Going Dutch, Heated Cycle Paths and Glowing Roads

5 Replies Jonny Hankins

glow roads

As regular readers may know, I am currently living my life straddled between two continents. I am based in Boston in the USA, but technically resident of Italy. To add to the confusion I am going to live in the Netherlands in June.

Why the Netherlands? I hear you all ask in unison. Bikes and technological advances in road safety might be one reason (although there are also others).

So first to bikes. I am a cyclist myself, I ride a 1973 Triumph 3 speed, it is a lovely machine. This winter has been a harsh one though, even for Boston standards, and the roads and pavements were covered in ice for long periods of time. As in many other places the city council sends trucks out to throw salt all over the place, which is not very good for the roads, cars, or water supply.

So to the Netherlands. They certainly know how to treat cyclists there. The Dutch city of Wageningen is experimenting with an innovative system that will help keep cyclists safe without the salt problem. A 50 metre stretch of cycle path has been replaced with concrete plates that are heated with stored thermal energy, preventing the path from becoming icy and slippery.

Yes, a heated cycle lane. It is fully recyclable, maintenance free and the system is carbon neutral. Here is the story in Dutch. Sorry but I can’t find anything in English so you will have to try a translation tool.

And while they are at it (the Dutch) they have developed a paint for their new heated paths that also stores energy during the day so that it can glow at night. There is no need for street lights in some areas if the sides of the roads light up so it could offer a great energy saving benefit. They are trialling it out on a short stretch of motorway at the moment, and have other ideas for its use. How about painting snowflakes into the road that only illuminate when the temperature drops and could create ice? Temperature sensitive paint is also undergoing testing, also a Dutch development. Check out this report on the BBC.

I very much look forward to my move to the Netherlands, spending the winter days on my bike, riding home on an ice free path through the woods, lit by painted strips down either side and all without the need for any electricity.

What have you agreed to?

6 Replies Christopher Roberts

Padlocked gateImage Credit

Whilst reading Animal Farm in school, my English teacher at the time had a reasonably poor memory, and as a result we would reread chapters several times, and we never actually finished the book. I did however get to see a (very impressive one-man) theatre production of the book, and I have seen the 1999 film – who’s idea was it to have a happy ending!

Anyway… today, in a BBC article it is reported that according to Fairer Finance, many car insurance policy documents are longer than George Orwell’s Animal Farm. One of the longest of the documents they found was Danske Bank’s terms and conditions which  contained almost 70,000 words – that’s more words than Animal Farm put together with Of Mice and Men – which was incidentally another book I read at school.

Of UK financial services companies, HSBC came in top with 34,162 words, whilst LV was the lowest with 6,901 – 27,261 fewer words.

Why?

For financial institutions legal jargon is important. Terms and conditions provide organisations with legal protection and are in some ways a measure of credibility and assurance – would you place trust in a bank which didn’t have any terms and conditions? I understand that they are important, but why do they need to be so long and full of technical jargon?

Do you think companies are aiming to dissuade people from reading their terms by making them so long-winded? If so, what could a business put in its terms? Could a social media site claim ownership of your face? Don’t be silly.

Do long, wordy terms of service not discriminate against slower readers, and people who have a life? Sometimes I struggle to keep up with my university reading, so how/why on earth am I expected to read a novel length script of jargon each time I open a current account?

Help is out there!

Facebook, Google and Twitter are no angels either, many websites also have ridiculously long terms of service. There is however consumer help for judging these sites, thanks to Terms of Service Didn’t Read. I use their browser extension for Firefox, and it is helpful.

YouTube tosdr

YouTube is rated D by Terms of Service; Didn’t Read

Fairer Finance have started a petition to try and bring down the small print and force organisations to be more concise and consumer friendly. Visit the campaign page and you can also send them any examples you have of annoyingly pointless small print.

Earth Day

1 Reply Jonny Hankins

earth

Today is Earth Day. It is the 44th time that we celebrate this planet that we call home. The celebration started in 1970, and is the brain child of US Senator Gaylord Nelson.

Nelson asked Denis Hayes to organize a day of awareness, on April 22nd, and by the end of 1970, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had been established, and efforts to improve air and water quality were gaining political traction.

Today is a time of celebration, of love for our little speck in space. And it is a lovely speck, there are some quite beautiful places to see and experience dotted across the surface.

This year’s Earth Day boasts an organization that includes more than 22 000 organizations and hopes to conduct 2 billion acts of awareness and improvement. It is an education day, that has green schools and a Leadership Center.

Why not have a look at the organization’s website, and look around your little piece of the speck to see what you can do to raise awareness of the problems faced by our world and maybe plant a tree, collect some plastic for recycling, weed an invasive species or get into a debate with your kids?

There are plenty of opportunities!