Earth Day Links Bike Sharing, Biofuel Jets, Gore

Pedaling placidly, black-suited businessmen and women in dresses and high heels wheel shiny red bikes between growling green buses, serenaded by shrill police whistles and coughing diesel trucks, the morning sunlight filtering through yellow smog.

Happy Earth Day, Mexico City.

With its scofflaw drivers, gridlocked traffic and cobblestoned downtown, Mexico City isn't the most bicycle-friendly place. But residents are being asked to take the risk for Madre Tierra as part of a larger campaign that leaders hope will clean up this 700-year-old metropolis.

"As we commemorate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, cities around the world are putting innovative ideas into action to reduce their carbon footprints. And Mexico City has proven that we don't need to wait for a global commitment to care for the environment," said Mayor Marcelo Ebrard.

This spring the city launched Ecobici, installing 1,100 bikes at 85 stations throughout the center of the city. In its first three months, 4,000 people have paid $24 for user cards they swipe at a rack to release a bicycle for a half-hour. City officials hope to register 24,000 people in the first year.

With 50,000 trips taken to date through Mexico City's harrowing streets, city officials are delighted with the results: zero accidents, zero thefts.

Here's how the Ecobici system work: Users can check out a bike for 30 minutes at a time. They return it to any of the bike stations, and 10 minutes have to pass before they check out another one. If a bike is kept out longer than a half hour, small fees start to accrue. The bikes have adjustable seats, and they come with lights that go on automatically when ridden and have small racks to hold purses or groceries.

Luis Rodriguez, a downtown office worker, wiped sweat from his forehead as he snapped his Ecobici onto a rack this week.

"The government is doing a good job with this," he said. "It saves me money, gets me to work more quickly and it's healthy for me."

A 15-minute bike commute can burn 11 pounds of fat a year, reducing the risk of heart disease as much as 20 percent, according to SmartBike, which builds Ecobicis for about $700 each in Oslo, Norway. In addition, it says, commuting cyclists are less exposed to air pollution than commuting motorists, and just one person switching from driving to cycling to work for a 6-mile trip each way saves 1.3 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

Navy Testing Biofueled Fighter Jet

The Navy says it's testing a fighter jet that's designed to do everything such an aircraft should - while conserving fossil fuel.

The F/A-18 Super Hornet - dubbed the "Green Hornet" by the Navy - was scheduled for an Earth Day test flight Thursday at Patuxtent River Naval Air Station.

The plane burns a 50 percent biofuel blend derived from seeds of the camelina sativa plant, which is in the mustard family.

The Navy says it expects to see no difference between the Green Hornet's performance and fighters burning jet fuel.

The test is part of a program aimed at creating a "Great Green Fleet" composed of nuclear, hybrid and biofuel-powered ships and aircraft by 2016.

Gore Starts Climate Project Aimed at Youth

For Earth Day, Al Gore has announced a new project to encourage teenagers to help the environment.

The Tennessean reports the Inconvenient Youth project asks teenagers to do inconvenient things, like walking or recycling, and share their ideas online.

Teenagers who go to the Inconvenient Youth website between April 22 and May 15 can apply to become one of five people selected to train with the former vice president and Nobel laureate in Nashville to give slideshows based on his new book, "Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis."

Inconvenient Youth is part of Nashville-based The Climate Project, which began in 2006 as an effort to train volunteers to make presentations on Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth."

Today, the group has eight international branches, with more than 3,000 presenters worldwide.

More on Earth Day

Earth Day Poll: Many Think Environment Will Get Worse
Earth Day 2010
Earth Day Turns 40: A look at its History
"Green" Clothing Goes Chic
Current Earth Day Challenges Harder to Tackle
D.C. Takes on Polluted River
Fight for Environmental Justice
Big Celebration Planned for Earth Day's 40th Anniversary

Mass. Appliance Rebate Program Hits Bugs

A program aimed at convincing consumers to trade in energy-sucking appliances for more miserly ones proved too popular for the state's computer system Thursday, crashing a server officials had boasted would be ready for the task.

The 10 a.m. Earth Day launch of a $6.6 million program aimed at ridding the electrical grid of old dishwashers, refrigerators, clothes washers and freezers immediately caused a jam on the phone number consumers needed to dial for a necessary rebate reservation.

And things were initially no better online, where people clicking on a designated web site found the message, "Access is denied. You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied."

An hour after the program launched, the state announced an alternate web site: https://www.maswap1.com. It appeared to work as intended.

A spokeswoman for the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs said the state had been in touch with the web site operator in the interim.

"Our phone lines are jammed from the call volume," said spokeswoman Lisa Capone. "We are advising people to keep trying ... and thanking them for their patience in the meantime."

The call center number is 877-627-9271.

The programs offers the rebates on a first come-first serve basis.

Buyers can receive a rebate of up to $250 for dishwashers, $200 for refrigerators, $175 for clothes washers and $50 for freezers.

But consumers hoping to take advantage of the program must get a reservation number and rebate forms must be returned by June 19.