Traceback (most recent call last): File “/usr/local/bin/virtualenv”, line 5, in from pkg_resources import load_entry_point zipimport.ZipImportError: can’t decompress data; zlib not available Seen this when working with python on OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)? This seemingly came out of nowhere when I wanted to set up a virtualenv on a macbook pro that hadn’t been used … Continue reading »
The New GREET Greenhouse Gas Model Needs to be Open Source
Yesterday we were privileged to have a couple of developers from the Argonne National Lab’s (ANL) GREET model group come by the office to demo the newest version of GREET. What is GREET? GREET is “The Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation Model.” Used for understanding the emissions profiles (GHG and criteria … Continue reading »
The Scandal of Chevy Volt-Gate!
Ho-hum, it’s another attack on alternative vehicles for being too expensive. Now it’s the Volt. Then it was the Prius; the issue being that the premium for the hybrid electric vehicle did not make economic sense with gasoline below $5/gallon. What such analyses always neglect is that a car is not a purely rational purchase … Continue reading »
Frustratingly Disappointing: The Walking Dead – Season 2 Review
[A distraction...] With the next season of AMC’s The Walking Dead poised to start in October, I thought I’d weigh in on my opinion about this frustratingly disappointing zombie-drama. I’ll start by saying that I like zombies, and have since I saw Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (on video) in high school. I think we … Continue reading »
The Folly of the 300 Mile Battery Electric Vehicle
There is a common misconception that the goal of the Battery Electric Vehicle is a that of a range of 300 miles. People expect 300 miles because they are used to it. The problem is that BEVs are a different type of transportation tool from conventional gas vehicles and should be used in different ways. … Continue reading »
Why Games (for transportation research)?
There are a lot of dimensions in transportation research. Every January the Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) hosts a conference with 10,000+ attendees, and more than 4000 presentations. Just about everything that you can imagine is covered, and some things you can’t: urban planning, mass transit, vehicle technologies, road engineering, rail, freight, … Continue reading »
Sidebar: Python, MySQL, Snow Leopard Installation
I just had to install MySQL on my Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) Mac interfacing to it with Python using MySQLdb. This installation is not necessarily straightforward, and its difficulty depends on how mindful or lucky you are of keeping track of whether you’re on a 32 or 64 bit architecture. So here’s my recipe for getting it to … Continue reading »
A New Approach to Modeling Alternative Fuel and Vehicle Transitions
The reasons to transition from a fossil fuel based transportation system to a cleaner, more sustainable system are clear: environmental, climate, and resource limitations factors are coalescing to push a transition in the energy and transportation domains. The question is what sort of transition will it be? On one end of the transition spectrum is … Continue reading »
