You want ride your bike, but you simply have no idea how to go about finding a safe route. Sound familiar? Google is coming to the rescue with new Google Maps options deliver optimized directions for bicycles.

The new feature does more than simply connect Point A with Point B. The software selects routes based on the availability and safety of routes specific for bicycles. First, it considers bicycle-only paths that are off-limits to cars. If there are no bicycle routes available, the software looks for roads with demarcated bike lanes. It also gives preference to flatter routes over steeper ones. The service also helps you discover new bike paths, which it highlights in (appropriately enough) green.

Still thinking that bicycle commuting sounds impractical? Allow us to help!

• Spring bicycle tuneup Dig your faithful wheels out of storage now for a pre-spring tuneup, so you'll be ready to roll at the first hint of sunshine.
• No-sweat bicycle commuting What you need to boost you along to your destination (minus the sweat) is a little motorized nudge.
• 5 ways your city can be bike-friendly What can communities like mine do to ensure they're friendly to bicycle commuters? The League of American Bicyclists makes it simple with its 5-E rating system.
• Super-size your bike Bikes for plus-sized and large people easily support more weight, feel more comfortable and safe and can inspire larger people to exercise. It's size with attitude—that, plus fitness and mobility.
• 5 ways to use your bike to carry stuff You're committed to the environment and you're doing your part by riding your bike more places. Great! Only problem: what to do when you need to carry stuff?

We've been craving hybrid minivans for a while now. It seems counterintuitive that the vehicle that seemingly epitomizes the suburban American lifestyle has been so long shunned from the ranks of green engineering. What more deserving vehicle than the ubiquitous minivan for better gas mileage, hybrid technology, or even a diesel option?

Finally, it appears that an answer may be on the horizon, as Honda's head of automobile research and development lets drop this bright nugget of news: we may be looking at a hybrid Honda minivan within the next three years.

Honda had been looking at so-called clean diesel technology for the Odyssey minivan and the hulking Pilot SUV. It abandoned that direction in 2008, turning to a gas-electric hybrid system suitable for larger vehicles. "We've left the research stage and entered the field of development," Tomohiko Kawanabe, chief operating officer of automobile R&D at Japan's No.2 automaker, told Reuters in an interview.

Honda has lagged behind other manufacturers (notably Toyota, now being dogged by quality problems) in the hybrid market. A hybrid minivan and SUV would bring Honda back into the running, if not the forefront, of the growing hybrid market.

(Photo credit:Honda)

Pop star Miley Cyrus may have outgrown her Toyota Prius, but she's savvy enough to have stuck with a hybrid. "Hey guys! Yesterday I got photographed in my new car and I want everyone to know I still haven’t given up hybrids!" she wrote in a recent blog post. "Mercedes came out with a new hybrid suv and I love it! Its blueish/blackish/purplish. Haha! I got a new dog named Mate who’s a German Shepard so like I said in a previous blog he is kinda out growing my prius! Anyways I love yall! Xox"

The Mercedes ML 450 may not be the greenest hybrid on the roads today, but we're glad to see another high-profile celebrity whose heart's in the right place. The new Mercedes gets 21 mpg in the city and 24 mpg on the highway—not much next to the 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid's 34 city/31 highway, but a distinct improvement over the standard gasoline-powered ML350's best-scenario performance of 15 city/20 highway. (Ouch!)

Like the hybrid Escalade, the new Mercedes hybrid is less about being green than greenER. You won't be seeing too many of them on the street, anyway. Mercedes cites a "limited supply of batteries" as the reason the vehicle's only available via a whopping $659 or $549 monthly lease. We doubt Miley was much fazed by the price, anyway—and we can only wait to see what she'll get when her German Shepherd outgrows the ML 450.

(Photo credit:Mercedes Benz)

Blue books are so last-millenium ... Get up to date with ACEEE's Green Book. With ratings covering model years 2000 through 2010, not only can you find out what the straight-up greenest choices are, but you can narrow things down to the greenest gasoline-powered vehicles, too.

Here's how they do it:

We analyze automakers' test results for fuel economy and emissions as reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board, along with other specifications reported by automakers. We estimate pollution from vehicle manufacturing, from the production and distribution of fuel and from vehicle tailpipes. We count air pollution, such as fine particles, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and other pollutants according to the health problems caused by each pollutant. We then factor in greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) and combine the emissions estimates into a Green Score that runs on a scale from 0 to 100. The top vehicles this year score a 57, the average is 32 and the worst gas-guzzlers score around 16.

So what are the top five gasoline-powered vehicles for 2010?

1. Toyota Prius (51/48mpg city/highway, Green Score 52)
2. Honda Civic Hybrid (40/45mpg city/highway, Green Score 51)
3. Toyota Yaris (29/35mpg city/highway, Green Score 46)
4. Honda Fit (28/35mpg city/highway, Green Score 45)
5. Ford Escape Hybrid (34/31mpg city/highway, Green Score 42)

And for the hardcore among you, the very greenest choices for 2010:

1. Honda Civic GX (24/36mpg city/highway, Green Score 57)
2. Toyota Prius (51/48mpg city/highway, Green Score 52)
3. Honda Civic Hybrid (40/45mpg city/highway, Green Score 51)
4. Smart for Two Convertible/Coupe (33/41mpg city/highway, Green Score 50)
5. Honda Insight (40/43mpg city/highway, Green Score 50)

And to be totally balanced, the meanest vehicles for the environment in 2010 (for shame, people ... for shame):

1. Lamborghini Murcielago/Murcielago Roadster (8/13mpg city/highway, Green Score 18)
2. Bugatti Veyron (8/14mpg city/highway, Green Score 18)
3. Bentley Azure/Brooklands (9/15mpg city/highway, Green Score 18)
4. Maybach 57S (10/16mpg city/highway, Green Score 19)
5. Dodge Ram 2500 Mega Cab (Class 2B) (12/17mpg city/highway, Green Score 20)

(Photo credit:Motor Trend)

Are cars going the way of the dodo? Not any time soon—but it does appear that U.S. automobile numbers have entered a new era of decline. The number of cars scrapped finally exceeding the number of new cars sold last year, reports the Earth Policy Institute's Lester R. Brown. The total number of U.S. cars on the road down 4 million, or nearly 2 percent. The plunge was the first time cars scrapped exceeded new car sales since World War II. This trend appears set to continue its slide beyond 2020.

"The car promised mobility, and in a largely rural United States it delivered," says Brown. "But with four out of five Americans now living in cities, the growth in urban car numbers at some point provides just the opposite: immobility. The Texas Transportation Institute reports that U.S. congestion costs, including fuel wasted and time lost, climbed from $17 billion in 1982 to $87 billion in 2007."

More cars scrapped and fewer new cars sold aren't the only factors crunching the American auto fleet. Market saturation, ongoing urbanization, economic uncertainty, oil insecurity, rising gasoline prices, frustration with traffic congestion, mounting concerns about climate change, and a declining interest in cars among young people all contribute to dwindling numbers of vehicles on the road.

Fewer cars on the road sets the stage for two trends that we at Super Eco support whole-heartedly: public transit and high-speed intercity rail. Far from being an onerous example of how green living inconveniences consumers, public transit can be not only cost-effective, eco-friendly and convenient but entertaining, as well.

Even those of us who don't have access to public transportation can make do with a lot less when it comes to driving. Read our pointers for painless carpooling, and combine your trips with those of a friend with our ideas for fresh carpool destinations.

(Photo credit:gohsuket, flickr)

Are you guilty of writing off your travel guilt by purchasing carbon offsets—without changing your travel habits in the least? One of the first travel companies to offer travelers the option to purchase carbon offsets along with their tickets thinks the move might not be so responsible after all. Responsible Travel is siding with the doubters, canceling its offset program and claiming that not only do offsets not impact global emissions levels but that by promoting a false sense of virtuosity, they may actually encourage additional air travel. “The carbon offset has become this magic pill, a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card,” Responsible Travel's Justin Francis told The New York Times. "It's seductive to the consumer who says, ‘It’s $4 and I’m carbon-neutral, so I can fly all I want.’ ”

Responsible Travel ends its seven-year relationship with offsets as other companies are still climbing on board. United Airlines became the latest American airline to add an offset program this summer. Other organizations, from Yahoo to the United States House of Representatives, recently ditched carbon offset trials, saying the money was better spent improving their energy efficiency in other ways.

Now wait just a minute—what are you supposed to do about that holiday trip you have planned? Go ahead and buy a carbon offset. It'll ease your conscience, and every little bit helps, after all. That's not a bad thing. But Responsible Travel has a point: if offsets are actually encouraging frequent flyers to fly even more frequently (because, well, why not?), then the net result is not very eco-friendly at all. All semblance of personal responsibility and personal carbon budgets gets thrown out the window. And that's where Responsible Travel and responsible travelers alike think it's time to clip the wings of offset programs.

(Photo credit:jimmyharris, flickr)

No muffler. No exhaust. No joke. Nissan's adding a new Leaf to the EV game.

The just-shown-off-in-L.A. Leaf is a zero-emissions, 100 percent battery-powered ride. And--bonus!--it's easier on the eyes than the Prius, the Insight or the Fusion. But is it easier on the wallet? I'll get there in a minute.

So, just in time for its global debut, here's your SuperEco quick-and-clean low-down on the five-seat hatchback Leaf:

Batteries Minus Green Guilt?
Lithium-ion car batteries, like those that power the Leaf, can be toxic time bombs. Not necessarily the Leaf's. Nissan says it's "working on" second-life uses for Leaf batteries with Japan's Sumitomo group.

They're more than just working on it; Leaf's batteries will be reused, recycled, refabricated and resold as energy-storing units for alternative power solutions, like wind and solar technologies. Nice. A cleaner grid=fewer fossil fuels.

How far will a Leaf battery take on a single charge? About 100 miles.

Extra Green Bennies
The Leaf is manufactured in a ("partially"?) wind turbine powered factor. Plus, parts of the sleek sedan, like the bumper, are made from recycled randoms, like plastic soda bottles and recycled fabrics. 

Price
How much will this adorable new Leaf cost? Nissan's not saying yet. They're "targeting the price in the range of other typical family sedans." Translation: Somewhere between $25,000 to $33,000, according to industry guesstimates. 

Want a closer look? Take a spin through Nissan's Leaf photo gallery. Isn't it cute? 

(Photo credit:Nissan)

What happens when highways and manmade construction slice through wildlife migration routes and home ranges? The consequences are not happy for either the cars or the animals. Beyond the inevitable toll to animals and drivers from highway accidents, ecosystems are thrown into disarray when wildlife can't maintain normal roaming and migratory patterns.

Remote cameras maintained by local citizens in areas slated for development show a constant stream of animal travel. Peek at these shots of the secret world behind the trees in an area of Washington state endangered by development:

Wildlife advocates in areas where highways and development threaten the natural movement patterns of the native wildlife are asking legislators to consider the animals' needs when planning for the future. Wildlife safety fences keep animals away from busy stretches of highway. Overpasses allow larger animals to cross safely above the highway, while tiny critters can use tunnels to scurry to safety.

Crossing projects are currently under way in Banff, British Columbia; on Interstate-93 in Montana; and an innovative, six-lane interstate project on Interstate-90 in Washington. "It is one of the most novel and progressive highway-mitigation projects probably in the world," said Tony Clevenger, a Montana State University expert who has consulted with the latter project, in an article for The Seattle Times. "It's much broader than just reducing collisions with wildlife. There is terrestrial connectivity for everything from snails and slugs all the up to black bear and lynx."

(Photo credit:donjd2, flickr)

The basic principles of hypermiling read like the content of a Driver Education Manual. What a concept, drive like you were taught to drive by the DMV and you will lower your carbon footprint, save money at the pump and hopefully, the planet. Driving non-aggressively also has the added bonus of helping to save lives--I just thought I'd mention it!

Hypermilers keep their distance, use their signals and don't change lanes aggressively. In congested road conditions they drive the average speed of the traffic around them. On the open road they do not accelerate unnecessarily to beat lights--which is not a very green idea--or drive aggressively to prove a point or to give someone else a driving lesson. A Hypermiler anticipates lights and stop signs in advance by removing their foot from the gas and coasting to a stop. Acceleration should be smooth and steady, driving speeds should be consistent. 

According to an article at  Examiner.com, Hypermiling can increase overall fuel efficiency up to 33%. They also quote a study conducted by Edmunds that approximates the savings at more like 37%.

Eco Driving USA embraces the principles of hypermiling techniques while driving but also promotes the benefits of proper automobile maintenance. They reinforce the idea that getting regular oil changes, maintaining proper tire pressure, reducing unnecessary weight, etc. is also extremely important for the green minded driver.

Sensible hypermiling gives drivers an opportunity to apply the principles of non-violent communication to their driving. In other words, drive carefully, skillfully, as if our lives and not our egos depended on it. Hypermiling while driving and regularly maintaining our vehicles just makes plain-old, good common sense.

(Photo credit:TheBusyBrain)

We are in the midst of the largest, most widespread, bed bug outbreak since WWII. This outbreak caused the EPA to hold a  National Bed Bug Summit on April 14 and 15 in Arlington, Virgina this year.

Bed bugs are small wingless parasitic insects which inhabit the nests/homes of their hosts. Bed bugs seek out people and animals, mostly at night while they are sleeping, to painlessly drain a few drops of blood for sustenance. Prolonged exposure to bed bugs can result in allergy induced lesions and possible site infections.

These opportunistic little stowaways travel via used furniture--particularly bed frames and mattresses--luggage, furniture, clothing, pillows, boxes, and other such objects that are moved between apartments, homes and hotels. Schools and Universities are particularly at risk for bed bug infestations. Here is a short but very disturbing National Geographic video about Bed bugs. The shame and emotional stigma surrounding Bed Bug infestations should not keep you from getting the help you need. Wealth and privilege are no barrier to the current Bed Bug epidemic, according to an article in the New York Times, "Some of the best hotels in New York have them."

Since Bed bugs are seriously on the rise, it is so important to be vigilant and keep them out of your home.

Here is a list of some helpful resources:

1. A handy-dandy online Bed Bug Registry.
2. Here is a link to Rand McNally's Tips: How to avoid Bed Bugs When You Travel.
3. Bed Bug sniffing Dogs are being used by many companies and organizations to help sniff out and control Bed bugs. The National Entomology Scent Detection Canines Association NESDCA was formed by a group of Pest Control Professionals to ensure the highest standards for Canine scent detection are upheld. NESDCA offers a list of certified service providers.
   
4. The Harvard School Of Public Health offers guidelines about identification and testing and treatment for Bed Bugs.
5. Green lodging News offers advice to Hoteliers about green options for bed bug eradication. Methodologies such as freezing, thermal exposure, enzymatic treatment and food source isolation have been shown to be effective.
6. Your local Agricultural Extension Center can be very helpful with bug identification and information. Here is a USDA Cooperative Extension Center finder, to help locate the nearest center to you. 
7. When it comes to Bed Bugs, prevention is the best and greenest measure.

"Good night, sleep tight and don't let the Bed Bugs bite!"

(Photo credit:cuttlefish)