The first thing that jumped at me when I arrived at Terracycle was the walls.  Terracycle walls  are covered with incredible murals and graffiti. Yes, why keep this typical post World War II set of warehouse buildings in West Trenton NJ  in its standard  industrial dread style?

Check out  pictures of some Terracycle’s murals right here…

I think that the daring beauty of the murals that transform Terracycle concrete walls into a kind of surrealist garden are a manifestation of the bubbling creativity and ingenuity that characterize Terracycle. Terracycle continuously finds new ways to repurpose and recycle materials that would otherwise be burnt or disposed off in garbage dumps.

Terracycle continuously finds new ways to repurpose and recycle materials that would otherwise be burnt or disposed off in garbage dumps. Because of Terracycle’s ability to create and execute new ways to re-purpose/re-direct recycled materials, Terracycle is becoming part the Supply Chain of a number of large corporations.

Companies are starting to understand that their job does not end when consumers buy their product.  Many companies turn to Terracycle to help them figure out ways to reuse, redirect unused and used packaging materials.

Here are examples of Terracycle’s creativity in finding new uses for recycled materials:

- The 100,000 old vinyl records that are turned into wall clocks and sold at Target stores at $13 apiece.

Here are the before and after pictures:

Terracycle is known for the schoolbags and pencil cases it makes out of reused juice pouch material:

The Target shopping bag made off recycled Target plastic bags (note that most durable shopping bags are not made of recycled materials at all, but out of virgin materials)

Every year, Terracycle receive dozens of shopping bag models made from recycled materials by amateur designers. Here are a few of those proposed bags:

Most bags Terracycle makes reuse virgin packaging material that, for one reason or another, is rejected by the packaging machines. Over time Terracycle has established relationships with large food products companies such as Kraft/General Foods and receives all their virgin packaging material that could not be used by the production equipment and that would otherwise be burned.  Terracycle receives dozens of rolls of printed Alumnium or Alumnium/Plastic composite from its suppliers similar to what you see on this picture –> 

This blue plastic plant pot is made from the molded frame of computer monitors is pretty much indestructible. In contrast to terracotta plant pots, moisture will not degrade this pot. You will find this type of plant pots at your favorite hardware store.

Cork boards made of unused corks.

This kyte made from Oreo cookies packaging material was designed and made for the “Garbage Moguls” TV series presented on the National Geographic Channel.

Christmas ornaments made from recycled wrapping material

Picture frames made from virgin defective printed circuit boards.

Terracycle is also exploring first shredding plastic packaging material and then melting the resulting confettis into shapes such as picture frames and mechanical component. Here are a few example of this approach:

And the list goes on and on… Terracyle was started by Tom Szaky and a classmate of his at Princeton University. Their idea won a business plan competition. Here is an interview of Tom Szaky that PhillyEcoCity published last year. Their original idea is what made Terracycle first succesful commercial product: producing worm poop juice from the large scale collection of food scraps. Today you will find Terracycle Classic Worm Poop Juice in most  Garden Centers. Imagine that 4 Billion earth worms, eating food compost material produce 4,000 pounds of worm poop per day.

Worm poop looks like this –>

Just add water, package in recycled soda bottles, add a bright printed jacket and sell it for Gold. Yes, we can give value to trash – that apparently has lost all its value - that is exactly what Terracycle is doing.

By Betsy Teusch and Jacques Sapriel

Since Solar PV Philadelphia is a trade show, much of the exhibitors supply solar manufactures and so on, up the chain.  But there are a lot of distributers and installers, and they’re making the case given programs like Sunshine PA, that solar is becoming cost effective.  And when Pennsylvania deregulates electricity prices in 2011, payback will be a helluva lot quicker….

More than 135 companies are represented in the expo hall. Since manufacturing solar cells is a precise scientific based process, a lot of  companies that are represented manufacture some of the complex machinery and measurement tools necessary to set up and run a solar cell fabrication.  This is how I found out, while chatting with the US Representative of OTB Solar from Eindhoven – Netherlands, that $20 million is the approximate cost of a brand new turnkey solar cell manufacturing line. If that sounds like a lot of money, think that a basic microchip fab similar to what Intel runs around the world cost about $2 billion a pop.  Same kind of materials, similar manufacturing process, differences in complexity and need for high accuracy account for some of the difference.

Here are some of the interesting innovations I ran into:
- Suntech sells Solar Roof Tiles of different colors, that are approved for the US Market, that blend with existing roof tiles.

- Gadore Center USA – German-American Dialog on Renewable Energy (GADORE) is a new  soft landing center that is opening downtown Philadelphia for small and medium-sized German, Swiss and Austrian companies in the renewable Energy sector that want to enter the US Market.

- Konarka Technologies is a US start up company that manufactures flexible PV solar cells. Named after a 13th century Indu temple that is one of the gems of worldwide religious architecture, this company was founded by a team of scientists from UMASS Lowell that includes the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Why are flexible Photovoltaic Solar cells exciting?

Because flexible solar cells are very light weight, they can be attached to all kinds of surfaces and generate portable electricity.
JUST IMAGINE WHAT TRUE FREEDOM FROM THE GRID FEELS LIKE… Wherever you are, you have instant power.

Here is a picture of the two representatives from Konarka Technologies showing off a roll-away solar cell that could power your laptop anywhere you are.

An Example of Konarka Technologies flexible Solar Cells

Let your imagination run free…
Imagine that while carrying your bag around, your cell phone would recharge. That already exist.
Imagine an umbrella that would recharge your laptop.
Imagine your favorite Summer  Sunday hat with a built-in fan runing on a flexible solar cell layered elegantly on the hat.
Imagine sweters or jackets with built-in solar power supply.
Imagine…. most countries around the world do not have on demand 24h electricity.  Flexible solar cells is to the old electrical grid what cell phones are to land lines.  Flexible cells have the potential to change the life of billions of people in developing countries who do not have access to an electrical grid.

MSEIA has organized Solar Tours on Thursday, June 11 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. departing from and returning to the Pennsylvania Convention Center that will allow solar professionals and the public to see small- and large-scale solar installations in operation in urban and suburban settings in greater Philadelphia. All tours cost $40. Information is available at
http://www.mseia.net/SolarTours.html.

Find out what Neighborhood Bike Works and the “Bicycle Lifestyle” is all about right here >>>

This four minutes video was filmed and edited by Greendocs:
Julia Hoff, Bunker Seyfert,Heather Craig and Kathleen Monahan.

Read on…

While discussing our next short video project with Julia and Bunker, I suggested Neighborhood Bike Works (NBW), also known as the “Bike Church”.

NBW meet all the criteria for a short film on a local Sustainability subject:

• NBW Youth Program received the 2008 Philadelphia Sustainability Award from the Pennsylvania Environmental Council for its efforts in recycling tons and tons of bicycles and bicycle parts.
• NBW is all about fixing bicycles and safe bicycling practices.
• The Main NBW location is in the sub-basement of a church at the edge of the UPenn campus is visually arresting,
• NBW is a non profit focused on teaching usable skills to disadvantaged inner city youth.
• NBW organizes events that strengthen the surrounding West Philadelphia neighborhoods.
• NBW also maintains hours when people can bring their bikes, use NBW tools and the advice and councel of NBW facilitators to fix their bikes, with the cost of parts as their only cost.
• And hell, bicycles are still the most energy efficient transportation mode ever invented by humans, about 200 times more efficient than your average car.

The surprise came while interviewing the young men and women fixing their bikes or working as facilitators at NBW. They kept talking about “the Bicycle Lifestyle“…!!!????

A lot of people still seem to ignore the fact that most Ocean fishing areas of the planet are totally depleted.  Traditional harvest fishing has  disappeared from the New England Coast and from many formerly prized fishing areas around the planet.

Why?

Because of OVER FISHING – there is simply no more fish.

So, here is someone who decided to open a store that only supplies Fish that has been raised or harvested using sustainable practices.

Otolith Sustainable Seafood is located at 143 West Girard Avenue (between Front and Second Street). Their website address is: http://www.otolithonline.com

I would like to thank  Ian and Colin Sandberg and Kelly Ann Bethoney for sharing this precious information.

It is amply clear that Michael Nutter, the Mayor of Philadelphia is committed to moving Philadelphia and its region to be more environmentally sustainable.

The City appointed a Director of Sustainability, Van Jones has been regularly consulting and talking with city and regional leaders and the convening of a cabinet level meeting promoting Green Jobs on February 27, all underscored Mayor Nutter’s commitment to moving to a Green Economy.

Great!!

What concerns me is the low level stuff, the little things that each of us can do in our every day life to reduce our carbon footprint.

The struggle to reduce our carbon footprint will be lost or won by millions of people all over the United States who decide to make very small changes to their daily life.

Things like:

- Systematically shutting the light when you leave an empty room – even if you are coming right back, or

- Systematically collecting all recyclable items, or

- Systematically shut your car engine after two minutes of idling.

- Replacing light old filament light bulbs with high efficiency light emitting diodes.

This is where the city falls way short. Here are a few examples, I am sure you have seen more yourself.

1. How many times have you seen two city cops in their police cruisers parked driver window to driver window – shooting the breeze while their car engine is running on idle??
2. Or these three employees of the Fairmont Park Commission who were having a nice 20 mniutes conversation on a Sunday morning on Martin Luther King Drive, while one of their truck engine was on idle all along.
3. I have watched another employee of the Fairmount Park Commission mindlessly throwing the wrapper of his lunch sandwich out of the window of his truck. For me, this would be cause for immediate firing.
   I think City employees need to be held to a high standard of care and mindfulness.
4. How about the Fire Department Ambulance driver who stops at his  bank and leave his co-worker in the cabin with the engine of the ambulance on idle while he does his banking?

I understand that letting the engine run while the employee is talking with his colleagues is a sign that he is still “at work” since his truck engine appears to be “on standby” – ready to work. Humans are social creatures, city employees need to be able to shoot the breeze on my dime, I understand that.
On top of that, they are using city paid gasoline to let their engine run on idle, they are polluting the air with sot AND they are increasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Anything else for you?

I also realize that it is rather difficult for me, a white guy (even though I do not define myself as a “white guy”), to be telling an African-American City employee what to do without getting the employee pretty upset.
That should not be the case, and neither should this country been built on the sweat and blood of African slaves

So I am calling on Alan Hughes, the newly appointed Director of Sustainability of the City of Philadelphia to organize without delay a short, to the point training for ALL city employees so they all have no excuses of not knowing the consequences of their total lack of awareness.

In moving toward a more sustainable economy, discipline is key. The discipline of doing every day the many little things that affect the amount of Greenhouse gazes in the atmosphere.

The best part is that as a result of a collective effort from every city employees in reducing the city carbon footprint, the city would actually save significant money. Let’s see, the city has about 6,000 vehicules in its fleet, each vehicule cost about $6,200 in fuel and maintenance cost per year, which means that a 5% reduction in fuel costs from elminating idling fleet vehicules would result in a yearly cost saving over $1,000,000/year.
Any takers?

Let’s connect these 2 facts together…

1. Methane has 72 times the global warming power of carbon – per NOAA and the recent article in Grid magazine by Tanya Seaman
2. Backyard or onsite composting offers the highest environmental benefit among organics management strategies because of the decrease or elimination of transportation impacts. – per the COOL2012 website

Food scraps dumped into land fills slowly decompose while producing a lot of methane which is 72 times more damaging to our Earth climate than carbon. And, in my opinion, it is considerably easier to reduce the amount of food scrap discarded into landfills. Philly Compost proposes to help us systematically compost our food scraps.

The goal of the two founders of Philly Compost: Lee Meinicke & Meenal Raval is to get more Philadelphians to compost. Their objectives are:

1. Document existing composting initiatives in Philly, and
2. Develop a local support system for backyard composting by connecting various civic groups

Eventually, they would like to provide a pedal-powered neighborhood-based service that offers:

1. curbside pickup service (much like the Pedal Co-op)
2. backyard compost harvesting service, and
3. offer finished screened compost as a product.

To that end, they have created a website (www.phillycompost.com) and a public Google map of compost sites in Philly.

For each  site:

• They have noted “ask before visiting” and specified how the site host would like to be contacted: phone, email or door knocker.
• They also have been careful not to list the complete street address, to prevent dumping on unattended space.
• Meenal’s own backyard site has become a shared community compost site, with about 7 households contributing to it on a regular basis. Another local shared backyard site is on E Mt Airy Ave, in a lot behind Fred’s Mt Airy Motors, in partnership with the Weavers Way Farm.

Please review the Google map & the Philly Compost website. If you compost, please feel free to add your site to our map. If you have links or resources you’d like to share, please write to Meenal & Lee at realperson@phillycompost.com.

The theme of the 2009 National Geographic Society film contest was: “Preserve your Planet”.

The winner of this year national competition is a short film about the West Philly’s Pedal Co-Op.

The film was a collaboration of Bruce Pinchback, Dylan Steinberg, Bunker Seyfert, Mathew Sullivan and Brian Honniger, all students at Drexel University on an idea from Jacques Sapriel who runs PhillyEcoCity.com

See the film right > here or in the video widget that you will find in the right hand side bar, bellow the search window.

Also included are interviews with Alex Mulcahy of Grid Magazine, Tim Dunn of Books through Bars, Megan from Trophy Bikes and Challahman Michael Dolich of Four Worlds Bakery!!

PhillyEcoCity includes several posts about the Pedal Coop:

- For more details on the Pedal Coop.

- Here is a short film showing how “Four World Bakery”, a West Philadelphia commercial bakery moved its equipment using the Pedal Coop as its movers.

A review of Sebastián I. Varela ’s Master’s Thesis on the Northwest Urban Forrest.
By Paco Verin, B.A., PCH

This article is a summary of a large and important study of the NorthWest Philadelphia urban forest., and it offers a call to action to its inhabitants. Sebastián Varela’s study focused on trees, is complex and involved many people, and this article does not intent to address every aspect of it The author of this summary acknowledges past and present efforts by a number of individuals and organizations to care for Philadelphia’s trees and natural spaces. To receive a full copy of Sebastián Varela’s study, please contact Mr. Varela directly at:  sivarela@syr.edu

Introduction

“Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved.  You ever notice that trees do everything to git attention we do, except walk?”  ~Alice Walker, The Color Purple, 1982

In November of 2008, Sebastián I. Varela a student in the Master of  Science in Landscape and Urban Ecology program of State University of New York, Syracuse, completed a comprehensive and thoughtful study of the Northwest Philadelphia urban forest. The goal of Sebastian’s study is to reach a higher level of harmony between nature (including humans) and the built environment (which although is made for human needs, has an impact on nature, including humans).

Dr. Emmanuel Carter, who is Sebastián’s major professor at SUNY Syracuse and who was raised in the Germantown area, suggested that Sebastián uses the Northwester Philadelphia urban forest of as the subject of his Master’s dissertation. Dr. Carter knew there was the right mix of an interested population, existing studies and the need for a study that would bring the insights gained from  the use of new tools and models to the inhabitants of the area.

Alarming Trends

To fully appreciate the context of Sebastián Varela’s important work, let’s first consider a study that preceded it and that is published on the TreeVitalize web site. In March 2003 American Forests Inc. and the US Forest Service released the results of an ‘Urban Ecosystem Analysis’ completed for the Delaware Valley (see: http://www.americanforests.org/resources/urbanforests/analysis.php) …

The five-county region including and surrounding Philadelphia was found to have suffered a loss of 8% of heavy tree cover (-34,000 acres) in only 15 years. A reduction in tree canopy cover translates to an increase in storm water runoff, an increase in energy costs, and a loss of air quality. In the Delaware Valley, the capacity to detain stormwater was diminished by 53 million cubic feet annually, a $105 million service. Each year 1.7 million pounds fewer pollutants were absorbed, a $3.9 million service, and 1,373 tons less carbon was captured in the making of wood.”

Research also links the presence of trees to a more positive social and economic environment as well, making business districts more attractive, increasing property values, calming traffic, and reducing stress. The loss of canopy cover results in the loss of those benefits as well. In short, tree cover is recognized as vitally important to the quality of life in a community.”

Objectives of the study:

Sebastián Varela’s study looks at the present tree cover volume and health in Northwest Philadelphia, and future possibilities if we do or do not plant more trees. He has a very holistic approach, taking in to account paradigms that have helped or hindered our understanding of urban living in relation to nature.

He points out that studies on society, environment and economy have often been isolated from one another. Ignoring these interrelationships resulted in greening studies that could not be effectively applied, as the “guidelines may be environmentally sound but not necessarily suitable, attractive or feasible in neighborhoods…”

Mr. Varela uses multiple research models, and an extensive survey of the area’s residents to:

a) See how the health of urban trees, native birds, humans and the municipality’s economy are inter-related, and;

b) Devise a plan that finds the balance point at which all four can thrive together.
Key points include:

• NW Philadelphia has the largest percent of the city’s tree cover (47%).
• Interconnected networks of trees are essential for (native) birds to survive in urban settings.
• Tree cover is essential to human well-being, physically and psychologically.
• Trees have an enormous capacity to benefit the city’s and region’s economy.
• The trees are older, and in time, if we take no action, canopy cover would be reduced to 3%.
• A significant, annual tree planting program is needed to replace and increase the tree canopy to an optimal 71% tree coverage.

“Trees outstrip most people in the extent and depth of their work for the public good. ”

~Sara Ebenreck, American Forests

In short, the mathematical models that Sebastián ran show that if we do not plant trees we will lose half of the current tree cover in only 37 years, and nearly all of it in 100 years.

Consider that Theodore Roosevelt said, 112 years ago on Arbor Day, “…for within your lifetime the nation’s need of trees will become serious.”

That is where we are.
And we have been at that point for some time, masking it by taking our clear-cutting practices to other parts of the world.

A bold suggestion:

To attain optimal health and balance for trees, birds, humans and economies, Varela’s results make a bold suggestion:
If tree coverage is increased using 50% of the planting space on private lots and 75% of available space on streets, vacant and public areas, tree coverage would reach 71% of the area with a societal value of $16.3 million and a landscape 12% more bio-connected (according to an index  developed by developed by Sebastián Varela).

“Urban forests provide opportunities to enhance the ecological performance of the urban fabric and its contribution to neighbor’s quality of life.” At this scale, the projected environmental, health and economic benefits become quite dramatic: “Estimated carbon storage was as high as 406,000 tons (9.2 millions of U.S dollars of societal value)… These values represent a 66% of improvement over the maintained coverage.”

How many trees?

Well, the number is large, but has to account for existing and planted trees that will die: 38,100 to 58,500 trees per year for 35 to 100 years.

Take a deep breath.

If this is what it takes to have a vibrant urban forest that balance human, bird, tree and municipal needs, let’s go for it. The benefits as listed above are worth it. In practical terms this means:

• Homeowners planting 50% of their square footage in trees.
• Homeowners and apartment dwellers engaging in street tree planting and care.
• The State and City providing funds and incentives to help it happen.

Benefits of a planting program

Creating “Green Economy” means taking action to make it happen, which also means changing what we value, and how we manifest it, walking the talk, as it were. Benefits of pursuing an ambitious planting program include, but are not limited to (list by this author and Varela):

• Savings on heating and cooling costs.
• Increase property values (5-15%)
• Reduction in crime.
• Improvement in children’s school performance.
• Reduction of municipal storm water management costs.
• Reduction of flooding damage to residents.
• Savings on health care budgets (by reducing pollution-induced illnesses).
• Supporting local/regional nurseries and landscapers.
• Supporting local/regional arborists.
• Supporting municipal and private business leaf collection and compost making.
• Municipal compost could be sold in retail or wholesale markets.
• Increasing the need for urban foresters, urban park staff, plant and wildlife educators, and more.

Recommendations

Sebastián’s work goes into more “how-to” detail, and the breadth of the study goes well beyond what this article can summarize. The point here is to demonstrate that thanks to researchers like Varela, we can evaluate our urban areas with new eyes and minds, helping us find the essential balance between the natural and built world, both of which we live in.

1. Sebastián’s study points to the fact that we need to address urban tree cover at a significantly larger scale than we previously considered.
2. And I would recommend that the majority of the trees be native.
   Research by Doug Tallamy shows that native birds and butterflies need native trees, because only native trees host native insects in sufficient volumes for baby birds and butterfly larvae to eat (see his book,  Bringing Nature Home).

The long and short of it is:

Let us plant trees of appropriate species in appropriate places, and in numbers necessary to reach a volume of tree cover to optimize the well-being and economies of all urban inhabitants.

“If I knew I should die tomorrow, I would plant a tree today. ” ~Stephen Girard

Paco Verin is a PA Certified Horticulturist and owner of True Roots Natural Landscaping, in Media, PA. He lived in Germantown for six years and was on the staff of Philadelphia Green.

Paco Verin can be reached through the website of his natural landscaping company at www.ourtrueroots.com

Here are some resources to get you started. Please post your favorite organization or resource.

TreeVitalize: community tree planting program www.treevitalize.net

Mt. Airy Greening Network http://www.mtairygreening.net

Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education www.schuylkillcenter.org

Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers www.wissahickon.patrails.org

Redbud Native Plant Nursery www.redbudnativeplantnursery.com

This is a slightly edited version of a post that  Len Zangwill published on his blog: Sustainable Writings. His article does a great job bringing clarity to a bunch of Green Labels. Anyone interested in implementing sustainability into their purchases will find this post very informative.  Read on…

As I attempt to actually implement sustainability into my purchases, I have come across a huge variety of green claims and counter claims. Paralleling the multiple environmental claims are multiple organizations certifying at least some of these claims. For the consumer, the idea is that someone has checked out the environmental claims and found them to be on the up and up. But understanding who actually certifies what, and which certification is important for a given purchase, is a different question.

Since I am in the midst of a construction project, my examples have a relationship to building materials. I’ve had to decode Greenguard vs Greenseal as well as Green Label and Green Label Plus. These are not to be confused with Scientific Certification Systems – or “SCS”. Each of these looks at things a little differently.

First, Greenguard and Greenseal:

• Greenguard focuses primarily on indoor air quality—most notably for off gassing of VOCs, formaldehyde and other chemicals. (www.greenguard.org).
• Greenseal has a wider area of focus, offering environmental standards and certifications in about 2 dozen categories (www.greenseal.org).

Whether these certification labels are actually relevant to what I am buying might be another question. Even so, both of these are independent, 3rd party providers with ties to ANSI, ASTM, etc. (ANSI and ASTM are widely recognized national standards-setting organizations. Their standards are used in nearly every industry you have ever heard of.)

On the other hand, Green Label and Green Label Plus are programs of  the Carpet and Rug Institute which is the carpet industy’s trade organization,  It is pretty easy to automatically assume that an industry-based organization is greenwashing. However, I noticed that the current LEED (green building) guidelines give credits to carpeting that meets the Green Label Plus standards. So it must be legit. I’ll look for a Green Label Plus carpet when I get new carpeting.

Another twist on the certification world is Scientific Certification Systems. Among other things, they happen to be the ones who certify vendors desiring to be part of Home Depot’s Eco Options program (look for the green signs all over the store). The base questionnaire the Eco Options vendors fill out to be reviewed by SCS is quite interesting reading. (http://www.scscertified.com/csr/Home_Depot/). These organizations seem to be building awareness and usage in the professional/industrial area.

I think it is only a matter of time before the consumer markets start demanding certifications like I’ve discussed above. I do not rely solely upon them, but they are a great help in determining if a given product is environmentally friendly.

I was a wondering what was this long bloc of plastic that Emily was carrying around while doing her grocery shopping? So I asked.

Emily took me to her new bicycle – to her new electric bike. I knew that Emily and her partner had decided to live without owning a car and the new eZee electric bike is an expression of Emily’s determination to minimize her carbon footprint. The long bloc of plastic is the Li Ion Polymer rechargable electric battery pack that Emily removes from her bike as a security measure when she parks it.

The “Sprint” eZee bike is part of a new generation of electric motor assisted bicycles. The “Sprint” model features disk brakes, aluminium alloy frame, a 350 Watt brushless electric motor with a sophisticated electronic controller that enables the cyclist to decide how much assistance to get from the electric motor. With such bike, climbing the Manyunk wall is no sweat at all.

Considering that the average commuting distance per person per day is about 13 miles one way (20 km), that makes an electric bike ideal for many urban commuters. An electric bike does not pollute the air and vastly reducing our carbon footprint. Charging the battery from a ‘green’ source of electricity completely eliminates any fossil fuel dependency for your commute. There are several competing brands of electric bikes on the market. Here is a link to a few models: http://www.electric-bikes.com/bikes/

Prices range from $1,500 for an eZee Quando bike to over $3,500 for an Ohm Sport model. Considering that the average yearly cost of running, insuring and maintaining a car is around $8,003 /year (Consumer Expenditures in 2006, US Department of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics see: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/08/cost-car-ownership.asp), that is without counting parking tickets from the Philadelphia Parking Authority is famous for and the carbon dioxiode that cars generously release in the atmostphere, an electic bike looks like a bargain to me.