restarting has little impact on engine parts such as battery and starter motor. Turn off the engine? Yes. More than 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting the engine. Save gas and money and the environment. Imagine if Americans across the land stopped idling. (Source: Natural Resources Canada, Office of Energy Efficiency).

Now is the time for mobilizing Americans to change their behavior. Hybrid cars aren’t here yet. Neither are electric cars.  Cleaner fuels still emit sulfurous gases. According to the Canadian government, for every liter (about a U.S. quart of gasoline; 3.8 liters = 1 U.S. gallon) of gasoline used, the average car produces about 2.4 kilograms (about 5 lbs.) of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal greenhouse gas. This is unavoidable with today’s internal combustion engines. But we can avoid producing unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions by reducing or eliminating wasteful vehicle idling. Emissions from idling vehicles are needless and can be easily prevented– all it takes is the turn of a key.

In Canada, if every driver avoided idling for just 5 minutes a day, more than 1 million tons of CO2 would be prevented from entering the atmosphere each year. That would represent a huge contribution to climate change efforts. In the United States, if every driver avoided idling for just 5 minutes a day, more than 10 million tons of CO2 would be prevented from entering the atmosphere each year. That would represent a staggering contribution to positive climate change efforts.

By Gary Klinga
gary_klinga@yahoo.com

(This article reprinted with permission from the author).

For further information please visit GlobalWarmingSolution.org

Due to the overwhelmingly positive response received during the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Mayor John Hickenlooper and several community partners announced plans yesterday for a citywide bike sharing program – Denver B-Cycle – that will make 500 bikes available to the public at 30 to 40 stations throughout the city beginning this summer.

This initiative is one of the first such citywide bike sharing programs in the country, and demonstrates the continued commitment of both Hickenlooper and the City to keep Colorado at the forefront of progressive sustainability in the Mountain West.

“The positive feedback we received from the bike sharing program during the 2008 Democratic National Convention was remarkable,” Hickenlooper said in a recent press release. “We are confident Denver B-cycle will prove equally popular while improving our fitness levels and our environment. Our 358 miles of bike routes and trails combined with our 300 days of sunshine make Denver the perfect city in which to launch this citywide bike sharing system.”

The B-Cycle Citywide Bike Sharing Program will focus initially on the downtown Denver business district, University of Denver campus and adjacent neighborhoods. The bike stations will be situated in a 3- to 4-mile radius of downtown Denver and integrated with the existing multi-modal transit system, including the 16th Street Mall, Denver’s Union Station, Market Street Station and FasTracks. The program is expected to double in size to more than 1,000 bikes by Spring 2010.

For more information about the B-Cycle program visit: BikeDenver.org

- The Team at GenGreen

The MillionMile Greenway (MMG), a nonprofit dedicated to conserving greenspace, providing public recreation space and connecting existing greenspace, will officially launch to the public on Jan. 14 with a party at 1010 Midtown in Atlanta, Georgia.

Founded in 2007 to help private citizens, nonprofit groups and government planning offices conserve greenspace, MMG provides tools and consulting services toward creating and maintaining greenspace in local communities. In addition, MMG is working to connect communities’ greenspace throughout Georgia and the United States.

To facilitate the connection of local greenspace, MMG has established partnerships with a number of regional conservation organizations within the past year. Among the MMG affiliates is the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC).

MMG founder Jim Langford says ATC will be an important partner in the collaborative effort to achieve one million miles of connected greenspace. “The Appalachian Trail is one of the best examples in the nation of conserving and connecting greenspace for public enjoyment despite extraordinary population growth,” said Langford. “The ATC’s more than 2,000 miles of trail will be a crucial link to connecting surrounding greenspace throughout the eastern United States.”

ATC Executive Director David Startzell noted the benefits of the partnership for the Appalachian Trail and the people who enjoy it. “Partnering with the MillionMile Greenway will allow us to better connect with local communities, expanding a network of interconnected greenspace that provides critical ecological services across the Appalachian highland region. The AT is a 280,000-acre greenway that serves as a major artery for other connected greenways along our path. Through our new alliance, ATC and MMG can provide improved services related to recreation and natural resource protection in many trail-side communities,” Startzell said.

Current board and committee members will be available at the launch party to discuss volunteer, membership and grant opportunities. The launch event at 1010 Midtown (Peachtree St. and 12th) from 6-8 p.m. is open to all members of MMG and the public. Visit www.millionmilegreenway.org to join or for more information.

I’ll admit that most electric cars I’ve seen kind of scare me. They’re usually tiny and slow and barely visible amongst normal urban traffic. On the other hand, I know that they are extremely fuel efficient, and for most of us that are used to zipping around alone in big four-passenger (or bigger) cars, they represent a more streamlined way to transport just one body down the road. Although I try to keep this blog realistic, I stumbled on a Web site for a “space-age” transportation solution that had to be shared.

The Commuter Cars Corporation, based in Spokane, WA, has created the Tango, an “ultra-narrow, freeway-capable, stable, safe vehicle that fits anywhere a motorcycle fits.” The Tango offers an answer for all of my concerns: safety, speed, size and fuel-efficiency in a no-nonsense manner.

1. Safety

The Tango’s design includes a  roll cage that meets or exceeds both SCCA and NHRA regulations. As their Web site states, “These are racing organizations that specify cage design to protect the occupants of cars crashing at over 200 mph. In addition, the extremely high strength-to-surface area ratio of a steel roll cage allows superb visibility from within the Tango. Rollover too is a great danger for many vehicles. The Tango, being so narrow, would look to the layman’s eye to be unstable. But in fact, the Tango has stability that exceeds that of most sport cars.”

2. Speed

Dispelling claims that electric cars can’t keep up in the performance category, the Tango is designed to accelerate through the standing 1/4 mile in 12 seconds at over 120 mph and travel from 0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds. Um, I’d like to point out that my beloved Toyota Corolla can’t come anywhere near this- and it runs on good ‘ole gasoline.

3. Size

The Tango can fit in a 6-foot half-lane with more clearance than a truck has in a full 12-foot freeway lane. This virtual doubling of lane capacity can make the traffic jam a fading memory. A Tango can also park perpendicular to the curb, in left-over spaces between cars or driveways, next to buildings, or in unused corners of parking lots–in thousands of previously unusable parking spaces.

4. Fuel-efficiency

Although the Tango can be built with a fuel cell or internal combustion engine, conventional lead-acid batteries work well for most commuters. Its 80-mile range is nearly 4 times the distance the average commuter travels per day. With high-tech batteries, range could exceed 150 miles per charge.

Although it sounds like the Tango is the answer to all our urban commuting woes, we may have to bide our time until it will truly be available. Although Commuter Cars is accepting orders/deposits for the car, the mass production required to build the T200 and T100 Tangos is still dependent on funding- and production is expected to commence about 2 years from the point of this funding. So- if you’re willing to plop some money in their escrow account and wait a while, you could be one of the first to get a Tango in the U.S. Prices range from $18,700 to $108,000.

- The Team at GenGreen

Across the country, bank accounts are not just feeling the Boa Constrictor-like squeeze of excruciatingly high gas prices; they are being choked to death by them. Let the politicians point fingers at “oil speculators” and bully us into off-shore drilling (another topic for another day); we need real solutions for thrifty gas use ASAP. Of course, in a perfect world, we would ditch these horseless carriages all together, and pedal, skip, or glide-silently-in-a-Prius, off into the gas-free sunset. In the reality of out-of-town commutes and family of four grocery shopping trips, we need to know the truth about how to make our sometimes necessary automobile use as cost-efficient as possible in the cars we’ve got.

If you look up gas saving tips on the all-knowing internet, the search results are staggering, with every John Q. Blogger offering contradictory tips on how turn your gas guzzler into a fuel sipper. Here are some realistic ones that also happen to be scientifically tested (not just by the Mythbusters) and therefore, true.

1. Change how (not what) you drive. Tests have shown that less aggressive driving can lead to dramatic increases in fuel economy. Stop gunning it at green lights, speeding to the stop sign you KNOW is coming at the end of your block, and plan ahead by braking early and more gradually. You will see your gas lasting longer almost instantly and achieve a more Zen driving experience by letting the stressed-out speeders pass you by.

2. Use cruise control. This is a no-brainer for the summer time interstate road trip. Setting your cruise control for the speed limit while traveling on the highway prevents the almost imperceptible accelerations caused by keeping your foot on the pedal, called “surging.”

Note: the only time this doesn’t hold true is when you’re travelling in mountainous regions with lower speed limits and a lot of ups and downs, as it will cause your car to work harder to maintain the set speed on the uphill climb.

3.  AC on vs. windows down. Guess what? For most models of modern cars (we’re talking 1980’s and on) this makes almost no difference in fuel savings. So rejoice, and drive whichever way makes you comfortable.

4.  Turn it off. The verdict is in…turning off your car is better than idling, and stopping and starting your car a couple of more times a day has no long term negative effects. So the next time you’re in a long drive-through line, waiting for your girlfriend to find her keys, caught behind a train, or anything else that may take more that 30 seconds; cut the engine. The bottom line is that more than ten seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting the engine and for every two minutes a car is idling, it uses about the same amount of fuel it takes to go about one mile. Just remember that saying about idle hands…

For more information on gas-saving tests and tips, visit http://www.edmunds.com/advice/fueleconomy/articles and http://www.driversmarterchallenge.org

- The Team at GenGreen