Keep on rollin’
Keep on rollin’ Oh, now roll with the changes — REO Speedwagon, 1978 Transportation is by far the greatest single consumer of energy and will undergo some amazing transformations in the coming decades. My next series of columns will focus on it. Transportation is the backbone of our economy. Vehicular transportation in the United States consumes 60 percent of the oil we use, and its ravenous energy appetite must constantly be fed or it will result in a train wreck that would put Amtrak to shame. The questions that need to be answered are these: Can we put transportation on a diet without affecting its health? If so, what changes in technology will be made to conserve and wisely use the energy? How is mankind going to handle the goods of the future? Just how are we going to efficiently and effectively transport goods to a world that will reach 9 billion in population in 30 years? How indeed will this happen in a world of continually diminishing resources with ever-increasing expectation of products? The alternate energy here will be achieved more as a matter of perspective than innovative vehicles. So what is the future going to be like? “The best way to predict the future is to invent it,” according to Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel. Elon Musk recently announced that the first trip to Mars by his company will begin in 2019. Cars that drive themselves are already here. Solar-powered cars, boats and planes for commercial use are on the horizon. Ocean-going vessels will take on new shapes to accommodate a greater aerodynamic effect while employing sails. Trains can easily be run on solar power given an improved network of solar panels along the tracks. High-speed rail will be in demand. Highways and byways will forever change when built with sensors and lighting. Tunnels will bypass highways. Conveyor systems will move goods in big cities. You can walk to your local 3D Printer Depot to make your new replacement taillight on the same day you broke it while backing up in a parking lot. Modality is the key to the future of energy efficient transportation. Modality: The “alternate energy” in transportation may be more realized in transportation’s planning and choices of how to get what we need from point A to point B than the actual physical means of conveyance. The use of data will contribute immensely to that end. Data interpretation will lead to creating efficient scheduling by incorporating weather reports and availability of shipping terminals. There are vast arrays of modalities. What about pipelines? I am a believer in pipelines even the big ones when you consider the alternatives. Natural gas and oil are much more economically transported by pipeline than by any other means. I know they leak and that inspections aren’t always performed unless an economic reason motivates repairs. The alternative is to ship by rail, boat or truck, which is more expensive, has greater security risks and much greater environmental risks. Pipelines are easily monitored against all these hazards in addition to being environmentally efficient. What about a bicycles-only city? If you have been in New York City recently you could see where this is highly effective. Studies have shown that the average speed of a vehicle in the center of a major city is about 10-12 mph; picture midtown Manhattan. That is the average speed of a leisure bike ride. This has the added health benefit of exercise. Yes, there are new bikes of all kinds to handle weather and cargo. Amsterdam is an example of a bike-only city. What about communications? No need to leave the office to go overseas. Conferencing is the way to go. People will continue to travel by air. Jet transportation can’t keep up with the demand. I will present some things that are going on in this arena in future columns. Our skies are crowded now, just wait 10 years from now! The Infrastructure: I had the fortune of visiting MIT Urban Transportation of Tomorrow. One of the deepest threads woven into the fabric of transportation is infrastructure. Here a considerable amount of effort was put into working hand-in-glove with the driven mechanism themselves to the infrastructure that supports them. The research is still on going today. I was impressed with the detailed consideration that was given to this subject. Planning is the first step in the future of energy efficient transportation. If you look back, the automobile was invented before paved roads were even considered. The United States, in its infancy, had lots of unobstructed land. We could lay rails and open roads anywhere we wanted, however, very often without permission. Europe, on the other hand, was hindered by its own infrastructure; cities had already been built and roads already crafted to handle the vehicles of the time. Canals were built to accommodate the boats of the time. After all, infrastructure had its start some 2,000 years ago with the roads built by the Romans. This begs the question, What will the roads of the future be like? I hope that there are solar panels on every meridian of our highways for starters. I want to close with these statistics: • The canoe was invented over 10,000 years ago; • The first sail about 6,000 years ago; • The wheel (for transportation) 4,000 years ago; • Composite roads over 2,000 years ago; • The compass around the year 1100; • 1769, the first motor driven vehicle; • 1783, the first hot air balloon; • 1827, the first commercial railroad; • 1830s, the first electric car; • 1850s, the first glider flight; • 1859, the first internal combustion engine; • 1886, the first diesel driven car; • 1903, the first engine driven flight; • 1936, the first jet engine; • 1957, the first in space. These are some of our roots in transportation. Through all the advancements, the wheel will continue to be in fashion and the piston engine is still king of the internal combustion engines. This gives us a snapshot of how far we have come ... and a pause for the future.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorJames Bobreski is a process control engineer who has been in the field of electric power production for 43 years. His “Alternate Energy” column runs monthly. Archives
June 2020
Categories |