Miles then approached the folks at eZee Bike Canada who agreed to set him up with an eZee Torq electric bicycle, several batteries, and chargers which would be required for his long distance trip. The eZee bikes have proven their endurance in Africa on the Katima to Cape ride in 2009 and the folks at eZee were eager to test their product on a grueling ride in Canadian conditions where hills, cold & wet weather, and heavier loads were going to be encountered.

Miles will be blogging on http://blog.ezeebike.ca Follow his progress and check out one of his musical dates.

Code: 7VXAHGCCEZUZ

A recent study by the Seattle-based Sightline Institute shows that in 2009 British Columbia binged on fuel consumption. Per capita gas consumption rose by 10% – the highest year-over-year consumption increase in the last 30 years.

Rationalize this in any way you want, it just shows that British Columbians, by and large, just don’t seem to give a damn about the environment and conservation. The economy goes into a bit of a dive, gas prices get cheap, and we just give up on more fuel efficient means of transportation.

A couple of years ago, the economy was good and gas prices were high. Scooter and electric bike sales were skyrocketing. You would like to think this was due to a heightened awareness and caring for the environment but now, seeing the 2009 figures, there are serious doubts. We’re still just a bunch of gas guzzling idiots as long as the price is not too high.

Thankfully, the BC government had the foresight to introduce a carbon tax. Prices may be driven to the point where people will consider conservation. One hoped that people would act based on environmental consciousness and not just economics – but 2009 gas consumption statistics show otherwise.

In the days ahead, we hope federal, provincial, and municipal governments will look at innovative measures to encourage transportation modes such as scooters and electric bikes. These are important, and somewhat overlooked transportation modes that fall in between the bicycle and the automobile. Cheaper parking, purchase incentives, allowance in HOV lanes, etc. will all help to encourage more sustainable transportation modes. We also need to get more innovative in insurance and licensing requirements.

Licensing. Scooters up to 150cc should be able to be ridden with a standard driver’s license. Currently, motorists are restricted to 50cc scooters unless they have a motorcyclist license. By doing this, the scooter would be a much more viable commuting mode for  British Columbians who need the ability to commute at up to 80 kph. It is also safer to be able to drive a scooter that is able to keep up to the traffic flow. Many scooterists buy a 50cc scooter even if they are heavy, have hilly routes, or double ride – they cannot keep up to the traffic flow, The 50cc licensing rule causes them to buy a scooter that is not as safe as a larger one that is no more difficult to ride( and still no speed demon).

Since scooters are all automatic (no gears to shift), and the brakes are just like a bicycle, they are simple and safe to ride. BC’s own accident statistics bear out that scooters are a very safe mode of transportation.

Parking. Come on people..let’s get with it. Allow a scooter to pay a small annual fee for a parking decal that allow them to park in a number of designated areas, meter, and even some sidewalk areas. Cities like Toronto and Portland have done these things with great success. And for property developers – maybe the addition of scooter parking stalls may get you a variance on the number of expensive parking spaces you have to have in your project.

Insurance must get cheaper to allow multi-modal commuting. If you have a car, you should be able to pay a small additional insurance fee to also cover a scooter as long as it is not being used at the same time as the car. We need some innovative ideas to allow commuters to be multi-modal – choosing the best tool for the job on any given day.

So what can we do to get governments to push us in the right direction?  Clearly, if  left to our own means, we’ll just keep on being a bunch of gas guzzling idiots.

As always – we invite your comments.

We are always on the lookout for research on the environmental impact of scooters, motorcycles, and electric bikes.  This is a very interesting article by Brad Templeton http://www.templetons.com/brad/transit-myth.html

It seems that many forms of mass transit are not very green due to both the technologies being employed and the utilization factors. For example, full buses are very green but buses that average 9 passengers are very dirty. Ditto for cars. In a carpool with 4 passengers they are pretty good but that is seldom the case.

This article provides a lot of neat statistical information based on some US data. It stimulates a lot of thought. The short story is that mass transit is good, but only if we can get the utilization up. Scooters and motorcycles are one of the greener forms of transport for commuters.

We encourage your feedback and discussion below. Come on – get involved in the discussion!

“Scooters pollute more than cars” –  I have seen this mentioned in many places both on the internet and newspapers. Often the articles are written by those with self-serving interests. This article lays out some facts and food for thought for scooter riders and potential scooter buyers.

PGO Metro Scooter - Courtesy of Scooter Underground

No question – some older scooters, especially those that have been poorly maintained, are blue smoke belching beasts – no argument there. 2 stroke models are worse than 4 stroke models. Many old cars are also major polluters since they do not have any of the newr pollution abatement technologies such as catalytic converters etc.

Newer cars are great compared to older cars, especially with regard to tailpipe emissions and, in particular, greenhouse gasses and smog emissions.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are directly proportional to the amount of gas you burn, meaning two-wheelers contribute fewer greenhouse gas emissions per kilometre than their four-wheeled cousins.

But that’s only one part of the air quality equation. When it comes to emissions of nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbons – so-called smog-forming pollutants – motorcycles and scooters emit many times more per kilometre than cars and trucks.2 stroke scooters are much worse than 4 stroke scooters when it comes to smog forming pollutants and, when it comes to smog, are worse than most cars.

In short, scooters produce fewer greenhouse gasses (GHG’s) than automobiles and GHG’s are the primary enemy of climate change. But scooters produce a lot more smog forming emissions than an automobile. These are the emissions that put a haze in the air and provide poor air quality for breathing.

Scooters and motorcycles are getting much better but have not had to meet the same stringent standards as cars, particularly in countries such as the US, Canada, and Europe.

But how does a new scooter compare to a new car? Naturally, it depends on the type of scooter and the type of car.  For the purpose of comparison, let’s compare a scooter to a compact car with a 4 cylinder engine. For the scooter, we will look at a 50cc model and we will also compare a 2 stroke model to a 4 stroke model since there are considerable differences.

Let’s approach this from the perspective of someone who wants to do the right thing for the environment. Which mode of transportation for your daily commutes minimizes your adverse environmental impact?

It should be clear there is a lot more to the environmental cost of a mode of transport than just looking at the tailpipe emissions!

To take a more logical and scientific approach, let’s consider the environmental costs of:

• Environmental cost of producing the car or scooter
• Environmental cost of operating the car or scooter during its useful life
• Environmental cost of disposing of or recycling the car or scooter at the end of its useful life

Environmental cost of Producing the Car or Scooter

Cars are made of large amounts of metal, plastic, paint, fabric, leather rubber & glass. They have a large lead acid battery and contain other toxic fluids such as coolants and lubricants. Many of the surfaces are chemically treated for corrosion protection.

Scooters use many of the same materials but in much smaller quantities. (For example 2 small tires rather than 5). The battery in a scooter is a fraction the size of a cars and the amount of glass including headlights is miniscule by comparison.

The energy consumed in the actual assembly of a scooter is much smaller than a car. Most reputable scooter brands are made in factories that meet ISO or similar standards as are most cars.

In short, a scooter clearly has a much smaller carbon footprint at this stage.

To be fair, a good car will last as long as 2 or 3 scooters in terms of total engine life. Even with that factored in, the scooter has a smaller carbon footprint associated with production.

Granted, the scooter can carry only 1 or two people whereas a compact car can usually carry 2 – 4 people – but how often do urban commuters carry multiple passengers?

Environmental cost of Operating the car or scooter during its useful life

In this area we have some interesting questions. No question, the scooter is using less gas to go the same distance but the car may come out the winner if you are usually carrying 3 or 4 people. The other issue is how cleanly and efficiently the fuel is being burned and how harmful are the tailpipe emissions.

If we look at a compact car, almost any compact car is producing lower smog emissions than any scooter. The compact car comes out on top for the lowest smog since it has a lot more hi-tech equipment onboard to reduce harmful tailpipe emissions.

If we look at a 2 stroke scooter, it is worse than both a compact car and a 4 stroke scooter form a smog point of view but is probably beeter than a compact car from a greenhouse gas point of view.

If we look at a 4 stroke scooter, it is likely worse than a compact car from a smog point of view and better than better than a 2 stroke scooter on all counts.

Now, let’s look at the big picture. No question the car will require much greater quantitiesof fossil fuel to travel the same distance. More gas consumed leads to a bunch of other environmental factors that must be considered:

Exploration and drilling costs

Shipping cost of the product to be refined into gas

Refining environmental costs

Environmental costs of moving the fuel to the filling stations

Obviously, something that uses more gas is going to produce a much larger carbon footprint when you look at all of these factors.

Short story, most scooters probably burn dirtier during their life than the average car and when looking at tailpipe emissions. Even so, they probably come out ahead when you take a holistic approach and look at all the factors.

Gas is the big one here, but let’s not forget all the lubricants, coolants, and batteries that a car uses during its life compared to a scooter – much more environmental cost here for the car (unless the car usually travels with 3 or 4 occupants compared to the scooter’s maximum of 2.

What about the environmental cost associated with creating parking spaces for all those cars vs scooters. No question, if a lot more people commuted on scooters we could turn a lot of parking lots into parks!

Environmental cost of Disposing of or recycling the car or scooter at the end of its useful life

When we looked at the environmental cost of production, we saw what types of materials go into the respective vehicles. Both cars and scooters are getting much better at using recycled materials in production and they are also being made of materials that can be recycled at the end of their useful life.

Scooters just use a whole lot less materials. The average 50 cc scooter weighs around 100kg whereas the average compact car weighs many times that. That just means a whole lot less material that ultimately has to be reprocessed or sent to a land fill.

Most cars will last as long as 2 or 3 scooters so, to be fair, we have to look at the disposal cost of 1 car compared to say 3 scooters.  Again, the nod goes to the scooter but probably by not as much as you would think.

I have probably left out a lot of factors here on both sides of the argument but not nearly as many as most articles do when the look just at one aspect of tailpipe emissions and draw conclusions about overall environmental impact. This misinformation of sticks in the minds of consumers and policy makers and the record needs to be made more complete.

This article hopes to provide some food for thought and some facts to set the record straight next time you hear someone say “Scooters pollute more than cars”

If  derivative securities were the “financial weapons of mass destruction” in the last financial crisis, we are now just getting ready to fire the next missile – carbon offsets.

Carbon credits are already  a huge industry, a lot of people are going to get very rich, and the long run benefits are tenuous at best and scandalous in all likelihood.

When intelligent people cannot make heads or tales of the underpinnings of a security, that security is outright dangerous. Really, carbon credits are like a sin tax that do not really stimulate the long-run behavior we need to make the world a better place. Carbon credits are going to be nearly impossible to audit….this is Bernie Madoff times x 10,000!

Many clever corporations are spinning projects into carbon credits without undertaking any activity whatsoever to actually help the environment.

So what’s the solution? Regulation and enforcement on a global scale. We saw what happened in the United States when businesses purported they could be self-regulating. Good, efficient, regulation is essential for efficient capital markets and is also an essential ingredient to save our planet. We we have to get on with it before it is too late.

Environmental issues must be looked at on a global basis. No point in cleaning up North America if Asia is going to be allowed to pollute like bandits. Countries that can’t get their carbon situation in line must be shunned in trade agreements.

That level playing field that we always talk about is purely notional at this point with regard to environmental responsibility. Let’s hope the world powers can agree on some meaningful carbon targets and then follow it up with a meaningful regulatory watchdog with some teeth.

When you hear carbon credit in the investment community, run away – don’t walk. There may be a lot of money to be made in the short run for some – good pimps seem to spring up wherever there is money to be made without morals.