The First 100% FSC-Certified Wood Bicycle in the U.S. From Renovo & Collins

above: the Renovo R4 Pursuit model made with FSC-certified CollinsWood.

The Collins Companies has just announced that it has commissioned the first 100% FSC-certified bicycle in the nation. In case you were wondering, FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council.

The bike, manufactured by Renovo Hardwood Bicycles, is an “R4 Pursuit” model that features a stiff, powerful and lightweight frame. All of Renovo’s bikes are custom-made – adjusting the stiffness and ride quality to the customer’s individual riding style and weight.

Renovo is one of the few companies in the world that manufactures wood bicycles (but not the only one, be sure to see Woody Bicycles ) and the only one making them with hollow frames.

Here's a few of Renovo's beautiful wood bikes and frames made with Black Cherry, Hard Maple, Birch, Hickory, Padauk, Sapele, Laminated Bamboo and exotic woods like Purple Heart, Bubinga and Wenge:








“I am proud to have used 100% FSC-certified wood on this particular bike,” stated Ken Wheeler, owner, Renovo Hardwood Bicycles. “We utilized a species combination of CollinsWood® from the Collins Pennsylvania Forest including; Black Cherry, Hard Maple, and Birch.”






Collins had this bike commissioned for one of their employees, to demonstrate their continued commitment to this mission. “Although wood bicycles are still in their infancy, we are constantly exploring new ways to have CollinsWood incorporated into everyday products and we want our customers to explore new uses,” said Cameron Waner, marketing coordinator for The Collins Companies. Waner continues, “Specifying FSC-certified wood in their projects is one of the most powerful things our customers can do to change the way wood products are harvested and sold around the world.”

The bike made its worldwide debut at the Greenbuild International Conference in Chicago, on November 17-19, 2010.

Renovo Bikes

An Amphibious Floating Garden That Purifies The Water, The Physalia.

The Gulf could use of couple of these right now. A futuristic vessel designed to clean European waterways, the “Physalia” project is an architectural prototype that aims at meeting the mutual needs of the sustainable management of water as a resource by architect Vincent Callebaut.



A half aquatic and half earthly amphibious vessel, it's a nomadic hydrodynamic laboratory dedicated to implement an international network of scientific partnerships. A floating purification system that is completely self-sufficient.



The vessel is designed to handle all types of water recycling (rainwater, international and domestic), purify water from agricultural pollutants, desalinate sea water, and cleanse induced waste such as sludge and ashes.

As transportation, it promotes commercial and fluvial transport, linking the Rhine and the Danube and the Seine-Escaut waterway. It can be used as agricultural irrigation, to cool industrial power stations and to promote hydro-electricity production.




“Physalia” is innovative scientific equipment dedicated to investigate solutions as much as it is an innovation unto itself. A “clean” vessel, for a new generation, it produces no sulfur or carbon emmissions.



Physalia is 100% self sufficient in terms of energy. Its bionic structure is inspired from the pneumatophorous called “Physalia physalis” stemming from the Greek term "physalis" which means “water bubble”.



This aquatic pneumatophorous has perfect symmetry, an oblong shape and is partially translucent. It is the summation of natural and biotechnological ways to navigate on the European rivers - between the Danube and the Volga, the Rhine and the Guadalquivir, the Euphrates and the Tiger.



Its architecture is designed to utilize renewable energies and produces more energy than it consumes. Its roof contains a double pneumatic membrane with photovoltaic solar cells and under its hull, the hydro-turbines transform the energy of the fluvial stream into hydro-electricity, enabling it to navigate the waters.

The green roof with its pneumatic membrane and photovoltaic solar cells:

At night:


Aluminum covers the multi-hull steel structure. This silver-plated dress is covered by a Titanium Dioxide layer that reacts to the ultraviolet rays, enabling the vessel to reduce water pollution.

Hull construction and a view of the air garden:


In addition to being a self cleaning vessel, it can absorb and recycle by way of a photo-catalytic effect, the chemical and carbon waste in the water rejected by the traditional boats and by industrialists.




The interior of the Physalia illustrates the future of water travel by dividing it into four thematic gardens.

An interior look at the water and air gardens:


The “Water” garden: This marks the main entrance of Physalia between the berthing gates and the square. A great glass platform is suspended atop the water's surface reflecting on the interior vault. This reception space is dedicated to temporary exhibitions and the façades of the true aquatic balcony can also open to the landscape to be caressed by the outside breezes.

The water garden cross section and interior:



The “Earth” garden: This section constitutes the heart of the laboratory dedicated to international researchers who analyze the aquatic ecosystem. On top of this panoramic room, a planted vault stands.

The “Fire” garden: A confined and protected underwater lounge where armchairs surround a huge fireplace burning in the fireproofed hull of the vessel. One can access the planted garden from the circular banister that spreads under the planted vault and around the flames. One can admire the fauna and the flora in the middle of the vessel through the two panoramic glass portholes. It is a space dedicated to the permanent exhibits of aquatic ecosystems.

The “Air” garden: This is a space of oxygen and light spread under a pneumatophorous lens. This ecologic amphitheater opens towards the exterior landscape. In the center, we find an “H2O” acronym extruded under the shape of a circular and rotating water bar.

The Air Garden cross section and interior:



Man is in the center of this project which represents the balance between human action and respect for the environment. The architecture of this nomadic vessel, the concentration of nature, of biotechnology, information and communication is thus a reflection of the contemporary citizen who wonders about how his or her the actions effect the environment.



It is an audacious avant-garde project aimed at combining people with the notion of water respect, sharing in movement and dynamic balance. It is a project of trans-european leadership and a positive innovation of ecologic resilience.

To read the extremely verbose English translation, as well as the french version of this text, go here.

CONCEPT: Amphibious garden cleaning European waterways / Floating laboratories, museum and forum
YEAR: 2010
ARCHITECT: Vincent Callebaut
LOCATION: European waterways : Seine, Thames, Volga, Danube, Escaut, etc.
SURFACE AREA: 2000 m²
DIMENSIONS: 9m50 height, 80m length, 14m90 width
PERSPECTIVES: Philippe Steels

all images used with permission by architect Vincent Callebaut
©VINCENT CALLEBAUT ARCHIETCTURES

The Brammo Enertia Electric Motorcycle: Another Pricey Green Machine

Having blogged about The Mission One electric motorcycle, it's only fair to share with you another expensive eco-friendly bike; The Brammo Enertia, an 18-horsepower electric street legal motorcycle with a top speed of 55 miles an hour, which made its public debut in New York yesterday.



The 280-pound Enertia is available for preorder at $11,995 — or a serialized limited production model for $14,995-, though the electric motorcycle is eligible for a 10 percent federal tax credit. Rumor has it five west coast Best Buy stores are stocking and selling the Enertia street bike.






Design Influences
The Enertia has been shaped as much by current events and our cultural history as the pencil of the one designing it. With global warming and dependence on foreign oil becoming increasing important social issues and a response from the transportation industry seeming elusive, the Enertia was designed as a solution to a problem.



The designers of the Enertia focused on eliminating elements that contributed to intimidation and instead emphasized the ones that exposed the pure joy of motorcycling. The lightweight motorcycle has a magical history in the US and worldwide, changing attitudes and capturing the imagination of the people every time we needed a more efficient, friendlier mode of transportation. Celebrating the spirit of these iconic bikes was a design goal for the Enertia. A dichotomy of old school purist values and new school technology, the Enertia hits that perfect balance between the familiar and the future.



Truly Designed from the inside out, the Enertia's sculpted form hints at the geometric order within. Major components are either exposed, like the chassis, or referenced, like the logo plates, which have the same diameter and plan view location as the electric motor they shield. The design details have not been left to chance either, with materials, colors and textures reminding you that you're riding a motorcycle of the highest quality.



The following charts are courtesy of Brammo:




specs:


ordering options and pricing:



reserve yours now here.

Company Overview / Mission (from their site):
Brammo Motorsports was founded in 2002 to focus on research and development that would enable us to excel in the manufacturing of specialty performance vehicles. Our integration of digital engineering, tightly meshed with innovative industrial and production design, allows us to be prolific in product development.

Creating compelling, sustainable transportation that is fun to use is our goal.

In 2005 to further develop our design and production processes, we began manufacturing the Ariel Atom, a ground breaking sports car concept by British designer Simon Sauders. The Atom is a lightweight vehicle based on GM's Ecotec engines and provides a ultra high performance driving experience with a small displacement and fuel-efficient power plant. Comedian and uber car collector Jay Leno says, "I've had my Atom for a few months now. I love it. It's actually my favourite car in terms of driving."

We have designed a new product line of plug-in electric motorcycles named Enertia™. The Enertia is an all electric, plug-in motorcycle with a 40+ mile range and 50+ mile per hour top speed.

Leveraging formula race car technology the Enertia utilizes a carbon-fibre chassis producing an ultra strong and lightweight vehicle platform of just 275 pounds. This ground breaking chassis design combined with the most powerful lithium-phosphate batteries in the world from supplier Valence Technology has produced an emissions free commuter motorcycle designed for today.

all images and info courtesy of Brammo.
Take a look at Engadget's review here.


Brammo is located in Ashland, Oregon.
Enertia microsite

The Mission EV 1:

Read about the Mission One EV Electric Motorcycle here.

The Fastest Electric Bike:

And, if you're wondering what happens to be the world's fastest electric motorcycle, that'd be the KillaCycle which has been clocked at a top speed of 168 mph.