The Sundance Channel's Big Ideas For A Small Planet is back. The eco-solutions show tidily takes on an issue - like, say Fuel or Drive in episodes from last year's season - and finds three "Big Ideas" to discuss in a half-hour. Sometimes, the episodes are paired with a longer documentary, such as with the series opening Crude Awakening.

For season two, the format of the show remains the same. The next episode, Transport, covers topics we're all in love with here on AutoblogGreen: how to get around in a more sustainable fashion. The breezy mood of Big Ideas makes the problems seem so darn solvable, which I think is a good thing. We all know congestion, global warming, dirty emissions and high fuel prices are a pain in the rear - is it that bad to take ten minutes to imaging how great it would be to live in a bike-friendly city?

This brings us to Transport. The show's idea number one is greener public transportation, which focuses on the efforts of New York City. City planners are working on making better bus lanes (with lights that can hold off a red light to allow an approaching bus through), installing more bike lanes with better bike parking at subway stations, and implementing congestion pricing for cars. The NYC plan to charge $8 per car is still in the works, having received City Council approval in April. One of NYC's greening efforts that not many people know about is how sustainable the garage where New York's subway cars are repaired and cleaned is - rain water is collected to be used to wash the cars, much work is done using natural lighting and there is, for a reason not explained in the show, a fuel cell. Segment one also tells us that there are 500 miles of bike lanes in NYC, and another 100 are on deck for the near future. But the real Bike City USA is Portland, Oregon. Read on after the break.

Last year, the Sundance Channel premiered the show Big Ideas for a Small Planet. AutoblogGreen took a look at two Season one episodes in particular, Drive and Fuel, because they directly related to our daily topics. Big Ideas is back for season two and if you weren't convinced by our reviews last year that this is a show worth watching, then fire up iTunes for a free download of the Power episode (I'm not sure how to link to something within iTunes, but if anyone knows the secret, feel free to share. UPDATE: thanks for the link, david r.). Of course, you can always watch a lot of the show online at the Big Ideas website.

As you might guess, the Power episode is about renewable sources of energy. The 25-minute show takes a look at the Solar Decathlon and the way wind power is replacing coal in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania.

[Source: iTunes]