Be Eco Friendly With a Pallet Bike Rack

A Pallet Bike Rack For You

     We have all seen it, you walk into someones garage and you see their bikes hanging by one wheel from the rafters. Or they are in the dorm room hanging from a dorm room bike rack. Or I 
Garage Bike Rack                          have even seen some bike racks bolted to the walls. Now that option is going to cost you some green when you move out. Here is a simple option for you to rack your bikes in the garage or even in your dorm if you have some mats to put them on so the grease doesn't get on the carpet.

You Need a Pallet Bike Rack

     The Pallet bike rack can replace all those other bad choices. It's just a couple of pallets and a couple of those Simpson Brackets that cost a buck. Some people say hey you are taking these pallets out of the transportation stream, and simply making something that is used over and over again into a single use item  which is not very green. This is true. What do you think of this? The reason I do actually think this is a green idea is that it puts your bikes right out in your garage where they are handy and you don't have to get them down from the rafters or work all those pulley things or whatever just to get your bike out for a ride. So I think this is green because you will ride your bike more than you drive your car? What say you? If you are still not convinced you can buy them for a few dollars from any store so that solves that problem. Or if you want to be really handy you could actually build your own pallets. Hey that's kinds cool then you could put all kinds of things that you want on their, like wider slats for downhill tires and things like that.

How To Build A Pallet Bike Rack

     Building a pallet bike rack is simple you can easily build one with just two pallets and a wall to lean it on then simply slide the tire of your bike into the slats of the pallet sitting on the floor and the one leaning against the wall. Now if you want to get really fancy you could make a free standing pallet bike rack with hinges that connect the two pallets and a couple Simpson  brackets that keep the pallets at a 90 degree angle but I like the leaning against the garage wall version. Then hey when you are done with it put it back into the transportation stream. Good luck with your project and have fun.

No-Cook Pallet Bike Rack, a photo by lowtechatmo on Flickr.

EBMUD Waste To Energy Plant a Net Exporter of Energy

EBMUD Is in The Energy Selling Business
East Bay Municipal Utility District is now selling electricity. This may not seem like news because a lot of people get their electricity from EBMUD. But what I'm talking about is the new wast to energy plant they have installed has made EBMUD the first utility that makes more electricity than they use so they are able to divert that extra energy back to the grid. That should also keep prices lower for their users as well.
What is a Waste To Energy Plant?
A waste to energy plant is a power plant that uses a waste product to produce energy. In the old days they would burn say byproducts from a sawmill to produce electricity and many of those plants have since been converted to gas plants but in the case of EBMUD their waste to energy plant works off of decaying organic wastes.
How Does EBMUD's  Waste to Energy Plant Work?
EBMUD takes all the solids filtered out of the millions of gallons of sewer that they take in every day then they mix that with the other waste streams such as winery waste, cheese waste, chicken blood and restaurant grease and as this concoction decomposes it creates methane. This methane is used to fire two brand new turbines that were just installed and these turbines are what produce the electricity. They produce enough electricity for their current needs and are able to sell some back to the grid. I think this can be a model for the state and maybe other lard utility districts. It takes waste streams out of the sewer and makes them into something we all need electricity.

Why Won't The 100 MPG Vehicle Be Built?

One Billion Dollars To Develop A 100 MPG Vehicle
     Wow, that's a lot of money so I'm sure the big three will get right on developing 100 mpg vehicles. Or will they? The reasons why it might not happen. It really sounds good like a new X Prize for Fuel Efficiency. The last one was for ten million dollars and the vehicles that came out of it were not really something you could go down to your dealership and purchase.

The Reason These Vehicles Might Not Be Built

• The cars could not be electric
• The cars could not be Hybrid
• The cars must be built in America by and American Incorporated Company
• They must be mid size
• The auto maker must sell 60,000 units to win the prize of one billion dollars

Why Is Dan Lungren Putting Forth This Bill
     The bill is called the Excellence in Energy Efficiency Act known as HR 3872 which is the republican counterpoint to the democrats support for electric vehicles and hybrid technologies. I believe that this is an attempt to appear to be supporting some type of energy efficiency without really accomplishing anything significant. Now a 100 mpg car that sold sixty thousand units would be significant, I would love to see it and I would love to own one. I simply don't think that one billion dollars is enough to bring that vehicle to market successfully. I believe that we will get to one hundred mpg a lot faster through hybrid technology than simply gas technology? What do you think? Let me know in the comments? How much would you be willing to pay for a vehicle that gets 100 mpg?