Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Casual Car Pool

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by Ann Benoit · 03/24/07

Every weekday morning, mostly in the East Bay, you see them lined up like lemmings — sedans, SUVs, pickup trucks and the odd sports car, creeping along the curb. Coming up the sidewalk toward them, dressed for the day’s battle with the city, are the hardy commuters.
— San Francisco Chronicle

I recently started commuting into San Francisco every day for a full time job, and was lucky enough to learn about Casual Car Pool, a 30 year old informal organization (started as a social experiment) that pairs commuters up with drivers that want to cross the Bay Bridge, avoid the toll, and be able to ride in the carpool lane. Casual Car Pool started in Berkeley and Oakland and has spread to other areas in the Bay Area.

It works like this: in order to cross the Bay Bridge, cars need to pay a $4 toll entering the city. BUT, if cars have at least 3 people in them, they can ride in the super fast (6 times faster) carpool lane AND bypass the toll completely. Thus, its beneficial for drivers to load up their cars to save the time and money (and the environment). Riders (like me) benefit because we don’t have to pay the $3.20 BART fare to go into the city everday and enjoy a more peaceful commute (no fighting for a seat on BART). Basically everyone wins.

In order to participate, there are designated areas in the East Bay and San Francisco where riders line up and drivers come by to pick up. Most pick-up areas are located near some form of public transportation. Casual Car Pool’s web site is strictly informational, listing pick up sites and additional information.

With a resource like this, its more feasible for commuters to avoid driving their own cars and save time, energy, and money by riding in a casual carpool. In addition to Casual Car Pool, 511.org has a RideShareMatch Service to promote carpooling by matching people up for ongoing carpooling. The quote below speaks to the genius of the car pool idea:

The greatest wasted “mass transit” resource in our region remains the empty seats in most commuters’ automobiles. If more workers throughout the region followed the model of casual carpooling pioneered in the Bay Bridge corridor, we would have a powerful new tool to reduce traffic congestion at no taxpayer cost.

For really interesting reports on the evolution, etiquette and quirkiness of casual carpooling, this and this article are great reads.

automobiles, car, cars, design, dress, driving, Energy, farm, model, paper, reduce, sport, transportation, waste

For the first time, Green means GO.

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by Starre Vartan · 01/28/07

Illustration exclusively for Eco Chick by Greg Grigoriou

TEXT by guest-blogger Greg Grigoriou

When I set out to look for my next car, i had a feeling the list would be short. A born again friend of the Earth, I knew that I would be relegated to a cute little Prius, or a fairly powerless Toyota Camry Hybrid. Now don’t get me wrong, those cars are tremendous technological achievements, with nearly zippo emissions and high mpg. But why do I have to drive Miss Daisy just because i want to spare the planet?

Then i checked out Honda and found my next car.

The Honda Accord Hybrid is the first car I’ve found that offers scintilating performance in tandem with near zero emissions (its a PZEV, a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle). Granted there are some pretty amazing hybrid offerings from Lexus, but unless you are in the 100k income bracket the closest you’ll get to sitting in one of those is at an auto show.

The numbers, for those of you who care for bragging rights, are downright gaudy for a working class car:

-0-60 in 6.7 seconds, about the same as an Audi A4
-253 hp, 23 more than a BMW 328i.
-35 highway mpg /28 city mpg. (15 percent more fuel efficient than a Volkswagon Jetta.)

Unlike other hybrids (cough cough Prius) which claim mpg’s of 50 and 60, but in reality only deliver in the low 40s, this car actually meets its expectations. And the warranty is just as impressive as the engine: 8 years on battery components, and a 15 year warranty on emissions control components.

The car has only a few annoying quirks. For example, the rear seat doesn’t fold down, which is frustrating considering the car is a midsize sedan (the battery blocks access to the trunk). So I guess I’ll get some weird stares when I have my hockey sticks stored on a roof rack. And then there’s the price. Don’t get me wrong– you definitely get what you pay for with this car– but it’s still over 30 grand, putting it in the same class as the more prestigious 3-series BMW, or Audi A4. If you’re trying to impress your clients, this car probably isnt the way to go. I also think the sales of this car would have benefitted from more stylish design cues to separate it from the regular gas engine counterpart.

The Accord hybrid won’t save you as much money at the pump as other hybrids, but you still get the same nearly zero emission effect while idling or driving at lower speeds. There is a subtlety of engineering at work too; unlike the Prius, which turns its engine off completely when the battery kicks in, the Accord drives just like a regular gas-powered car with the assistance of battery power. No whirring, or fancy dashboard graphics to advertising your tree hugging greatness to the world. In fact other than the hybrid logo, this car is one stealthy green machine.

Honda has done right by car afficiados and environmentalists alike, and once again proves itself to be a leader in automotive inginuity.

automobiles, car, cars, design, driving, emissions, epa, farm, gas, Honda, liver, model, models, MPG, prius, sales, spa, Tea

Global Warming Debate in Supreme Court

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by Jennifer Veilleux · 07/12/06

When I first read that the Supreme Court is debating global warming and whether the U.S. Government should have more stringent emissions regulations on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from automobiles, my heart skipped a beat. The Supreme Court is going to decide whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should treat CO2 emissions as a pollution regulated under federal law, specifically under the Clean Air Act. That must mean that this is really important, but why?

After marinating in the notion of the highest court of our country discussing such a seriously contended issue as global warming, I began to understand my internal reaction.

This decision could, in essence, dictate how the United States treats global warming.

I hope we will see some interesting debate this fall. So why is the fact that the Supreme Court deliberating about global warming this fall important? This decision may be held as a final say on the subject of global warming/climate change and how our government should proceed with policy and regulation. This could go one of two ways. One is obvious – continue on the current path of trade and economics before environment. But, if it is determined that CO2 is damaging the air enough to regulate it, we may see regulation beyond automobiles to other forms of transportation (airplanes are a big contributor) or to stationary emitters (factories). That would be super responsible of us. It may even set a global trend (as some of our environmental law certainly has in the past). It could be a move toward responsible globalization.

It’s about time the feds step up to the plate on this matter, but I pray that their approach is a cautious one.

automobiles, car, carbon, climate change, emissions, epa, fall, Global Warming, plates, Pollution, sport, transportation