Saturday, 23rd December 2023. Many of us view driving – so comfortable, isn’t it? – as a liberation from arduous walking. As for me, I’ve been fighting for years against the noise levels of the Algarve Autodrome, where at this time of day test drives are once more taking place in preparation of some car race or other. It’s the …
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Saturday 16th december 2023. Many of us view driving – so comfortable, isn’t it? – as a liberation from arduous walking. As for me, I’ve been fighting for years against the noise levels of the Algarve Autodrome, where at this time of day test drives are once more taking place in preparation of some car race or other. It’s the …
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Saturday 25th December 2021. Despite being a more environmentally-friendly alternative to airlines and road transport, Europe’s rail networks are underused. Today, a unified, European cross-border train network is more a fantasy than a reality. The reasons are many, ranging from decades of underinvestment over a ‘fortress’ mentality of national companies to liberalisation in the 90s. Here’s a guide to the …
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Saturday, the 18th dezember 2021. 2021 has been proclaimed as the “Year of the Railway” by the European Commission. A „Europe Express“ trip taking in 100 cities and towns between Portugal, Slovenia and France was supposed to promote a new era in European rail. Yet the PR tour turned into a disaster. The promotional train demonstrated the the EU governments’ …
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Our cities are the stage for a pedalling revolution, which, although slow, is set to create a new paradigm: that of the cycle-civilised, bike-informed citizen. This new mentality is leading to the creation of places where you can repair your bike while you’re having lunch or drinking a coffee. In the city of Faro, we found an example of this, …
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A commuter is someone who uses their bicycle for their everyday travel, in contrast with a cyclist, who uses a bike for sport or recreation. In reality, this distinction is artificial because, like many others, I do both, and frequently on the same journey. It is quite common for me to take the longest route to work out of the …
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Mobility, the origin of health, prosperity and happiness. Are Lisbon, Porto, Faro and other cities in our country above all places that are people-friendly? Do we live in municipalities with good public spaces and a plan that encourage people to walk or to ride a bike? Does good local public transport reduce dependence on cars? One idea from other European …
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Let’s start with the good news. Portugal is in 6th place in the global Climate Change Performance Index (1), directly behind Denmark and Sweden and ahead of both Switzerland and Germany. And the bad news? The reduction in greenhouse gases coming from emissions from industry, agriculture and forestry, from power stations, from buildings and households but especially from transport and …
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There it is in front of the door, and it looks like a completely normal car. Could even be a BMW. You don’t feel the difference until you’re sitting in it. On the dashboard, I find a 17” touch screen. It’s the car’s nerve centre. Roberto explains how it works. The computer (or the NSA) controls the navigation system, the …
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To tell the story of SolarImpulse – the first solar aero plane project – we have to begin seven years ago in Switzerland. Here the idea was born. This summer the initiators and pilots André Borschberg and Bernard Piccard flew with it across the USA covering more than 5.600 km despite being confronted with heavy weather challenges. SolarImpulse, the first …
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Eco123 Revista da Economia e Ecologia
