A new bike

Part of our effort to become more environmentally friendly involves reducing our use of our car. So far, in the 8 months since we moved home, we have driven less than 8000km. This is a marked improvement over our previous mileage — over 45,000km a year between two cars. However, with the weather changing soon (at least it better!) we are looking at ways to further lessen our driving. As such, we have purchased bikes. Mine is pictured below – a Trek SU200. I have added fenders, a rack, and saddle bags for transporting things to and from work. It is 8km one way to work, and it is my goal to ride, once the snow melts. And by writing it in my blog, hey, I’ve committed. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

ZENN Car

Rick Mercer did a great spot on the ZENN car (Zero Emissions No Noise) that is manufactured in Quebec and available in the USA. However, it can’t be licensed in Canada (except for BC.) I sent the link to a video to a few friends, and one followed it up with our provincial vehicle license registrar. Her first email was:

I was just wondering when residents of Saskatchewan will be able to licence, and therefore buy, the ZENN car. If you have not yet heard of this Canadian made product, I have included a YouTube video below that explains the concept.

The next day, the following came back:

Hello,
Low-Speed Vehicles (LSV) such as the Zenn (Zero Emissions No Noise) are not eligible for registration in our province. As discussed in the recent CBC article, Zenn has recently received certification from Transport Canada for the manufacture of LSV’s. Vehicles certified by Transport Canada as LSV’s have virtually no safety or performance requirements in comparison to conventional vehicles (i.e. passenger cars, trucks and SUV’s) and are not intended for operation in mixed traffic.

LSV’s are manufactured in compliance with Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (CMVSS) 500 that applies to “Low Speed Vehicles”. CMVSS 500 only requires LSV’s to be equipped with some minor safety equipment, such as glazing, lighting, and seat belts; and there are no performance requirements for the installation of this equipment. A conventional passenger vehicle must be manufactured to meet up to 40 Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS) with provisions for crash avoidance, crash-worthiness and occupant protection; in order to be eligible for retail sale within Canada. In order to promote public safety on our highways, only vehicles that comply with the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for Transport Canada certified passenger cars, trucks, power-units, trailers, multi-purpose vehicles and buses are eligible for registration here (an LSV is not certified for use on public roads).

Low-emission, hybrid and electric vehicles are eligible for registration here (and are certainly encouraged) as long as the vehicle safety systems such as, but not limited to, the structural/frame, braking, steering and occupant protection systems comply with the applicable CMVSS for the specific vehicle class and are certified as eligible for use on public roads by Transport Canada (through the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations). Again, please note – LSV’s are vehicles NOT considered to be manufactured for use on public roads or suitable to mix with regular traffic. They are designed for short trips in areas where access of conventional traffic is controlled or restricted.

I hope this helps, thanks for your inquiry.

Huh? This convoluted response drew a further inquiry, which has gone unanswered as of yet:

Thanks for the information. However, I’m still not sure if I can drive one on the roads in our province. From what I’ve read, BC has done what it needs to do to “licence” the ZENN so it can be on BC roads. Is our province NOT planning on doing the same as BC? Could I buy a ZENN in the USA and then bring it across the border or is it banned entirely?? What else is a LSV? For example, is this the same category as scooters? Do they need to be licenced?? I definitely need more info.

This all brings up the question — to what extent does our government’s ties to oil (and dependency on oil for revenue) ensure that technologies that could possibly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels are squashed in bureaucracy?

Garbage — Composting

When we used to live in Canada, we made a lot of garbage. Sure, we recycled everything we could using a local company, but, generally speaking, we had a large black garbage bag waiting for pickup every week. We returned from our time in Cambodia with a much better understanding of the world and the impact we have on it. We decided to work to minimize the damage we do to the world. One such decision was to begin to compost. I spent a few days in the summer building the mother of all compost bins, did some reading, and now we compost all of our household and yard scraps (and our neighbour’s yard scraps — they have the corner lot and all the leaves that go with it!) What is amazing to me is the amount of waste that is saved by composting. This is not a new revelation, I know, but it hit me the other day, when I went to roll our garbage bin out to the end of the driveway and peeked inside to see that it was empty. We’re producing, on average, less than a grocery-sized bag of garbage a week. And it isn’t rocket science.