Credit: striatic

There is a new trend growing in the green community - "bicycle valets" or "bike valets." While bicycle valets vary from area to area in design, personal, equipment and execution, they all share one common element - they create a bicycle friendly destination.

Bicycles are far more energy efficient than automobiles. You can travel further with less fuel and less pollution using a bicycle than any car. It's easy to see the dramatic difference if we compare the CO2/Mile of a few common modes of transportation.

The following are averages of CO2/Mile pollution by vehicle with a single passenger:

• 1.57 lbs of CO2/Mile in a "Sport Utility Vehicle" - 15 MPG
• 1.10 lbs of CO2/Mile in an "Average car" - 21.5 MPG
• 0.59 lbs of CO2/Mile in an "Economy car" - 40 MPG
• 0.00 lbs of CO2/Mile on a "Bicycle"

Reviewing the pollution each vehicle produces, it's easy to see why environmentalist like to encourage bicycle friendly destinations whenever possible.

What is a "Bicycle Valet?"

A bicycle valet is an organized valet and/or parking service for bicycles - imagine a coat check for bicycles. Each area has it's own execution but the goal of the service is to encourage visitors to arrive on their bicycles and to offer large scale, short term, bicycle parking.

In Santa Monica, California, you can find one variation of the bicycle valet. The City of Santa Monica offers free bicycle parking for both the Summer Twilight Dance Series (a free summer concert series) and the Sunday Farmers Market. In this case the city provides staff and similar to a traditional valet, the staff provide a ticket and take your vehicle. You are required to pick up your vehicle before the end of the event but there is no service fee, tipping is at your discretion.

Further north in San Jose, California, the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition offers similarly designed bicycle valet services at many locations including Stanford home football games, the San Jose Blues Festival, Moffett Field Airshows and numerous Civic Art and Wine Festivals.

San Francisco, California, offers a free valet bicycle parking at a number events including all the San Francisco Giants home games, the Movie in the Park series, Tour de Fat and Winterfest. San Francisco is unique from many other cities in that as of January 1,1999, the city requires bicycle parking for all major outdoor events.

In Fairfax, California, you can find a more grassroots effort. The Marin County Bicycle Coalition loans PVC bike racks to "Green Wednesdays" who in turn use them to offer free, secure, bicycle parking. "Green Wednesdays" offers bicycle parking at the Wednesday Farmers Market. While not exactly a bicycle valet service, "Green Wednesdays," is offering large scale temporary secure bicycle parking. This in turn makes their local Farmers Market a bicycle friendly destination.

The Benefits of Bicycle Valets

Bicycle valets can offer benefits to both event holders and event locations while creating a more bicycle friendly destination, here are just a few of the benefits:

• Maintain clear driveways and walkways. Without a bicycle valet or any other form of large scale bicycle parking, cyclist are forced to lock their bikes to whatever, wherever they find it. A bicycle valet provides a central location for large scale bicycle storage and keeps driveways and sidewalks clear.
• Reduce local traffic congestion. Each person riding a bicycle is potentially one less car. Bicycle valets reduce traffic by reducing the number of people who arrive by car.
• Encourage attendance. Many people avoid events due to parking hassles. Bicycles are fast and easy to check-in and with less cars parking is sure to be a breeze.

Riding a bicycle is not only good for your health, it's also good for the planet. Each mile you ride on your bike instead of in your car reduces your carbon footprint. In this ever changing environment, it's important for us to each do our part, so I encourage you to find your local bicycle group or coalition, and if you don't have a local bicycle valet in service then why not start your own program?

Labels: article, bicycle, bicycle valet, bike, carbon emissions, carbon footprint, earth, fitness, green, health

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Credit: Gary J. Wood

In the United States, we live in an automobile based culture. Many people don't think twice about driving their vehicle short distances to run errands - a mile here, a mile there. What many people don't realize or choose to ignore is that driving alone is one of the least climate-friendly forms of transportation.

Driving Alone

How bad is driving alone relative to other forms of transportation? According to the Sightline Institute with a single driver, you can expect an average of:

• 1.57 lbs of CO2/Mile in a "Sport Utility Vehicle" (15 MPG)
• 1.10 lbs of CO2/Mile in an "Average car" (21.5 MPG)
• 0.59 lbs of CO2/Mile in an "Economy car" (40 MPG)

Obviously filling your vehicle to capacity helps, just consider this:

• 0.37 lbs of CO2/Mile in an "Average car" (21.5 MPG) when Carpooling with three people

While filling to capacity can help for short errands it isn't always an option. So what can you do?

Credit: jpctalbot

Riding a Bicycle

Riding a bicycle isn't just good for the environment with a net 0 lbs of CO2/Mile, but it's good for you too. Short errands are just one of many uses you'll find for your bicycle - once you start riding again. While you may miss your trunk space at first a quality bicycle grocery bag, panniers or even a basket can reduce this stress. Which one you choose is up to you based on your own personal needs but for the average grocery hauler I would recommend one the following three products:

• Jandd Grocery Bag Pannier
• REI Grocery BagREI Novara 'Round Town panniers
• Cobbworks Oyster Bucket Panniers

If you expect to be hauling lighter loads then you may be a good candidate for a removable handlebar mounted basket - these can often double as a "reusable shopping bag" too.

How Energy Efficient is a Bicycle?

Did you know calories are actually a unit of measurement for the amount of energy that your body can extract from foods . With many new biofuel technologies available today, many of the foods we eat can also be converted into fuel for our vehicles.

According to World Watch Magazine the average automobile burns 1,860 calories per mile per passenger. How does that compare to the average bicycle? The average bicycle and rider burns 35 calories per mile.

Why are bicycles so much more efficient? The key to the energy efficiency of the bicycle is simple - a bicycle and rider are extremely light compared the average car. In a 2 ton vehicle with a 170 lbs driver the driver is only 4% of the total weight. On a heavier 30 lbs bicycle that same driver will be 85% of the total weight. In a vehicle 96% of the energy used each mile is used moving the vehicle itself - not the drive. On a bicycle only 15% of the energy used moving the bicycle itself.

Bicycles are so efficient in fact that under the right conditions a rider can ride faster then a cheetah. In 2002, Canadian rider Sam Whittingham reached 81 mph using a recumbent bike called the Varna Diablo II. That is 11 mph faster than a cheetah which over short distances can attain a top speed of 70 mph.

It's often said you never forget how to ride a bike so why not take advantage it. Riding a bike is not only one of the most energy efficient modes of transportation, it is also one of the most relatively inexpensive. Do you part to fight global warming by taking your bicycle out for a ride.

Labels: article, automobile, bicycle, bike, calories, car, earth, energy efficiency, environment, exercise, green, health, transportation

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