Adria Vasil Hey not fair at least not completely. you talk in your article of vintage scooters spewing smoke, that is only true if the rider does not maintain their scooter or improperly mixes their oil and fuel, when done right they do not smoke. Todays two strokes have automatic oil mixing or injection, which also does not smoke normally. And a two stroke makes power on every other turn of the engine not every fourth like a four stroke. I drive a vintage vespa and it's always in good tune. That is key to what ever you drive if you don't keep up with maintenace of your vehicle it doesn't matter if you drive a 2009 or 1909 vehicle you will be a polluter. I drive my scooter to work as much as possible. One cylinder one person sometimes two people. It simple logic not to have four, six or eight cylinders moving the same one person at the same speeds My scooter is capable of 120kmh but that is not what we drive most of the time. And even if you drive a brand new car you mostly drive 50, 80 kmh maybe you get to drive 100kmh for awhile. WE HAVE SPEED LIMITS. And here's something else my scooter weighs a mere 200lbs give or take , what is the average car 1500 and up! My scooter is 30 years old and is just as clean as it would have been in 79. My scooter is a 1979 P200e vespa It is made of nearly 100% recyclable materials except for a mere scad of foam under the seat cover and even that could be reused in some form, an all metal body only two pieces of plastic the headset cover and the mud guard( also recyclable). Not many voc's released in the production of a scooter there's no big body to paint. And there is no interior.(have you ever seen a car burn it's pretty sickening all that black smoke from the interior burning) This scooter body has been in production since at least 79 with no changes that means no new retooling of factories. in fact you can get a brand new chassis today, if needed and reuse all of your other parts. the engine can be rebuilt over and over to keep it tight and efficent. I work at a major canadian auto chain and repair facilty I see cars on the road at best 5-10 years, some people change cars in 2-3 years and might log 200,000km for alot of that time they are not well maintained as in tune ups, or even simple tire presure checks how hard is it to check you darn tire presure once a month. For me I have to check it almost every time I ride hey it's a safety thing too ! I see cars change style every year that's a lot of energy to redesign retool and hey what about all that R+D you don't even see before a new car is produced don't like something guess we'll change it more design more assembly that is a major foot print on this earth Trowing out what did not work. Doing all that before you even see what gets to market. How about working on you car you don't likely do it you take it to a garage . Oh yeah I guess you have to drive it there. I can and almost anyone can learn to maintain their own scooter over time that means working right at home. No garage no hoist no guys driving to work to be there to sign you in drive your car onto a hoist in a litup shop where another guy gets parts for your car. maybe from a dealership which is also lit up and full of other people who drove to work probably in cars by themselves. My scooter holds 8 liters of gas most cars are 50 -60 liters or even more you burn gas just carring gas. My transmission has about 300mls of oil in it. Most cars have automatic transmissions with at leat a gallon or 4.5 liters of fluid usually more. I'm sorry but driving a 30 year old well maintained vintage scooter is far far better for the earth than driving even the absolute latest hybrid ever will be, look at the big foot print it makes before that hybrid even turns a wheel. And If I have my way I will have another 30+ years of driving ahead with my scooter. P.S. when was your last tune up,or when did you check your tire presure last. And if my scoot is parked 8 months of the year there's no chance I'll ever catch up to your cars footprint on this green earth! Happy motoring !!!

Adria Vasil has clearly not researched this piece at all. LOTS of scooters can go faster than 70km/h. And parked a good 6 to 8 months a year?? Well lets see, lots of scooters out today and it's the beginning of April so most people put their scooters away at the end of September? Really? In Toronto? September in Toronto is not exactly snow on the ground and ice on the streets. Do people put their bicycles away in September? I won't even get into the pollution "facts" she claims, as they are clearly soundbite facts with little substance behind them.

I expected more thoughtful researching from NOW.

Good comments

I come from the human-electric hybrid end of the spectrum... where exercise is built in AS AN OPTION.

To keep a vehicle practical for human power dictates a light weight machine. This just adds even more pluses to the vehicle as far as handling the thing (when off the vehicle) and storage/parking indoors...

I also love the fact that human-electric hybrids are the ultimate "flexi-fuel" vehicles. Energy can come from food or nuclear and coal but also from hydro and wind and solar and it is even possible to recapture energy or generate "free" energy from gravity down hills.

And the electrical energy is all around us, not only available from a gas company.

Finally, the electric motors I am familiar with are rotary machines, not reciprocating, and they only have one moving part plus two bearings. Maintenance is replace two bearings every 100,000 hrs of operation.

Cheers Lock

Good point too about one cylinder per person (although two persons is more fun...hehe) Fuel efficiency!

Justin Lemire-Elmore motored across Canada from coast to coast last summer using about ten dollars of electricity. You can watch his slide show of the trip as a Google video here:

http://tinyurl.com/Justin-Across-Canada

I am sure a Vespa etc would make the trip faster but what would be the fuel bill? Just curious!

Tks Lock Toronto

Speaking of the options available for light weight human-electric hybrids, one option I appreciate sometimes is being able to take my vehicle on public transit vehicles.

Because the energy is stored in batteries and not a gas tank. So for some long trips and some bad weather days I can mix my trips between battery-electric hybrids and other electric vehicles like subways and streetcars.

Any one interested in electric travel will concede that the best electric vehicles don't use batteries at all (streetcars etc.)

Thanks Lock

Another way to look at fuel efficiency...

The internal exploding engines get quite hot to the touch in operation don't they? Converting fuel to heat rather than motion?

The electric motors I am familiar with run about 90% energy efficient which means that they never get so hot that you cannot touch them.

Thanks Lock

Adria Vasil wrote:

"only take home a four-stroke model, and ideally a hybrid."

Horrible advice given that there isn't a hybrid scooter available on the market in Canada. Why not advise people to only buy solar powered cars. For an article that is suppsoed to give people practical tips on being greener, sending people on a wild goose chase for a product that doesn't exist is wasteful.

J>> wild goose chase

Maybe not all bad if people are bugging the dealers for this tech and the word gets back to the manufacturers. After all it's the manufacturers that have the budgets to take the politicians out to lunch. ;->

What ever happened to the Piaggio HyS BTW?

Tks Lock

I have a little bone to pick with scooter/motorbike drivers who do split lanes in order to pass cars. Please please follow the rules of the road because splitting lanes often makes it dangerous for cyclists (and yourself!).

Also, I've seen some pretty sweet (and silent!) electric scooters riding around. My only concern with electric scooters is where our electricity comes from right now (over 50% nuclear, 16% coal-fired), making them less eco-friendly than we might think. Hopefully this will change in the near future with a renewable energy supply!

To Heather, How do you think gas and diesel get to your gas station? A lot of energy is spent producing gas and diesel and transporting it before you can get it. At least by plugging in all that work has already taken place. And so what happens if nobody plugs in at all ? The energy has already been produced/spent, It needs to be consummed or wasted or sold to another buyer maybe at a loss. If you have a problem with someones driving "THAT'S A WHOLE OTHER SUBJECT AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE" POST YOUR DRIVING INFRACTION COMPLAINTS TO A BLOG OR SITE THAT CARES! I drive my scooter in a safe and prudent manner Which if you look is probably the majority of scooter,bike,motorcycle drivers or pedistrians. We are more aware of you than you are of us that is a fact . 90% of car bike,motorcycle,pedistrian accidents reported AND I SAY REPORTED because some are not. The driver of the car says" I'M SORRY OFFICER I DID NOT SEE THE BIKE,MOTORCYCLE,/ pedistrian. Just call you local police or traffic office and try to say I'm wrong. Happy motoring! P.S. I HOPE YOU DO READ THIS AND MANY OTHERS IN HOPES THAT NO ONE HAS THE EXPERIENCE OF HAVING TO SAY "SORRY OFFICER" because no-one needs or want's that!

Pretty slim article, isn't it?

How about insurance? Safety tips? (there is more than one)? Driver licence? The sort of scooter available? What are the differences between them? Where to buy? (There is more than one spot) What to look for in a scooter? Advantages and disadvantages? (there are more than 2) Etc...

Those slim meaningless articles drive me crazy!