The Daily Dig: Flintstones Car Chase Edition

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• “There’s no end to the things that make TriMet,” Portland’s mass transit system, “awesome.” But there’s still room for a few improvements: a little late-night service, the ticketing system is “neurotic,” and no one really has to pay to ride. (Autopia)
• World leaders, including Obama, acknowledge that they have collectively dropped the proverbial ball on a comprehensive climate deal. A slow Congress is hogtying the President’s ambitions, and no one is willing to commit to anything until we do. (NYTimes)
• Spain announced plans to install 8.8 gigawatts of renewable energy sources by 2012. This will undoubtedly make it a world-class manufacturer of solar and wind materials. (Reuters)
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• India, too, will boost solar production, which right now is five times as expensive as oil-based power. The country hopes to have 20 gigawatts of solar output by 2020. (WSJ)
• It might be possible to circulate CO2 several kilometers below the earth’s surface, removing it from the atmosphere and forcing hot gases to the surface. This would make for more efficient geothermal energy production. (MIT)

• And an Oregon project by AltaRock will receive $25 million in federal funds for “enhanced” geothermal, which involves injecting cold water deep into hot cracks to create networks of small fractures. Of course this causes earthquakes. (Green Inc.)
• In general, traveling by car shortens your commute. But in some cities, “people can drive less without sacrificing time.” Here’s a list of 15 cities for people who who don’t want to drive and don’t want a lengthy commute. (US News)
• Freakonomics looks at the proposal to cut off-peak fares on New York’s mass transit, and approves. Poorer riders disproportionately travel at off-peak times, and this plan would reflect the lower costs they impose on the system. (NYTimes)
• Did you know that 25% of fatally injured pedestrians have a blood-alcohol content of at least .20? Or that the word “jaywalk” comes from “an insult against bumptious “jays” from the country who ineptly gamboled on city sidewalks”? A nice piece on jaywalking. (Slate)
• Family Guy imagines what a Flintstones car chase would look like. “Running from the cops? Yabba dabba don’t!” (Gawker)