www.RogerWendell.com
Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic Evolution^SM

Transportation

"Before long, to go all the way across by yourself will be a fossil experience. A person or two. One car. Coast to coast. People do it now without thinking much about it. Yet it's a most unusual kind of personal freedom - particular to this time span, the one we happen to be in. It's an amazing, temporary phenomenon that will end. We have the best highway system in the world. It lets us do what people in no other country can do. And it is also an ecological disaster."

- Karen Kleinspehn Ph.D.,
from John McPhee's 1981 Basin and Range pp. 13 -14

"As RE-generated [Renewable Energery] electricity from the grid will cost only half as much as the hydrogen energy offered by filling station, electric cars - not hydrogen fuel cell vehicles - may become the preferred option for commuters. The power-plant-to-wheel efficiency of electric cars approaches 60 to 70 percent, compared to fuel cell vehicles, which have 'wind-to-wheel' efficiencies between 17 and 23 percent when energized with liquid or gaseous hydrogen derived from renewable sources."

In a sustainable energy future, millions of electric vehicles may be in daily use for local driving. Unlike the hydrogen infrastructure, which has yet to be developed, the energy infrastructure to support 'fueling' these vehicles already exists, or could be easily implemented."

- Ulf Bossel, The Myth of A Hydrogen Future,
Home Power Magazine 114, August & September 2006, p. 84
(I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Bossel, for my radio program, on 07-28-2006)

Transportation, especially in the United States, has become an expensive, polluting, crowded nightmare! Although I, personally, love my car (a 12 year old Toyota Tercel, at this writing) and the mobility it provides I recognize that this free-for-all can't go on forever. And, more than just my opinion, I've lived (drove!) through the 1973 Arab oil embargo and the skyrocketing gasoline prices of 2004 - it's clear to me that something needs to be done to not only consider transportation needs in the future, but to protect the world's environment too (global warming started rising, along with oil prices, in 2004, as well...). Working from home, bicycle commuting, walking, and mass-transit are all realistic alternatives to the loan driver in a 4,000 pound SUV driving 20 miles each day for work. Some of these alternatives are not only good for the planet, but especially beneficial to our personal health and fitness - not to mention pocketbook as well!

In 2004 my family and I visited Japan and found their transportation system to be superb! Of course what really caught our interest was the Shinkansen, or "Bullet Train." The ones we were on made it up to 180 mph!! [The faster ones reach 240 mph but are a bit more expensive] While in Japan we also rode "regular" trains, buses, subways and anything else that's of mass transit in Japan. Their transportation system is clean, efficient, and reliable - certainly a model for the rest of the world! However, it's my understanding that much of the shinkansen is powered by nuclear energy - a whole nother web page in itself!

Moving train	Moving train	Front of train	Front of train
Waiting for the train	Dining on the train	Reading on the train	We like the train!

Hydrogen Fuel Folly:
Although I'd love to see some success with Hydrogen fuel cells
I'm really skeptical and believe there are some huge problems with it:

• Hydrogen fuel cells, themselves, are extremely expensive
• Hydrogen fuel cells, at present, are fragile and easily damaged by regular travel over moderately bumpy roads
• Hydrogen fuel is dangerous - it's highly explosive
• Hydrogen fuel, so far, is inefficient - it takes large amounts of energy to separate the Hydrogen, itself, to make it useable as an energy source
• We have no Hydrogen fuel infrastructure - it will take, literally, trillions of dollars (and lots of energy) to convert our current transportation system to accommodate a Hydrogen fueled fleet of vehicles
• Hydrogen diffuses easily (it leaks) - Due to its extremely low atomic weight it can escape through very small openings
• Hydrogen is extremely corrosive - it loves to combine with other elements and compounds - easily destroying the interior lining of storage tanks, pipe lines, valves, connections and seals

My bus pass...

"What all this boils down to is that a hydrogen-powered automobile system and all its supporting infrastructure cannot be substituted for an oil-based system under any plausible equation currently understood." - James Howard Kunstler The Long Emergency Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century

In April, 2005, I took another trip to San Francisco and experienced some long rides on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). Although not as extensive as the Japanese system, BART serves the San Francisco Bay area well and is certainly a model for other American cities!

Links: Climate Change Critical Mass - Visionary Traffic Jams since 1992! Cycling Drive Neutral - for a change! Flight Pledge Union - Make your pledge not to fly! Fossil Fuels and Peak Oil Fuel Economy Japan Life After the Oil Crash Mountains to Plains Transportation Solutions ORV - the Off-Road Vehicle menace Population Sail Transport Network San Francisco Sustainability Voluntary Simplicity Solar Energy and Appropriate Technology Travel Wind Energy and Appropriate Technology

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