Why We Must Electrify Transportation

[KingM34]

The time is coming when middle-class Americans will not be able to afford to drive a six thousand pound Hummer to the supermarket to buy a gallon of milk. Experts are divided as to whether the oil era is even now coming to a close or whether we have more time--perhaps as long as thirty years or more--but petroleum will get ever more expensive and difficult to acquire.

Those who believe in the future of the internal combustion engine point to the many alternative fuels that will save us: non-conventional oil, liquified coal, and biodiesel. Coal is abundant in this country and will be increasingly important as it remains relatively inexpensive, but the infrastructure required to liquify millions of barrels worth of oil is massive and will be politically difficult. In spite of its poor energy return on energy invested, biodiesel shows promise in some areas, but to replace even a small fraction of the 21 million barrels of oil the United States consumes every day would be next to impossible. Similarly, there are large non-conventional sources of oil in the form of oil shales and sands, but they are not as scalable as conventional sources.

All of the above will be tremendously important in easing the pain of the transition, but they will not be able to keep up with a combination of depletion of traditional oil sources and the world's ever-increasing demand for energy.

Read the rest:
http://theopinionator.com/energy/electrify_transportation1.html

[marmar]

1. Our short-sightedness on mass transit is going to cost us big...

Europe and a lot of the Pacific Rim countries are soooo much better equipped for mobility, post-Peak Oil. Here, even in cities where there's good mass transit, it's generally limited to the city limits. In Europe, for example, you can glide across just about every country on electricity-powered high speed trains, and even the suburbs of cities like Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam have dense networks of electric trams, metros and commuter trains (ala the RER in the Paris region and the S-bahn in German cities.)

[tocqueville]

2. very true even if a lot of work remains to be done

I saw a TV report the other day saying that within the coming 10 years all short/middle distance flights will disappear in Europe and be replaced by train. Only long distance like flying to the US for example will remain.

[KingM34]

3. quite

Entire regions of the country are built around the automobile. At best, we face a future like Europe's, where a family might have one car and conserve their driving trips due to the high price of fuel. Where will we be then when a huge chunk of the population can't even get a loaf of bread or gallon of milk without getting in the car?

[hunter]

4. We must replace short hop airline routes with high speed electric rail.

It's a simple matter of national security.

If high speed electric trains ran between urban centers we would not be so vulnerable to oil supply disruptions. Flying and driving use imported oil. Electric trains don't.

[jpak]

5. Word

Prior to 1920 electric transport was found in many small towns and even rural areas.

In 1920, Maine had over 500 miles of electric trolley lines. They were DC systems run off small hydroelectric dams supported by lead acid batteries.

They transported thousands of people on a daily basis, economically, reliably, at speeds up to *gasp* 50 mph.

One could travel from East Vassalborough to Boston to Philly on them...

[hunter]

6. I used to be a Los Angeles commuter.

Driving to and from work I NEVER reached speeds of 50 mph. It was always stop and go.

Sometime in the late 'eightees my wife and I decided we would not commute, not ever again if we could help it.

I work at home, and we can see my wife's workplace, which is about a mile away, from our house.

[KingM34]

7. re: long commutes

I knew a guy who commuted from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles every day. He said it took him less time to fly (this was pre-9/11, mind you) than to drive in from his old home in the L.A. suburbs and he got much more house for his buck to boot.

[ramapo]

8. Isn't that amazing?

500 miles in rural Maine...North Jersey was criss-crossed with trolley lines. A few ROWs still exist in part. Few know what these were from but they remind you of what is missing .

It will take many decades to move to an electric-based mass transit system. Here in North Jersey there is a struggle to recreate just a fraction of the old lines. The process takes forever.

Don't forget we need to be able to generate that electricity cleanly. Much of our electric comes from coal, which is awful, natural gas, which is limited, and nuclear. We can't continue down the coal route. It has caused an incredible amount of damage already.

I envision that someday our major roads will become mass transit routes. It is the only thing that makes sense.

But look at the Amtrack situation. There is almost total disregard of passenger rail in this country. Our system is a joke compared to what you find in other parts of the world. Yet Americans think we're so advanced....

[jpak]

10. Small cities like Athens GA had them too

For a nickel(?) you could ride from Normaltown to Downtown - which would have made student life at UGA a lot easier and cheaper if they had it today (not to mention fewer drunk college kids on the road on Fri and Sat nights...:))

[phantom power]

9. Funny, how quickly that kind of history goes down the memory hole.

[jpak]

11. I collect antique maps of Maine

It's easy to see the evolution of transportation from rural farm roads in the 18th Century, to railroads, coastal steamers and electric trolleys in the 19th Century, to auto highways and the decline of the steamer, trolley and RR systems in the 20th Century.

We well probably see Devolution of transportation systems along the same trajectory in the next few decades.

Are we not men????

:evilgrin:

[phantom power]

12. On the internet, nobody knows you collect maps.

(unless you say so)