Stephen Bieda

I am a husband, father and consultant that blogs about clean technologies as well as socio-economic and political change. Why? Because my parents taught me to leave any space in as good or better condition than before I arrived on the scene.

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The World’s Longest Electric Vehicle Rally – The E-Mazing Race

The Amazing Race, the popular reality television show is now in its twenty-third season but the spin-offs from this fast past orienteering-based competition have become popular for fundraising organizations and companies looking to educate and effect human behaviour through gamification. To lure more electric vehicle drivers to the market in September 2012, electric vehicle infrastructure solutions provider Sun Country Highway introduced the E-Mazing Race (EMR) an electric vehicle rally building on the adventurist spirit of early adopting electric vehicle owners.

  For the directionally challenged, portable GPS and in car navigation systems sometimes are not enough, so for EV drivers in need of some electrons, there is of course ‘an app for that’. The hunt for the requisite Sun Country Highway charging stations necessitates a newly minted smartphone application appropriately called ‘Navigator’ adding to the list of mobile app charge station locator apps available online. Navigator is available for download now for most smartphones, but a second EMR specific app was not quite available at the time of this article being published.

  The EMR officially launched in Windsor, ON at EV Fest on September 28th and on Monday September 29, 2014 in Summerside, PEI. Other launches will also took place across the continent; including a major launch event in Toronto (Yonge-Dundas Square) on Tuesday September 30th.  Yonge-Dundas Square is Canada’s answer to the iconic Times Square in New York City, so SCH is really stepping up the profile of the EMR for 2014 and aims to make the EMR a global event in future years. SCH’s VP Christopher Misch describes the EMR “not as a race to the finish; but as an epic EV sustainability-oriented challenge”.

To win entrants must visit the most Sun Country Highway charging stations and collect the most points in a one-month period. Participants are instructed to strategically plan their own low emission adventures on the extensive and totally free Sun Country Highway network, which stretches coast-to-coast over 10,000 kms along the Trans-Canada Highway as well as along Highway 401 (Montreal to Detroit) and other major arteries. Bonus points are awarded for those who participate in an official launch site events and drive across the official finish line in Vancouver, BC, on Saturday, November 1st.

Unlike last year’s EMR, the 2014 edition adds a twist allowing EV drivers to start anywhere and finish anywhere. This rules modification of course makes the imposing proposition of having to make an intercontinental trek in something other than a $120K Tesla Model S less of an advantage. This new more inclusive EMR gets every EV driver into the game by giving each entrant points for taking a ‘selfie’ at an SCH charging station while charging up.

The new leader board scoring system is reportedly going to ‘amp up’ the competition through the forthcoming EMR mobile app which also helps entrants navigate to each of the 1,600 SCH charging across North America. EV drivers being a tight-knit community, are often involved in local electric vehicle clubs of like-minded individuals interested in getting more folks to understand the merits of driving electric. SCH has invited EV clubs and their members from all across the continent to register 25 or more members for the EMR to get a chance to win a Sun Country Highway EV charging station. Only the first 20 EV clubs to register, win the free charge station that they can deploy anywhere they choose. EV clubs that are able to register 100 or more participants for the EMR will win an SCH100 (100 amp breaker/ 80 amp) charging station which is capable of delivering 19.4 kW of power and charging cars like Teslas (and other models presumably in the future) at a rate of up to 100 kms per hour of charging on alternating current. Points are awarded for every Sun Country Highway EV Charger visited as well as bonus points for joining Race activities.

Of course everyone loves selfies, so what better way to prove you visited a stand-a-lone/ non-networked EV charging station than to take a photo of yourself plugged in at an SCH charging station. Prizes are available to participants that post the best EV Charging photo and generate the most aggregate Facebook likes and Twitter re-tweets during the tour, as well as for the most posts/updates to the Sun Country Highway Facebook page. All pictures and posts must be uploaded to the Sun Country Highway Facebook page to qualify. The photo must include the participant driver, the vehicle and the EV Charger to qualify.

While the Amazing Race features two person teams from around the world competing for a US$1 million grand prize, the E-Mazing Race (EMR) has more modest $15,000 prize package including sponsor gift cards, EV charging stations and other merchandise. Sponsors for the EMR include: Petro-Canada, Toronto Parking Authority, Precise ParkLink, Best Western Hotels International, Via Motors, Sun Country Farms, Peavey Mart and Redwell Infrared Heating.

Last year’s EMR winner Jaff Stevenson from Grimsby, ON piloted his white Tesla Roadster to the most SCH EV charging stations on route to Summerside, PE and earned the title of inaugural EMR champion. For his efforts Stevenson won a $2,349 Sun Country Highway SCH100 charging station. Not bad considering he was able to charge up on the SCH EV charging network for free the entire trip. Given that he already had charging stations at both his home and workplace Stevenson generously decided to donate the high powered 100 amp breaker model charger to the Town of Grimsby to help drive eco-tourism to the Grimsby downtown core.

David Rowlison from Sun Country Highway worked with Grimsby Downtown Business improvement Association (DBIA) President Tony Quirk to match the donor charge station from Stevenson with a second station. The installation of the dual high-powered level two stations in the quaint shopping and dining district, was provided by Grimsby Hydro. On September 8th Stevenson was presented with his EMR award plaque during the commissioning celebration of the charge stations.

Figure 1 - From left to right - Doug Curtis CEO Grimsby Power, Tony Quirk President Grimsby DBIA, Jaff Stevenson Partner FSB Insurance, Bob Bentley Mayor of Grimsby, David Rowlison Regional Director Sun Country Highway.

So why do the E-Mazing Race anyways you ask? Well one only has to look to the National Round Table on Environment and Economy’s report titled “Paying the Price: The Economic impacts of climate change for Canada” to learn that “Climate change could cost Canada $5 billion a year as early as 2020”. With transportation accounting for about one third of GHG emissions, it makes good sense to throw everything one has in its marketing arsenal into accelerating the adoption of sustainable transportation options like electric vehicles. Speeding up the transition from ICE to EVs is expressly what SCH President and Founder Kent Rathwell and he team of staff and volunteers ultimately aims to do.

“Its more than just about selling technology to turn a buck. We as a society simply cannot afford to continue to let our planet warm at the present rate. Real action needs to happen fast and electric vehicles and the related infrastructure is how we as a company, have chosen to help create a more sustainable social, environmental and economic future” explains Rathwell.

This article was first written for Electrical Business Magazine. For the post E-Mazing Race Wrap up check out...

Official standings for the The Sun Country Highway E-mazing Race, 2014 

Plenty of funny photos like this one below on the Sun Country Highway Facebook page!

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Powering the Paradigm Shift to Sustainable Transportation - SkySMART by Shweeb

When I worked at McMaster University's Institute for Automotive Research & Technology (MacAUTO) as Director of Marketing & Communications, I was commissioned to research thousands of technological innovations in history and to design an infographic titled: "Powering Sustainable Energy Systems Through Innovative Research & Technology Convergence". I loved the project as it employed some desktop publishing skills I picked up over the decades and it gave me a chance to collaborate with one of the world's top electro-mechanical engineers and authors of several books Dr. Ali Emadi. 

The high resolution version of the infographic I cannot distribute online (only in presentations) depicts the most game-changing technologies from 1800 to present in three paradigms: Transportation, Energy Power Systems & IT. This infographic I am proud to say is on display at the McMaster Automotive Resource Centre (MARC) in Hamilton, ON for all to see.

One of the many story lines that one notices in the infographic is that for the first time in history we are embarking on a period of massive technological convergence (1+1=3 synergy) that will change the world like never before. Reflecting now on this project that I spent several months on, I can say to you with confidence that SkySMART by Shweeb belongs on the next generation of the infographic and more importantly in cities around the world. SkySMART may prove to one of the most disruptive technologies to be introduced this generation with huge implications for mitigating climate change while spurring along the cleantech economy through infrastructure building projects. SkySMART is not just a transportation system but a energy producing system incorporating solar on top of the guideway and at stations a la Solar Roadways.

The guideway can also be the conduit for unsightly overhead telephone wires, fibre optic cables and everything else that is costly to put underground or tends to be destroyed during the increasingly more common flooding events caused by climate change. If you look at the Danes, the Dutch and other cycling based societies, you see tremendous mental, physical and economic benefits directly associated with active lifestyles. Just ditching your car and starting to cycle to work is not the whole answer however, because bicycles take up a lot of surface level space and North American cities weren't built for bike lanes. In Japan, they have resulted to building huge underground bicycle vending carousels (Eco Cycle) that swallow up and spit out bikes as an alternative to inefficient bike racks everywhere. 

SkySMART is better, because it is a 3D cycling-based monorail transit solution (up to 4 guideways 80 ft high) using wasted air space above boulevards, streets and sidewalks. SkySMART is envisioned to be a national public utility and employs gamification to incentivize people to pedal. Those that pedal pay less AND travel 10 kph faster! Our research studies show the system can move up to 10,000 people per hour using clean renewable energies for creature comforts inside each fully teched-out two, five or twelve person pod variation. SkySMART is an on demand service too, so no waiting-- it leaves when you arrive! SkySMART also nicely complements other forms of mass transit.

The media loves the Shweeb SkySMART story and rightfully so for all of the above reasons and because it is so cool and Jetsons-like. Whizzing over gridlocked traffic is a dream we all have had for generations, but now it is finally possible due in part to Google Robocar (driveless car) technology and other advancements with renewable energy and battery technologies.

With the lost productivity numbers of $6 Billion per year due to gridlock in the Greater Toronto Area alone it is clear we need better transit. One of the tastiest bits of the SkySMART by Shweeb technology, is that it is powered by renewables and human pedal power reducing the operational costs dramatically compared to other forms of transit. 

Benefits of SkySMART by Shweeb

• Significant public health care cost savings • Emissions free travel lowers GHG output • Up to 30% less capital intensive than other transit systems • Creates local green jobs • Uses locally produced electricity & human power • Fun to use • Reduces stress and anxiety for commuters • Saves consumers money vs paying for gas/ parking • Requires less maintenance than other forms of transit • 90%+ based on proven technology • Provides a unique green investment opportunity with an excellent ROI Everywhere I go know I see places where SkySMART guideway systems should run, to help us put an end to the madness created by increased urbanization, growing populations and perpetual increase in the overall pace of our unsustainable societal structure. The next time you see a boulevard in between streets, think about how this space could be better used with a 3D transit system getting people from malls to transit stations or from urban centres to airports. The possibilities are endless and the technology is 90% off the shelf. All that is need now is investors, so we can build it! See

Corporate Knights Article - "Transit Can't Move Forward Without Investors"

You can help today by contributing to the

SkySMART by Shweeb Indiegogo campaign

Mobility Blockers: how tech fears and 2D thinking are keeping us looking in the rear-view mirror (part 1 of 4)

Mobility Blockers (part 2 of 4): Total Cost of Mobility, Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) and the sharing economy

Mobility Blockers (part 3 of 4): Don’t be an ICEhole, IoT parking sensors and 3D PRT

Mobility Blockers (part 4 of 4): Solving the 1st/Last Mile Problem

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The Impacts of the Human Inability to Grasp the Concept of Time Outside the Natural Lifespan

by Stephen Bieda

                             If our focus is on the very short time scale economic actions, and not on weighing the impacts of our actions within the context of the impact on our environment, then we are effectively working towards the shortening of our existence as a species.  If preservation of our species is the ultimate collective goal then we must have nothing less than universal unalienable environmental rights established in 100% of global jurisdictions. The right to a clean and healthy environment must forever be the most fundamental principle of society. The common denominator is the human time-scale, therefore the shortest length of time we must weigh our environmental and economic impacts upon, are no less than one human generation.  A more risk averse and less potentially catastrophic plan would be based on a period of centuries or millennial periods of time. 

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A Former Neophyte Federal Liberal Candidate on Justin Trudeau

Despite the compelling polls showing Justin Trudeau way out front, it is still hard to believe that ridings like Niagara West-Glanbrook (the riding that I ran in, under the leadership of Mr. Ignatieff in 2011) still don't have representative candidates.

A great interview today with Justin Trudeau on the Sunday Edition with Michael Enright. JT has come a long way. I was inspired until the part about 'not increasing corporate taxes and not reforming tax policy', also not thrilled about the resource extraction and privatization bits.

Not increasing tax on the rich is shortsighted and not in the best interest of Canadians. Income disparity damages democracy and ironically, actually kills economies. Why is this so hard for people to grasp? One only has to look back to the prosperous 60s when taxes were many times higher and people were happier. With a middle class treading water, how can we afford to buy goods that keep the economy rolling?

Mr. Trudeau please add a rethink of corporate tax policy to your otherwise admirable set of values or at least send a coded message to left of centre that you WILL do this after you are elected this spring/winter. We on the left get evidence based policymaking, the right does not. So do yourself a favour and lay on some peer reviewed data and roll with it soon to help those ridings without Liberal candidates get representation.

http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/features/2014/09/14/justin-trudeau/

P.S. Anyone have the photo of me and JT at Scott Bradley's event in Ottawa from winter 2010?

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Why wait for your City to ban gas powered mowers?

Isn’t it time we all consider banning or at least phasing out gas powered lawn mowers, weed trimmers and leaf blowers, not just on Sunday as in some parts of Quebec, but every day?

Having retailed all the above equipment in a previous career, I can’t think of few legitimate situations where an electric alternative could not be substituted. In my experience the electric alternatives are better and more enjoyable to use anyways! Here is how such a bold municipal bylaw would benefit most everyone:

Dramatic reduction in noise pollution & subsequent hearing loss of operators of the equipment

Significant reduction in GHGs spewed into the air that contribute to climate change

Significant reduction in soil contamination from oil and gas spills from refilling

Reduction in landfill costs related to oil filters and internal combustion engine parts that get tossed

50% of our gas & oil come from outside Canada, 0% from Ontario. Using locally produced electricity (hydro, solar, wind & nuclear) helps create good paying jobs for electricians, utility workers, engineers etc as opposed to jobs for those outside your community

Spending your money on the local/ regionally produced electricity has an economic multiplier effect too

Better health for us all through cleaner air and less reliance on motorized equipment in general

The US EPA and the blog People Powered Machines are great resources that should blow your mind. Here are some of the highlights:

Gas mowers represent 5% of U.S. Air Pollution

A new gas powered lawn mower produces equivalent volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides emissions in one hour of operation as 11 new cars each being driven for one hour.

Over 17 million gallons of gas are spilled each year refueling lawn and garden equipment – more oil than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez.

Personally, I use a non-motorized Fiskars reel type mower which I love and a battery-electric weed trimmer from Black & Decker. I get in 1/2 hr of exercise twice a week and spend a lot less on electricity than I would on gas/oil, oil changes as well as carb cleaning and starter recoil repairs.

I do admit I still have a gas powered snow blower, but I will be pedalling it soon. Even this past year as snowy as it was, I was still able to make shovelling snow, part of my daily workout routine and greatly limit my use of my pollution spewing snowblower. On only a couple instances when I couldn’t handle it all myself I got my kids to help too. Really most of my gas powered snow blowing was for helping out my neighbours when we got the huge dumps of the white stuff and I was too tuckered out from shovelling my own driveway or busy with work. During a storm we all have kids knock on our door looking for extra cash to shovel the driveway right?

Think long and hard about making your next mower or weed-wacker electric. I would bet that 90% of us in most parts of Canada could save money, reduce our impact on the environment, live more healthy and make our neighbourhoods more peaceful, if we abandoned our old school highly inefficient small gas powered engined equipment. There are plenty of electric options out there to choose from friends and neighbours.

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Small Business and the Working People are the Real Net Job Creators

The Chicago school economics/ Milton Freidman professed myth that corporate tax cuts lead to job creation is indeed nonsense. Small businesses and the working people as explained in this article are the real net job creators and the ones that create economic multiplier effects that create sustainable communities.

http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4633184-the-truth-about-job-creators/

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Who Cares About Lower Taxes---Really?

"No more new taxes", "keeping taxes low a priority" and other such cheap statements are so frustrating and ridiculous, but it fools so many. Such false promises are like saying "we won't be undersold" or "we have the lowest price around". In business, what counts is value for your dollar. Smart consumers and smart constituents need to press those calling the shots to deliver value, not lower taxes/ lower prices. What lower taxes really means is, we're going to cut services, cut jobs and let profit mongering publicly traded corporations take as much as they can. I want the most for my money, don't you? In some instances the private business is better equipped to deliver services, but there is an alarming trend in Canada towards letting the free market rule everything. This is lazy politics and lazy economics, but it makes for good sound bites and political slogans. There are no quick fixes that deliver sustainable social, economic and environmental outcomes so buyer/ voter beware as election season is around the corner.

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Apollo 11 Babies, The New Cosmos is Here! Share it.

In 1980, I was a grade five student in Mr. Nick Finamore's class at St. Ann School in the sleepy little village of Fenwick, On. All thirteen kids in my tiny class were Apollo 11 Mission babies meaning we were born in 1969, the same year man first stepped foot on the moon. For me the connection to this landmark year in human scientific endeavour always made me feel a little bit special and lead me down a road of inquiry that has fueled my intellectual curiosities to this day.

As I recall decades after grade five at St. Ann, Mr. Finamore was first and foremost a science teacher, but he also tended to intimidate shy kids like me with his stern looks and voice. Maybe it was also because he was the first male teacher many kids were introduced to at our school, or because he had this ominous sounding nickname “Mr. Finagotchees”. I never found out how or why he got saddled with the obscure handle, but it was not long after entering his class that I learned that the man was a brilliant and inspiring teacher.  Mr. Finamore taught worldly ideals like social studies, politics and the sciences, all of which would proved to leave an indelible mark on me.

Mr. Finamore was the first to introduce me to a Tandy personal computer, to astronomy and the mind-blowing Cosmos series by Carl Sagan. I was so enamoured by the cosmic timeline, the infinite nature of our universe and the library of Alexandria, that I asked my Aunt Lee to get me a hard copy of the Cosmos by Carl Sagan coffee table book for Christmas. I carried this huge book back and forth to school every day for an entire year because I just loved reading it and looking at the incredible photos of spiral galaxies, faraway stars and sharing the imagery and knowledge I gained with my friends at school.

Decades later as an adult and father of three young kids I purchased the Cosmos DVD series to share with my brood in a hope to inspire another generation on the wonders of science. Soon after buying the DVD set in 2007, I chaperoned a carload of University students to a Centre for Inquiry (CFI) event at the New York Academy of Science where I got to meet Carl Sagan’s widow Ann Druyan. I will never forget how I got to thank Ann for all her tremendous work in carrying on her husband’s legacy. And I even captured the thank you and her very gracious conversation with me on video. Not long after meeting Carl’s lovely and charismatic widow, I was compelled to call up Mr. Finamore and poured out a passionate thank you to him for introducing me to the wonders of science and the work of the great man, Carl Sagan.

Today I was so happy to read in the Hamilton Spectator that the Cosmos series was resurrected by another great man, astrophysicist and former Sagan pupil, Neil deGrasse Tyson. DeGrasse Tyson is someone I have also had the great fortune of meeting at the same CFI event where I met Ann Druyan back in November 2007. The new Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey is also a 13 part TV series like the original, but surprisingly, it is running in the US on Fox (Global in Canada) whereas the original aired on PBS.

This in and of it self, is a major achievement for the show producers given the right wing anti-science bent of Fox media oligarch Rupert Murdoch. The opportunity to reach the broader and largely anti-science audience on Fox, that is prone to creationist ideology, is what I would imagine Carl Sagan would have been thrilled by the prospects of. How deGrasse Tyson and fellow Sagan fanboy Seth MacFarlane managed to get the series on Fox I would love to know.

So of course tonight I set the PVR to begin recording the series with the hope that I might persuade my wife and kids to sit with me over the next few weeks to view all 13 episodes and to share the experience of a new and updated Cosmos with glitzier CGI animation and new host. Given the relentless attacks on science by right-winged ideologues and the impact that the financial crisis has had on the de-funding of science in recent decades, there really has never been a more important time to tear your kids away from their gaming systems and to immerse them in something far bigger and more important to the shaping of their young minds.

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IOC "Not on the backs of Athletes" is BS

I don't buy the IOC's argument that political matters shouldn't be voiced on the backs of Olympic athletes. This is a lame attempt to deflect the negativity around the LGBT and human rights issues that Putin has foolishly taken a stand on.

The point of the Olympics is to bring the world together to promote inclusiveness, peace and athletic competition among other nobelities. Denouncing politicization is effectively advocating for censorship. There is no peace, no healthy competitive spirit, no inclusiveness and all the other Olympic ideals without freedom of speech.

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Democracy, Corporatism & the Treadmill of Maximizing Shareholder Returns

Democracy is not in the cards for corporatists. The pandering, sensationalism and distraction techniques are correlated with the rules of the game being skewed in favour of the interests of the publicly traded corporations, or so they think. The power and influence pendulum has swung too far to the right due to tax laws which changed back in the 70s. Corporations dictate public policy-making and what stories make headlines because profit maximization is their be all and end all. They don't all do it because they are immoral, but because the corporate tax laws are such, that there is no other choice. Once you are on the treadmill of maximizing shareholder return, you just have to exploit every resource and market you can and work your PR engine to mitigate public discontent. It is sort of a 'be careful what you wish for' type scenario. This is what happens when blind faith in an overly simplistic trickle down/ free market economics strategy becomes the soothing sound byte that inoculates the minds of constituents for far too long. Roger Martin author of Fixing the Game: Bubbles, Crashes, and What Capitalism Can Learn from the NFL, has the backstory and a solution worth studying.  Ironically, putting shareholder returns ahead of customer satisfaction is simply moronic for both individuals and corporations in the long run. The basic problem is the definition of "long-run" in the minds of the public has gone from decades to days, or even minutes. Knee jerk impulse rules the day. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/jim-harris/ipcc-report-climate-change_b_4252752.html

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The New Economy Clean Tech Awards 2013. Best Automotive Solution - SUN COUNTRY HIGHWAY http://ow.ly/soNsK #Sustainability #EV

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Gov't attacks on environmental science like rise of fascism & total alignment of state & corp interests in 1930s EU. ow.ly/s3CIh

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One of my personal goals for this year is to give blood.

http://www.blood.ca/centreapps/internet/uw_v502_mainengine.nsf/page/clinic_hours-ON?OpenDocument

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How soon before 3D printing our Christmas presents is the norm?

http://m.phys.org/news/2013-10-d-energy-scientist.html

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Billionaire Carlos Slim reduces living standard of avg Mexican family by >$600/yr & lowers Mexico’s GDP by $32B/yr.

http://ow.ly/sah1A

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Funders behind the $553 Bill climate change denial effort revealed.

http://drexel.edu/now/news-media/releases/archive/2013/December/Climate-Change/

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Making a profit is no more the purpose of a corporation, than getting enough to eat is the purpose of life.

http://ow.ly/sfHub