For those of you who travel to foreign cities for conferences, get all fired up throughout the day listening to inspiring talks, and seeing innovative ideas in action, yet then dread the retreat to the seclusion of your double-bed hotel room, don’t fear: an alternative is here. Not only is renting a hotel a pain in the rear, but I frequently experience buyers remorse due to how excessive a whole room to myself feels, not to mention how unsustainable hotels really are. To top it off, hotels are lonely. When I travel alone for an event to meet people, I want to continue meeting them and enjoying their company all day long.

So, for those of us alike who prefer socializing, enjoying the company of others, and connecting with like-minded professionals nationwide, there is a creative and more sustainable hotel alternative for you called Airbed & Breakfast. Two independent designers in San Francisco recently had the idea to rent out extra space in their SOMA loft to provide an opportunity for conference attendees to connect with others off the premise. This October 17-20, a rather large conference is taking place in the bay area called the IDSA World Design Congress. The last time this conference was in the US was 20-something years ago. As a result, designers of all ages from all over the country will be traveling to the city to be a part of this important design weekend. With the theme of the conference being "Connecting," this opportunity is perfectly appropriate.

What these two gentleman realized was that they have a wealth of extra space, extra desks, plenty of kitchen space to cook everyone breakfast, and somehow a stockpile of airbeds. When you put these extra resources together, it makes for a great environment that many travelers could advantage of. This is "something new and different: classier than couchsurfing, and more personable than craigslist — it is an AirBed & Breakfast."

In addition to building a website to advertise the brilliance of this new way to connect people at the conference, the two founders, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, both in their mid to late twenties, wanted to provide an opportunity for others to list their place in order to create a new network of socialization and entrepreneurship at conferences nationwide. On the site is a link tovacancies where prospective residents can browse through and choose their weekend home and office based on location, attributes, ambiance, and other details. The moment that Joe and Brian launched the site (just this past week), the word spread quickly. There are now four different spaces offered on the vacancies link, and one is already sold out.

The brilliance in this idea is not only attractive because it builds relationships and creates a more comfortable living alternative to hotels, but it is far more sustainable. Even the acclaimed "green hotels" are required to use far more resources to maintain a whole room for one individual than an existing home with an added bed. If you think about it, if one is already making coffee in the morning, why not make it for 10?

Do you have a car on your block that always seems to be parked in the same spot? It collects dust on dry weeks, and disguises itself under a mountain of snow in the winter. Well if you said yes, this vehicle is the victim of what I call “owners neglect." If this black diamond urban ski mountain is your car, never fear; there is now a solution to this situation that is growing rapidly in urban/semi-urban areas.

Many of us own a car for the convenience of using it a couple times a week: to go to the grocery, to go to a concert across town, to get to a dentist appointment early in the morning, or to get out of town for a weekend. Wouldn’t it be easy if you could walk a block and pick up a shared car whenever you need it, and never worry about the upkeep?. This concept is called a car-sharing or car co-op program. You pay a monthly fee, based on your expected use, to employ the service. With the service, the company maintains and services the vehicles, fills ‘em up, takes care of insurance, clean them out, and reserves a parking spot for you when you’re done. This saves you lots of time, money, stress, and reduces the number of bills you have to pay. Here is why it’s important, the car is useful to you on the days you need it, and it is useful to others in the alternate time slots. In some cites these car-sharing programs are even employing fleets of hybrids only. And it is still affordable!
Let me break it down for you. Following are some insight as to why this system benefits you, the community, and the environment.

Individual benefits:

• The tank is always full = time saver
• No insurance bills to pay = less bills in the mail
• A parking spot is always reserved at the end of your day = time saver
• Your car is always well maintained = money and time saver
• Lower theft risk= lower blood pressure, money saver
• No scraping snow off the windshield in the wee small hours of the morning = time saver
• No more waiting in lines at the car wash = time saver
• No more looming responsibility of getting that darn oil changed= time saver, lower blood pressure

Community Benefits:

• Traffic ease: Drivers are only on the street when they need to be; therefore convenience is no longer a scapegoat.
• Fewer cars on the street = less street space required for parking spots: Imagine if every city street had one more lane because we didn’t request it for parking?
• Less parking lots = greater allowance for green space, bicycle lots…healthy public space
• Community members are sharing with each other, which raises the overall “feel-good” factor.

Environmental Benefits:

• There is a lower demand for individually owned cars which results in fewer cars manufactured annually and more cars maintained.
• As vehicles are serviced more frequently and monitored with precision, they will last longer, be safer to drive, and maintain optimal gas mileage.
• If we all participate is a car sharing program and reduce the number of cars on the streets, you might wonder what would happen to the (American) car industry. The car industry could instead switch to a service based supply of cars, parts, and maintenance. Ex: Ford would directly deal with Zip Car. This form of business will keep older cars running well, and reduce our impact of the dead end system where they sell/ we buy-and the relationship is over.
• When the current fleet of cars is bumped down to the 2nd or 3rd tier fleet in 5 or 10 years the affordability will increase, and again, these cars will still be leading a healthy life.

So choose your path. Saving time is money in your pocket, driving less is always better, and sharing makes you feel good.

Here are a couple of Car-Share programs in the US:

Bi-Coastal: http://www.flexcar.com/

Bi-Coastal: http://www.zipcar.com/

Bay Area: http://www.citycarshare.org/

Chicago: http://www.igocars.org/