Money I have Spent and Money I Hope to Save on Gas

My Rainbow of Parking Passes from Freshmen Year to Senior Year

First Year Without a Parking Pass
An E permit costs $110.88 for the entire year. I have bought an E permit for the past 3 years, and in light of this project this is the first year I am not going to purchase one. Throughout the years I bought them for various reasons such as parking at the library, on North Jordan, or the SRCS. I even bought a D pass my freshmen year in hopes of persuading my parents to let me bring my car to school. That failed miserably, they made me return it. I eventually got one the second half of second semester though.

Money Spent on Gas
I took a look back at my credit card statements to see just how much I spend on gas per month. So from August 2011 to August 2012, I spent a total of $857.07 on gasoline alone. According to my 2011 year end statement, 25% of my spending went towards gasoline. Here are some numbers:

Average Spent Per Month: $65.93
Median: $72.40
Range: $0, $118.44
Year Total: $857.07

You have to keep in mind that I live almost 240 miles away from IU, so it takes an entire tank of gas for a round trip.  The amount of money spent on gas is correlated with the times I went home or came back to school. Aug-11 I was moving back to school, Nov-11 I went home for Thanksgiving break, Dec-11 I came home for Christmas break, then in Jan-12 I came back to school. In May-12 I spent the most amount on gas and that is because I went home and came back to IU twice in one month. July and August were also times where I was travelling. When we near the end of the semester I will post about how much I have spent in September, October, and November of 2012. As of today, I know I have not filled up on gas since my trip home in the end of August.

Things I Still Needed my Car For
Unfortunately I have found that there are still things I need to use my car for.

• Laundry
• My apartment and my building do not have laundry facilities. That means I need to take my laundry elsewhere. And by elsewhere, I mean my friend's apartment. Since I dont have constant access to a washing machine, my laundry piles up until the point where I need to take it over to her house. At this point there is no way I can get tons of dirty laundry on a bike. So I do use my car to transport my clothes and the laundry basket they come back folded in. I try and do my laundry every other week.
• Recycling
• This is quite counterintuitive, but my apartment does not have recycling either. They actually originally told me we had it and then when I pointed out there were not recycling totes by the dumpster, they retracted their statement. So this leaves me to bringing my recyclables to the center on 10th Street. My old roommate and close neighbor, Lauren, also lives in an apartment that does not offer recycling. So every other week or so we switch off bringing it to the center. I do always chain this trip with wherever else I have to go for that week. I do have to keep in mind that the recycling center is not open on Sundays, and Sundays are usually the days I like to do my errands. But I have to say, this situation is way better than my sophomore year where I drove to the recycling center on S. Walnut.
• Grocery Shopping
• Honestly, I have not ridden my bike to the grocery store yet. I could not get over the financial commitment to a cheap bike rack and the atrocity that would be a milk crate on the back of my bike. To control the guilt I feel for not doing so I only drive to the grocery store if I need to go somewhere else close by. Or I only go somewhere else close by if I am going to the grocery store. So I am never going to just the grocery store. I still chain all of my trips into the one day I can use my car. I pick which grocery store I go to depending on where else I need to go. I needed to go to Hobby Lobby last week, so I checked out what groceries I needed and went to the Kroger next door.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Life to an Old Bike Tire

This has nothing to do with my project, experiences, or the readings, but......
I made this festive fall wreath out of an old bike tire of mine and wanted to share it with you!

The Bloomington Farmers Market

Some funny gourds. 5 for $2.

I am not a stranger to the Bloomington Farmers Market. I have been numerous times over the years. I would not say I am a regular, but I frequent the Market every couple weeks. I mostly went when my parents were in town, it was fall, and my mom could load up the car with as many funny looking gourds and pumpkins as she could to bring back home.




Summer Shopping

The Farmers Market

This was the first summer I had ever spent in Bloomington so I had the opportunity to go to the Farmers Market pretty much all the time. I just loved looking at all the beautiful flowers and produce that is available. Even though I don't always buy a lot (mostly because I would kill the flowers and would not know what to do with the produce), I always felt good paying a little bit more for peaches because this was someone's livelihood I was affecting. I would be exchanging money with the very person who grew my peaches. After a couple times I pretty much always ended up buying my peaches from the same vendor. I felt I had to be loyal to them! How could I purchase peaches from any other vendor?! It would be like cheating on my peach provider!


Excited for Autumn

Some delicious apples.

Most of the time over the summer it was rather hot at the Farmers Market, so I am thoroughly excited for it to be cool and for that fall atmosphere to arrive. I plan to be just like my mom and fill my apartment with an array of pumpkins and funny looking gourds. I had this Saturday off of work, so I took the opportunity to go with a couple of friends. It was beautiful and brisk outside. I bought some red delicious apples and some mini pumpkins. There are not a lot of pumpkins yet, but hopefully they will be selling more soon! Among my friends they also bought: jalepenos, green peppers, more apples, a bouquet of flowers, the funny gourds, mini pumpkins, and corn. Yum Yum!

Overall, I really wish I knew how to cook more so that I could take advantage of the produce the Farmers Market offers. I also wish I did not work on Saturdays so that I could go more often. Even so, I am glad I got the opportunity to get a fall Farmers Market visit in!

How to: Get Your Groceries Home on 2 Wheels and in 1 Piece

Well to be honest, I don't know how to get my groceries home on 2 wheels and in 1 piece. You guys are going to learn just as I learn from my own personal experiences. So far this aspect of commuting has given me the most trouble. Since I have a road bike, it is not exactly made for hauling bags of groceries. If only I could trade my road bike in for a bike like this one, or even this one.

 

Handlebar Baskets (streamers not included)

I started off my search with handlebar baskets. Here were a couple baskets that I came across:

City Bike Basket with Handlebar Quick Release
Pros:  Quick release. Has a handle for shopping.
Cons:The bad part is that I would have to take my bike computer off my handlebars to fit the system on. It also costs $30 plus shipping and would not be able to hold that much.

Electra Quick-Release Wire Basket
Pros: Also quick release and has a handle for shopping
Cons: Not compatible with a lot of bikes and only holds 10 lbs. Also costs $40 plus shipping

Seatpost Racks

I quickly figured out that a basket probably was not going to work, so I moved on to looking at bike racks and panniers.

Delta Post Haste Rack
Pros: Attaches only at the seat post. Fits any sized bike. Holds up to 25 lbs. Costs $20 plus shipping.
Cons:Some reviews said that it was cheaply made. Has to be screwed in.

Ascent Seatpost Rack with Quick Release
Pros: Mounts quickly and easily with quick release. $15 plus shipping.
Cons: Says it will hold 20 lbs but it says it can hold a few books or a lunch (not exactly groceries). It is also out of stock currently.

Time for Some Local Advice

Annoyed with the internet search, I decided to take it to a more personable level and visit the 3 bike shops in Bloomington to see if they could help me.

Revolution Bike and Bean
Here they told me about a bike rack that would attach to my seat post but is also quick release, which means I can take it off my bike without having to unscrew anything. This would be the most ideal because I do not want to keep the bike rack on my bike when I am not grocery shopping. This rack costs about $35.

Bicycle Garage
They had regular bike racks here, but no quick release ones. From what the guy said, the process of putting on and taking off the rack could take about an hour. Whether or not that is true, I do not want to spend that much time putting it on and taking it off when I go to the store.

BikeSmiths
I actually rode my bike here in the rain to look at a quick release rack my friend had seen in the store earlier this week. Unlike the others, it could hold up to 30 lbs. and cost $33. Unfortunately, I was made aware that people mostly use this type of rack for small things, like say, a jacket. Thus my only way to carry groceries home would be to bungee cord a milk crate to my bike.Apparently panniers do not work on this type of rack because they would hit the tires due to the lack of side bars to protect them. DUH! Either I am an idiot, or this is just common knowledge all bike commuters know. The milk crate look was definitely something I was trying to avoid.

The Final Verdict

Overall, I had to take price and time into consideration when I made my decision. As I said above, some of the quick release seatpost racks I found online were out of stock, so that helped sway my decision.

The real inhibitor in this situation is my bike itself. I love my bike, and I love it so much that I really really really do not want to bungee cord a milk crate to the back of it. I am sorry, but there has to be another way! If I had a different bike I would be all for bike panniers and all the other tell tale signs of a commuter bike. But this is the bike I have, so I have to make it work. I do already have a milk crate (which is currently holding all my sweatshirts) and I have a bungee cord in the back of my car. So financially, the $33 for the BikeSmiths rack seems like the best way to go. I will keep you posted!


For more tips on grocery shopping via bicycle check out this other blog!

IU Integrated Energy Master Plan

On Monday, September 17^th, I attended the public hearing for the IU Integrated Energy Master Plan.

Some Background
In 2009, the IU Trustees adopted the Master Plan for the Bloomington campus, what came later was the Integrated Energy Master Plan in 2012. The goal was to identify a transformative plan to reduce energy and carbon emissions while maintaining sound economic justifications for these actions. In charge of the plan was 8760 Engineering from St. Louis. Jerry Williams, PE, LEED AP was a member of the team, and spoke at the presentation.

Some Numbers

• The group found that energy costs in FY2011 totaled at $489,894 and for FY2012, $450,173.  This was an a 8% decrease, and also the first time net carbon decreased in recent years.
• Just about 100 buildings account for over 90% of the energy use on campus.
• The energy audit used 104 major campus buildings.
• 23% of the cost went to building lighting, 17% to building equipment, 16% building fans,  17% heating, 18% cooling , 7% heating losses (almost $2M a year), 4% building losses
• The Central Heating Plant coal boilers range from 42-53 years old (currently replacement is not economically viable)
• During FY2010/2011, the Central Heating Plant fired 92% coal and 8% natural gas
• 4.2 miles of steam and condensate distribution pipes need to be replaced, the distribution losses represent $1.8M in annual energy consumption
• The entire project would cost over $80 million

Some Stuff I Learned

• I have been to the Central Heating Plant twice already, but I have never been to the Central Cooling Plant. I guess since it is not directly across from SPEA it could be something we forget might exist. Actually, the central cooling Plant operates very efficiently and is quite cost effective. Also probably a reason we have not heard much about it.  
• Also, since this is something I do not really think about, IU does not produce its own electricity. The central heating plant only produces steam, so we buy our electricity from the open market and that is usually coal.
• Some people do not like this plan. There were a number of student groups who spoke out against the Master Energy Plan. One student handed out flyers  entitled “A brief introduction to how much our university’s past and future Energy Master Plan is f*cking EVERYTHING Up"
•   IU is hopefully on the right track. At least we have an Energy Master Plan...

On a different note, there was a panel session for questions after the presentation. What struck me as odd was that on the table all 3 panelists had Dasani bottled water on the table (I am very anti-bottled water). Granted it was the plant-based bottled, but still. I just found it odd in this type of setting. If you are going to set an example to the community, use a reusable water bottle, or hey a glass.

 

 

 

A Watered Down Version of Bloomington Water Issues

Water Before: Conservation

Conserving water in Bloomington seemed a little bit more real this summer when rainfall was dramatically less than expected. Even though draught was affecting most of the nation, as I drove South towards Bloomington from Chicago, the grass turned browner and the corn stalks more stunted. As you can see below, pretty much all of Indiana was in extreme drought in June of this summer. The Chicago area and Northwest Indiana were in severe droughts.

Compared to other cities, Bloomington is lucky to have Lake Monroe as our source of water. According to the Bloomington Water Conservation Plan (BWCP), peak consumption in Bloomington occurs during the summer with irrigation contributing to high water demands during period of hot and dry weather. Additionally, water demand for cooling purposes is highest during the summer. So with peak consumption in the summer, and less water to work with, Bloomington was in trouble (as were many other cities).

Source: NOAA

Roseland mentions that many communities reach for water efficiency by implementing voluntary and mandatory curtailment programs (79). Before the mandatory water use restrictions were instituted this summer, Bloomington had to focus on voluntary actions. As an intern with the Bloomington Commission on Sustainability (BCOS), I needed to help find the best ways to get people to reduce water voluntarily, and how best to get the word out. The BWCP noted that public education is necessary to encourage water uses to integrate water saving practices into their daily lives (Dziegielewski, 2003). To do this, we worked through Twitter and Facebook to get the word out! I also spent a lot of time putting together basic, intermediate, and advanced steps you can take to conserve water in your home. After some recent rains, the ban was actually lifted just last week on September 12, see the press release here.



Water During: City Of Bloomington Utilities (CBU)

CBU is attempting to rework their billing information to make it more usable for customers. This is something we did in our Human Behavior and Energy Consumption class with Professor Attari, for those of you who were in that class with me. One of our quizzes had a copy of a CBU bill and we needed to make adjustments to it so that it is more user friendly. How could we make people better understand the amount of water they were using? What kind of metric would work best? Swimming pools? Bathtubs? Kitchen Sinks? Maybe we should show graphs of our usage each month. The current bill doesn't help the average person want to conserve water, mostly because they do not understand it. I barely understand it. The BWCP recommends putting water conservation information on bills, but if I remember correctly, I pretty much always got the same tip on every bill. Not very effective.  (I don't get an individual water bill anymore because it is now included in my rent, otherwise I would be able to go into more details on what is actually on it).


Speaking of CBU and water conservation, I now get to tell the story of the WORST WATER BILL EVER! My sophomore year I was living in an apartment with 2 other girls. Fresh out of the dorms, we were paying bills for the very first time. One day, one of our toilets started to run. With no plumbing skills whatsoever and my father not being able to help over the phone, we called maintenance to come and fix it. They came and fixed it...or so they said. At the end of the month we received our water bill which totaled at about $300!!!!! We were freaking out! That’s not how much a regular water bill should be! According to CBU, a typically water bill for 2 people is $67.28 and for 4 people is $115.72. Since there were 3 of us, our bill should have been somewhere in between there. Turns out maintenance never fixed anything and our toilet was constantly running perfectly good potable water for about a month. Fortunately, the landlord agreed to pay the bill. So the overall water conservation lesson here is make sure your toilets, faucets, shower heads etc. are not leaking. It puts extra strain on the water treatment system and is mostly just a waste of energy and $300.

 

Source: CBU

Water After: Treatment

Roseland mentions that, “conventional sewage treatment systems produce an often-toxic by-product called sludge, which is difficult to dispose of, and use hazardous compounds in the treatment process, which end up in the environment” (82). The reason I bring this lovely part of water treatment up is because I was doing research for BCOS on alternative uses to bio-solids and sludge. Milwaukee was one example that really stood out to be and that is because Milwaukee has been selling their sludge as fertilizer for the past 82 years! According to their website, Milorganite (a contraction of the phrase Milwaukee Organic Nitrogen, and was created in a 1925 naming contest in National Fertilizer Magazine), “is derived from heat-dried microbes that have digested the organic material in wastewater.” The clean water is then returned to Lake Michigan. To see how they make this stuff, check out this link. Calgary’s Calgro Program described in Roseland on page 89 is also what reminded me of Milwaukee’s system.

On a completely different treatment note, most people do not get to say this or should even be proud of this, but I have ridden past Bloomington’s Blucher Poole Wastewater Treatment Plant more times than I can count. Bloomington cyclists know that the road the treatment plant sits on, Bottom Road, is pretty much the flattest stretch of road in all of Bloomington. My Little 500 team spent countless weekends running 1.5 mile sprints back to back, riding past the treatment plant every time. I actually did not know that it was called the Blucher Poole Wastewater Treatment Plant until I read the BWCP. But I do know that you do not want to be downwind of the plant when riding, it makes breathing (which is important in a 1.5 mile sprint) not always pleasant.

 
Overall, we need to work on all steps of water usage for there to be a real change. We cannot do much about the amount of rain we recieve, but we can work on how we allocate that water. We can help residents understand how their water is actually used through their water bill. If I knew how many actual gallons were being devoted to showering every month, I probably would keep that in mind that a shower can cost me $X. We can also figure out ways to make use of what is left after treatment. Hopefully Bloomington can look into other city's success stories, alter all 3 steps, and become a success story itself.

The Starting Line

The Starting Line
I have officially begun my personal project as of Monday September 3, 2012. From this point forward my bike will be my sole form of transportation to the places I go throughout the week (the SRSC, the Union, 9Round Kickboxing Fitness-which is where I work, and my friends houses). I actually do not ride my bike to class, but this is only because I enjoy walking to class. It is my me time when I can listen to my ipod and just zone out. Can't really do that safely on a bicycle.



For the times I do need to use my car, it has been almost frustrating for me to stop and think "No, you will have to wait until the weekend when you can do all your trips at once." I will have to use my car to get groceries until I get a basket for my bike. I am currently working on it, and it has been a process since it is a road bike, so I will update you on that in a later post. I do plan on going to the Farmer's Market with my bike and a backpack for the time being to get some delicious peaches. This then requires me to get there when it opens at 8 AM because I work from 9 AM-1 PM on Saturdays. So forcing myself to get up even earlier to bike to buy fruit is going to be interesting.


Capturing Mileage

My start mileage

As you can see on the right, I snapped a picture of my bike computer before I started the project to get an idea of how many miles I will put on my bike by the end of the semester. I could easily have just reset it, but I just like seeing the total miles so I will just subtract my final number by 208.24 and see what I get. Unfortunately, I will have to account for anytime I use my bike not for transportation purposes, such as the Lake Lemon Triathlon on September 22nd (~16 miles). I will do my best to remember those distances and subtract them as well.


My Personal Biking Radius
So when I first decided to make a radius of how far I should be pushing myself to bike I did not expect it to look like this. The inner circle is a 1 mile radius around my apartment. The outer circle is a 2 mile radius. I was actually quite surprised to find that this encompasses pretty much all of Bloomington I would essentially need to get to on a regular basis. The next question is, how easy is it to get there?

Having The Right Pedals
Fortunately, I already have boulevard pedals on my road bike, which means one side of my pedal can be clipped into my shoes and one side can be used when I am not clipped in. So essentially no matter what type of riding I am out to do that day, my pedals are ready for me! For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about see the picture below. I never knew this until I started cycling in college, but cyclists ride with their feet attached to their pedals, much like your feet being attached to a ski. The point is for a more efficient pedal stroke, but when commuting, having to constantly clip in and out at every traffic stop could become a nightmare. The only two times I have ever fell on my bike have come from stopping and not unclipping on time to put my foot down (knock on wood!)Falling on curbs and pavement does not feel good. I have scars to prove it! The bottom side of the pedal clips into my shoe, but the top part is flat, allowing me to wear regular shoes and still ride. So luckily this was an expense I got to avoid!

How my shoes clip in

Big Red Eats Green

Today Allie and I went to Big Red Eats Green, an event about local food and even bicycles. Lots of local food vendors were present with samples of delicious looking dishes and scrumptious baked goods. We figured we could not fully experience Big Red Eats Green if we did not actually buy anything. Honestly, I am a sucker for ice cream and since it was quite toasty out today I ended up getting a local honey ice cream cookie sandwich from Blu Boy Chocalate Cafe and Cakery. It was awesome!

I liked getting to see all the organizations that are involved in growing local food. It is something I definitely would like to get involved in, but I just wish I had the time! Since I can't partake in growing my own food, I picked up a Local Growers' Guide put together by the Local Growers' Guild.

Hopefully this will help me figure out where I can get local foods when I am out grocery shopping on my bike!

 

Speaking of bikes, this years Big Red Eats Green also focused on bikes. There was Bloomington Transit there to help understand how to put your bike in the rack on their busses, so that was cool. Bloomington Bicycling Club was also there and I got to chat about RAIN (Ride Across Indiana) with them. I have not done that ride yet, but I hope to someday!

Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed with what they had to offer. There were no local bike shops present, but maybe that was because I was there when it started around 2. I really wanted to use this time to talk to some shops about how I can go about how to grocery shop with my road bike. I did enjoy the IU Outdoor Adventures booth though. I got a lot of information from them about upcoming trips. Although I have never mountain biked before, maybe it is time to start with my $10 off rental coupon!