Introduction to Solar Energy Systems


Next in the BCAN Speaker Series:
*'Introduction to Solar Energy Systems'*
*Thursday, November 19th, 2009, 6 - 8:30 PM

/_JEFF BLANKMAN_/* of Sunnyside Solar will answer your questions on practical aspects of getting started with photovoltaic or solar thermal systems in the home or office. He is also an expert in energy efficiency analysis. Also */_CHERYL WADE_/*, solar energy advocate and co-owner of the solar-powered Mill Valley Garden Center (which takes the locally grown concept to a new level). She will discuss opportunities and barriers with net metering: selling excess energy back to the grid. Questions &amp; Answers, light fare. Free of charge. $5 optional contribution appreciated. Sponsored by the Baltimore Climate Action Network: <a href="http://www.baltimoreclimate.org">http://www.baltimoreclimate.org</a>;. Mill Valley General Store, 2800 Sisson St., Baltimore 21211 RSVP appreciated but not required: mail@baltimoreclimate.org or 410-812-1447.
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Downtown Columbia public hearing set for Saturday, Nov. 14, 9 a.m.


Below is information on a Saturday 14 November County Council Meeting on the Downtown Columbia redevelopment plan for. Columbia Tomorrow and the Horizon Foundation are looking for people to testify — especially in the area of bicycle/pedestrian access and multi-modal (bus/bike/walk) transportation options that are needed. Chris Tsien of the BAHC Board has agreed to provide testimony for BAHC in these areas, but if any other members (especially Columbia residents) are interested in participating/testifying/attending details are provided below. We were also asked that if some bicyclists can ride to meeting and show up in spandex that would be excellent PR.

Concerns I felt are key for bicyclists (and pedestrians) in the Downtown development plan:

* Focus on both intra (Village to Village to Downtown) bike accessibility as well as inter (Columbia to recreational/commuter routes) bike routes (Little Patuxent Pkwy, Cedar Lane, Harper’s Farm, etc.). Part of this involves Columbia Association path improvements/extensions (including some possibly lighting and directional signs/maps) to modify path system for bike transportation as well as recreational use and part is County responsibility to provide bike paths on major arterial routes in and out of downtown.
* The plan should include bike racks and storage at Park and Rides on periphery of Columbia, downtown at Mall and lakeside, and at major employers (HC General Hospital, HCC, APL, etc.).
* Safe routes must link with all these locations.


Jack Guarneri

Chair Bicycling Advocates of Howard County

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Phys Ed: Does Exercise Boost Immunity?


...
In the second experiment, published in the same journal, scientists from the University of Illinois and other schools first infected laboratory mice with flu. One group then rested; a second group ran for a leisurely 20 or 30 minutes, an easy jog for a mouse; the third group ran for a taxing two and a half hours. Each group repeated this routine for three days, until they began to show flu symptoms. The flu bug used in this experiment is devastating to rodents, and more than half of the sedentary mice died. But only 12 percent of the gently jogging mice passed away. Meanwhile, an eye-popping 70 percent of the mice in the group that had run for hours died, and even those that survived were more debilitated and sick than the control group.
...

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Cycling community rides to honor one of its own


By Laura Vozzella - Baltimore Sun

About 80 bicyclists [I guesstimated over 80 and under a 100] pedaled through North Baltimore on Sunday, claiming a bit of the roadway and remembering an avid cyclist who died last summer doing the same.

The second annual Tour De Greater Homewood was also known this year as the Jack Yates Memorial Ride.

John R. &quot;Jack&quot; Yates, 67, died cycling in August. He'd been riding south on Maryland Avenue when a truck turned right onto Lafayette Avenue in front of him. Yates sustained fatal injuries when his bike got entangled in the truck's rear wheels.

&quot;The cycling community really took this to heart,&quot; said Karen Stokes, executive director of the Greater Homewood Community Corp., which organized the ride. Yates was one of the group's board members.

Organizers hoped the event would raise awareness about bicycle safety. Seven people have died in bicycle accidents every year in Maryland from 2005 through 2008, according to State Highway Administration figures.

&quot;There's so many more cyclists now,&quot; Stokes said. &quot;The more people ride, the better cars will understand&quot; how to share the road.

Some also hoped the tour would draw attention to Yates' accident, which remains under investigation. Police have not identified the truck's driver, who police believe was not aware of the collision before leaving the scene. The commander of the Police Department's traffic section has said that surveillance video indicated that Yates was at fault, but a lawyer representing Yates' family has said the video shows the tanker truck did not signal that it was making the turn.

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O'Malley one of The 2009 Public Officials of the Year


...this is a time for focus. Because now, more than ever, the key question facing government officials is not what they want to do. It's what they have to do. What is really important to the health, safety and welfare of citizens? Yet even as they trim their ambitions, states and localities can still strive to make government work better. As Jay Williams, the mayor of Youngstown, Ohio, puts it, a leaner future can be a healthy one, too.

...Some, like Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, are numbers-driven seekers of efficiency. ...

So the question before us are we going to see more attention to cycling projects? At least it sounds like we got a good sound bite to make the case.

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Cyclists and motorists on collision course


By Meghan Daum - Los Angeles Times
...
And though most drivers, mercifully, don't harbor as much animosity as Thompson, I suspect there may be more of him out there than we might like to think.

Why? For starters, many people don't know what rights cyclists do and do not have, which pretty much makes them assume they have none. I was in this category myself until I consulted the bicycle laws in the California Vehicle Code and learned that a cyclist has &quot;all the rights and is subject to all the provisions applicable to the driver of a vehicle.&quot; In other words, you're not supposed to dart through red lights on a bike (shame on you, 80% of Lycra wearers in my neighborhood).

But guess what: It's perfectly legal to occupy the whole lane, not just hang on the side, if you're going the same speed as traffic. The speed limit on Mandeville Canyon is 30 mph (it's 25 mph on most residential L.A. streets), which, according to the injured cyclists' GPS data, was about the speed they were traveling when Thompson stopped in front of them. In other words, if you're getting impatient with a &quot;slow&quot; cyclist in front of you, it's probably because you're speeding. (It hurts me to say this as much as it does for you to hear it.)

So now that you know, are you going to stop swearing at cyclists? My guess is no. Because there's a larger bone of contention here, which is that cyclists make a lot of us feel like lazy slobs. Whereas drivers sit in an air-conditioned bubble, expending only the energy required to press the gas pedal, tap the brake and change from a '70s classic rock radio station to an '80s classic rock station, cyclists are out in the actual elements doing actual exercise. Whereas drivers are consuming calories by eating an entire bucket of KFC over 10 blocks, cyclists are burning calories and consuming nothing but seaweed at home. Whereas drivers' carbon footprints grow more beast-like by the hour, cyclists create no exhaust other than the sweet fatigue they feel as they drift off to saintly sleep at night.

Of course, moral superiority is insufferable, but you still shouldn't try to run it off the road or teach it a lesson with the family car. You might win on the street, but in court, it's a different story.

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Baltimore Bicycle Friendly Community Feedback


Thanks again for applying for the BFC designation and congratulations on your honorable mention. I know Baltimore is going to get the bronze soon, so keep up all your excellent work! I have attached feedback that was compiled from the application review. You will find a few significant measures that should be taken to improve the community’s bicycle friendliness in addition to program and policy measures in each of the Five E’s. The BFC application is broad and no one right or wrong answer will put a community over the edge either way. In our experience, it takes a breadth of programs across each category to make a truly Bicycle Friendly Community.

Each question of the BFC application is designed to point the community to a good measure for improving cycling. So, please use this document in conjunction with the BFC application as a roadmap to building a great community for cycling.  

Best regards,

Bill Nesper
Director, Bicycle Friendly America Program
League of American Bicyclists

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